Matty professes his (obsessive and murderous) love for Mark L. Lester’s thrilling Fatal Attraction variation.     

Hot on the heels of Adrian Lyne’s blockbusting Fatal Attraction (1987), when cuckoo-in-the-nest thrillers about yuppie couples being terrorised by everything from nightmare tenants (Pacific Heights (1990)) to deranged nannies (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)) came into vogue, mystery author John Lutz sent the manuscript of his latest novel, SWF Seeks Same, to a wealth of Hollywood producers. The film adaptation, Single White Female (1992), was greenlit before the book even hit shelves. Half a decade later, by the time Fatal Attraction ambulance chasers had entered their DTV form (think Scorned (1994) and Natural Enemy (1994) et al), Lutz repeated the feat. 

Looking to make the third flick in his ten-pack deal with Trimark, Mark L. Lester was immediately taken with Lutz’s THE EX (1996). As well as fitting the ‘gritty and edgy’ remit key to the formation of his own company, American World Pictures, The Ex afforded Lester the chance to do something different. Although his first Trimark-American World union, Night of the Running Man (1995), incorporated straighter thriller elements, it and true crime follow-up Public Enemies (1996) were still beholden to the bombastic action for which the helmer was – is – best known (cf. Commando (1985), Class of 1999 (1990), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)). By contrast, The Ex is positively a chamber piece. Calling the film ‘small scale’ seems a disservice; an insult to how brilliantly made and technically snazzy it is. However, The Ex is ‘small scale’ in terms of how it’s less explosive spectacle, more character-driven psycho-drama. There is, mind, a big bang during the fiery finale. Lester’s gonna Lester. In any case, the producer/director described The Ex as deliberately “European” in its sensibility, telling The Pink Smoke that “it has really good characters and the scenes between the characters are really well developed” [1].

Citing The Ex as one of his favourite projects, Lester flexed his thriller muscles again with his next two Trimark-American World joints, Double Take (1997) and Misbegotten (1997). Like The Ex, Double Take and Misbegotten were shot in Canada and produced in conjunction with maple leaf B-peddlers, Cinépix. The iconic Canuxploitation outfit subsequently absorbed Trimark, when they became Lionsgate. In addition to this, both The Ex and Misbegotten – which was also built from a novel Lester procured an advance copy of – were scripted by the inimitable Larry Cohen. As it happens, Cohen was in the middle of a stalker-thriller run himself, rounded out by Guilty as Sin (1993) and Invasion of Privacy (1996). Incidentally, the latter arrived on cassette via Trimark’s video label, Vidmark, in April 1997 – the same month that The Ex landed on tape through Trimark’s distribution agreement with LIVE Entertainment [2]. 

Anchored by Paul Zaza’s towering, classic-feeling score, The Ex finds Lester twisting the suspense screws with gusto. It’s clear the auteur relishes the change of pace and his impish sense of fun bleeds into the film. Of course, it’s preposterous on occasion. But The Ex is such a devilish entertainment that complaints of implausibility, or complaints about its dips into camp posturing are totally moot. Snappily paced, Lester’s swagger is matched by a pair of lead performances which carefully straddle the divide between sincerity and kitsch.

Yancy Butler is a force of nature as the eponymous spurned lover, Deidre. A la Lester’s stewardship, it’s hardly subtle. Veering close to a full-blown panto-esque evil queen, Butler chews the scenery with abandon and spends the duration of the film crazy eyed and clad in black or red apparel, bludgeoning home the fact she’s a femme of the most fatal kind. Nevertheless, the star is utterly hypnotic and Deidre – a crazed pathological liar with a chaotic past – is second only to Commando’s moustachioed Bennett in Lester’s compelling rogues’ gallery (Class of 1984’s (1982) teenage tearaway, Peter Stegman, bags bronze) [3].

In his first of two Lester assignments (he’d go on to feature in Misbegotten), Nick Mancuso is equally striking as Deidre’s harangued former hubby, David. Chain-smoking and initially masking his unease at Deidre bursting back into his existence behind a cloak of professional stress, Mancuso presents David’s unravelling as a man at war with his baser instincts. His sanity splinters on screen as the toxic, co-dependent behaviours he thought suppressed – kinky sex and a willingness to throw hands – start rearing their ugly head.  

Alas, Butler and Mancuso’s cat n’ mousing is undercut somewhat by Suzy Amis, as David’s new wife, Molly. Amis is bland but the listlessness appears a consequence of The Ex’s sole flub:

Molly is thankless and poorly defined to begin with. 

In keeping with the bulk of Lester’s Trimark-American World slate — and, indeed, his preceding Trimark venture, Extreme Justice (1993) — The Ex premiered on HBO ahead of its video release, playing on 13th December 1996. Fittingly, the Cohen-scribed Invasion of Privacy bowed on the channel a month earlier.

[1] The Films of Mark L. Lester by John Cribbs, The Pink Smoke [dot com], 2011.
[2] The Ex debuted on video in the U.K. through High Fliers at roughly the same time.
[3] As a purely thirsty aside, visually Butler is fire too, to the point where, whenever I watch The Ex, I sort of wish she’d ruin my life and all.