Blood and Black Lace: Dead Women in Lingerie (1991)

Trashed by Tarantino, Dave tracks down director Erica Fox to talk about the making of her misunderstood thriller.

“Why me?” a bewildered Dennis Christopher asked Quentin Tarantino, after the helmer plucked him out of a career lull to star as Leonide Moguy in Django Unchained (2012).

“I’ve seen every movie you’ve done!” boasted Tarantino.

“Even Dead Women in Lingerie?” replied Christopher.

“Yeah!” affirmed Tarantino. “It was a piece of shit, but you were great. As always. And why wouldn’t I see a movie called Dead Women in Lingerie?!”

He’s correct in one respect – namely, who in their right mind wouldn’t want to see a film called DEAD WOMEN IN LINGERIE (1991)? I do, though, take umbrage with the Pulp Fiction (1994) auteur’s other declaration.

Erica Fox’s picture is certainly not the “piece of shit” Tarantino remembers.

Far from perfect, yes, but the social and political ideas that manage to take priority over an ill-fitting romance angle means that this fairly entertaining feature is, at least, worth a look for socially conscious thriller fans.

“I recently watched the film again, and was amazed to see just how relevant it is in terms of how we approached the subject of immigration,” says Fox. “The dialogue in one of the scenes where a character is describing how families are packing up because they don’t want to be split up; one person qualifies, the other doesn’t. Good, hardworking people subjected to sexual assault to protect their families, and then being murdered with no consequences because of the same system.”

“Another example of something we unexpectedly tapped into: we wrote what we thought was a funny dinner scene. The actor, Ken Osmond, talks about how abortion shouldn’t be up to women because they can’t be impartial. This is now the stuff we hear coming out of the current Vice President’s mouth!”

Set in the garment district of Los Angeles, Dead Women in Lingerie centres on lingerie manufacturer Bartoli (Jerry Orbach) and a slew of murders that take place in the vicinity of his factory. Fashion designer Molly (the excellent Maura Tierney) is outraged when the cops aren’t interested in the case, so she buddies up with Nick (co-scripter John Romo), ‘an aggressive and humorously offbeat’ (not my words) private detective, to crack it before the body count rises any higher.

A whodunnit set in downtown L.A.?

What’s not to love?

Well, a few things actually.

Though compelling in and of itself, the immigration aspect is an ill-fitting backdrop for Molly and Nick’s relationship to play out against. Their courtship has a tendency to dilute the hard-hitting nature of the film’s principal theme – but it’s fair to assume that such an inclusion was an artistic decision in order to raise the commercial appeal of the movie. But then again, is anyone renting Dead Women in Lingerie with the expectation of seeing a cutesy love story?

Fox casts the movie well. The aforementioned Christopher – despite his modern day repentance – is very good, while Orbach brings his usual consistency. There are welcome cameos from Lyle Waggoner and June Lockhart as Molly’s bickering, divorced parents. Romo, however, is the weak link. He has the nervous energy of a stand-up comedian in his first acting gig and cuts an awkward presence.

Nevertheless, full credit to Fox for getting the job done. Operating as a multi-hyphenate (writer-producer-director), independent, female filmmaker at the tail-end of the ‘80s was no mean feat, and she deserves huge respect for overcoming several challenges including some sadly predictable encounters with leery male investors.

“When I was getting the financing together, one of the people from the bond company asked me to pick up my shirt and show my tits,” sighs Fox. “I, of course, ignored their request and just kept going through the contract as if nothing had been said.”

“I had to cut the budget and, yes, being the producer and signing the checks and watching the budget, impacted the final project. It was difficult. Extras wouldn’t show up who were key so we had to rewrite and cut scenes – but I felt very thankful that I had the opportunity to direct a film.”

“Dead Women in Lingerie is a wannabe big-time sex thriller but with barely an ounce of glitz to toss round,” wrote Michael Wilmington in the Los Angeles Times [1]. Harsh words, and a little unfair. It also omits the fact that the reason Fox’s film was showing at the Laemmle – nearly a year after its home video release, no less – was because it was an AFI Showcase feature.

“This was an honour awarded by the AFI for independent features that they felt merited a release in the theaters so they would buy out places like the Laemmle for a week. It was also in the AFI/OAS film festival and did play to packed audiences at the Havana Film Festival in Cuba. This information tends to get lost with the bad reviews!”

Proof, indeed, that while a throwaway line of disparagement from Quentin Tarantino might make for amusing copy, one woman’s journey to make an engaging debut feature is the real story.