People forget how Fatal Attraction, that sexy-ass shocker from 1987, scared the shit out of people — guys especially — back in the day. Erotic-thriller king Adrian Lyne (9 1/2 Weeks) gave audiences a steamy, slicked-out expansion of British screenwriter James Dearden’s 1980 short “Diversion,” taking his cautionary tale of infidelity and obsession and turning it into a yuppie horror show. It’s also where Michael Douglas began his journey of playing flawed men who get entangled with dangerous smokeshows. Here Douglas plays a married New Yorker named Dan Gallagher whose hot-and-heavy fling with an unhinged baddie (Glenn Close, way the hell against type) leads to disruption — and a bit of pet-boiling — in his otherwise picture-perfect life. It was a success at the box office, raking in $320 million worldwide. But it also became a cover story-launching hot-button topic, calling out those who’ve engaged in toxic trysts while preventing others from getting into one. Fatal Attraction was more than a tawdry thriller; it also provided plenty of material for date-night couples to discuss/argue about on the car ride home. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes.
Feb. 15 & 18 at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
