‘The Woman in the Window’ starring Amy Adams dropped on Netflix a couple of weeks ago and people are still debating whether it’s a good movie, a bad movie, or a so-bad-it’s-good movie.
We’re looking back at the movie as well as some other trashy thrillers which could also be described as so-bad-they’re-good.
The Woman in the Window
Anna Fox (Adams), a child psychologist suffering with agoraphobia, lives alone in a condo in New York. She befriends a neighbour (Julianne Moore), who she thinks she sees get murdered. But the neighbour’s husband (Gary Oldman) claims that she’s never met his wife. 'The Woman in the Window is pulpy, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and is unashamedly hammy, even in the performances.
Secret Obsession
Newlywed Jennifer (Brenda Song) awakens with amnesia having been hit by a car after running away from a hooded man. Fortunately, her husband Russell (Mike Vogel) is a constant support to her. When the couple return home from hospital, Jennifer gets flashbacks she can't understand and starts to question her marriage. It's a camp, overly dramatic, stalker-thriller type of movie, very predictable and consistently ridiculous, and in fairness, a lot of fun once you know and have accepted what you're in for.
Greta
A 20-something-year-old named Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) finds a handbag left on the subway and returns it to its owner, Greta (Isabelle Huppert). They strike up a friendship based on their mutual loneliness living in New York. When Frances learns that Greta has been leaving multiple handbags around the city in the hopes that someone will bring one back to her, she cuts ties with her. Greta proceeds to stalk Frances. Flawed as it is, ‘Greta’ is generally entertaining, has two great lead performances in Moretz and Huppert, and is aware of how camp it is.
Black Water: Abyss
Five friends (two beautiful couples and the comic relief friend) explore a remote cave system in Northern Australia. A storm traps them inside as water levels underground rise and a hungry crocodile threatens their lives. Reptile and crocodile slash alligator horrors tend to be of the B-horror variety and rarely take themselves overly serious. Like other trashy thrillers, ‘Black Water: Abyss’ is full of plot holes and clichés like the phones have no signal, as well as the ‘Final Girl’ plot device that’s common in horrors, no matter the quality.
Fatal Affair
If you surrender yourself to the absolute ridiculousness of 'Fatal Affair', you may find it vaguely enjoyable. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good movie. The 'Fatal Attraction' gender swap sees a married woman, Ellie (Nia Long), consider having an affair with an old friend, David (Omar Epps), but decides to call it off last minute. As Ellie tries to repair her marriage, David proceeds to stalk her and her loved ones. Dun dun duuuuun…
The Call
The funny thing about ‘The Call’ is that it’s almost a genuine thriller. But thanks to its ridiculous third act, it falls into the trashy thriller category. Halle Berry plays a veteran 911 operator who feels responsible for the death of a teenage girl while she was on the job. Thus when she gets a call from another teenager (played by Abigail Breslin), who has been abducted and placed in the boot of his moving car, she is more determined than ever, going all out to save her.
The Girl on the Train
This movie is like the less talented and largely ignored younger sibling of 'Gone Girl'. Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) commutes to Manhattan every day, longing to have the life of those who live in the wonderful houses outside her window. In particular Megan's (Hayley Bennett), whose marriage to the buff Scott (Luke Evans) looks like the perfect one. Then Rachel witnesses something that changes everything...
Snakes on a Plane
Few movie titles have been as to the point as 'Snakes on a Plane'. Expect to have a lot of laughs at the silliness of it. All hell is about to break loose over the Pacific Ocean. An assassin has unleashed hundreds of venomous snakes on a flight from Hawaii to LA in order to off a federal witness due to testify in a murder trial. Enter Samuel L. Jackson as a federal agent determined to protect the witness and other passengers, as he delivers that wholly iconic line...
Anaconda
While we're on the subject matter of snakes... This 1997 horror inspired a whole movie franchise. It actually had quite an impressive cast between Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde and Owen Wilson. The movie follows a documentary film crew in the Amazon rainforest that is captured by an insane snake hunter who is hunting down an enormous and deadly anaconda.
Dangerous Lies
This trashy thriller is a Netflix original from 2020 and stars someone who 'Riverdale' fans should recognise - Camila Mendes - and another who 'Friends' fans will spot - Elliot Gould. When a wealthy elderly man dies and unexpectedly leaves his estate to his new caregiver, she's drawn into a web of deception and murder. Katie (Mendes) starts to question the events and people around her, including her husband, who she had convinced her employer to hire.
Fatale
From the outside, Derrick Tyler (Michael Ealy) appears to have it all – a successful talent agency, a luxurious home, and a beautiful wife, Tracie (Damaris Lewis). But when he has an affair with a mysterious woman (Hilary Swank) during a business trip to Las Vegas, everything comes under threat. Every twist and turn - if you can call them that, since ‘Fatale’ plays out so obviously - gets trippier and sillier as the feature progresses.
Deadly Illusions
'Sex and the City' star Kristin Davis leads the cast of 'Deadly Illusions'. She plays Mary, a bestselling novelist, who hires a nanny to mind the children so she has time to write a new book. The woman, Grace (Greer Grammer), and Mary soon strike up a friendship. But Grace starts making her way into some very vivid dreams of Mary's. Thus she starts to question what is real and what's an illusion. Classic trashy stuff.
