Here’s a TV series that I’ve been meaning to review for some time and am now finally getting to it. Femme Fatales was created by Mark A. Altman and Steven Kriozere and debuted on Cinemax in May 2011, running for two seasons of 14 episodes each. Inspired by the long-running magazine of the same name, this was an anthology series, where each half-hour episode told a new story about a different cast of characters (although if I recall correctly, there were a couple of episodes that continued the stories of characters from a previous episode). The stories tended to be erotic thrillers featuring a female lead character (the “femme fatale” of the story) and would end with a Twilight Zone-ish plot twist. The episodes also featured explicit female nudity and sex scenes, which is what makes this a softcore series, although it was able to cast many mainstream actors throughout its run, giving it a certain air respectability that your typical softcore series didn’t have. Thus it was more like Red Shoe Diaries than Beverly Hills Bordello.

South African fashion model Tanit Phoenix starred as Lilith, the host of the show who would introduce each episode in the beginning and provide an epilogue at the end, ala Rod Serling on The Twilight Zone.

I’ll note for the record that for someone reason the DVD does not play the episodes in order of their air dates, which I guess doesn’t really matter since it’s an anthology series, but I’ll review them in order, starting with this first episode, which is the 3rd episode on the disc.

Written by Rick Copp, this episode was directed by Greg Pritikin and stars  Kit Willesee as Lacey Rivers, a successful young actress who gets arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison after a car accident that she caused due to texting while driving. Through a television news report we learn that despite being dubbed “America’s sweetheart” being the top box office draw for the past 3 years, she’s developed a troubled reputation with her partying and diva-like behavior. Adam Goldberg appears as himself, one of Lacey’s ex-boyfriends, complaining that she just used him and dumped him and says he hopes she rots in jail.

We see Lacey getting strip-searched by Maxine, a brutal prison guard played by Justine/J.C. Brandy, who taunts her and derisively calls her “princess.” Ana Alexander plays Camille, Lacey’s cellmate, who initially is cold toward her. But later Camille comes to Lacey’s aid with a prisoner known as Big Aggie (Heidi James) attempts to rape Lacey in the shower. Camille knocks Big Aggie out with one punch. Later Camille explains that Big Aggie basically runs the prison, with a string of “girlfriends” as her gang. These are all women that Big Aggie scars in the face, to mark her territory. And we find out that Camille is in jail for stabbing her abusive alcoholic husband to death after he came home and caught her having sex with one of her female neighbors and started beating them.

Big Aggie attempts to attack Lacey again, with the aid of one of her girlfriends (an unnamed character, played by Genia Nunez), armed with a knife. But just before Big Aggie can cut Lacey’s face, Camille comes to her defense again. But then Maxine arrives and starts beating Camille and takes her to solitary confinement, “the hole,”  despite Lacey’s protests that Big Aggie was the culprit. Will Poston, who sadly died in 2022, just a couple of weeks before his 42nd birthday, plays Rafe, the one decent guard, who stops Maxine from beating Lacey, who managed to secretly pocket Big Aggie’s knife, during the commotion. We later see Rafe watching one of Lacey’s movies on TV. He’s clearly smitten.

Maxine visits Lacey late at night in her cell, revealing that, like Lacey, she’s from Little Rock, Arkansas, and has friends in local law enforcement who have dug up some kind of scandalous information about Lacey, that she’s threatening to reveal unless Lacey pays her off. Then when Camille is returned to their cell, Lacey comes on to her, even though Camille initially resists because she says Camille is not her type. But Lacey stands up and strips in front of her, and the two women have sex

This is the end of part 1, which was a very good episode to open this series. It’s like a mini-Women In Prison movie, complete with all the WIP tropes, corrupt guards, lesbian prisons, shower scenes, and fights. Kit Willesee plays her role quite well, she comes off as innocent and sympathetic. There’s a scene where she first walks into the prison, and all the other inmates start banging on their tables and you can see the look of sheer terror on her face, which immediately makes you invested in the story and care about what happens to her character.

Willesee, Alexander, and James all get nude in the film, as does another unnamed and uncredited actress. There’s Lacey’s strip search scene, then all 4 women in the shower, and then finally there’s the hot lesbian sex scene with Willesee and Alexander.

Great cast, great story, well-shot. Chacebook rating: FIVE STARS

Jason Majercik is selling this UNRATED 3-disc DVD set of Femme Fatale season 1 for $19.99. Email him at quinn_nash@hotmail.com for his softcore inventory list.