I did not expect to like this, but for all the corny 80s tendencies, there is some strong depth to the characters. Mainly, I didn't expect for my allegiance to move between Douglas and Close in such complex ways. She is crazy, certainly, but he is just such a straight-up awful person for most of the film that he's deserving of her crazy. With strong direction, great editing, and incredible performances (especially from Close), its brains and thrills overshadow its cheese.

A married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family. Fatal Attraction (1987) was one of the very first films about a stalker that blindly falls for it's victim and basically stalks every movie that he makes and it's easily one of the better films about that small and forgotten genre it's not just great as a horror film but it's also great as a suspenseful thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat. Glenn Close gives a terrific and believable performance as this crazy woman that stalks Michael Douglas who is also pretty damn great in this film. The final shot of the movie itself during the bathtub sequence feels like an actual horror movie and it is one and a pretty damn great one indeed. The story is focused on one thing and one thing only which is obsession it doesn't try to go on a different direction or try something else it knows what it is and it's a pretty damn serious film it might have some of the classic horror film over the top moments but it doesn't get ridiculous or ruins the movie for the viewer. I can also buy the fact that it was nominated for 6 Oscars since it was pretty damn great and for that i'm going to give it an A+

This is a psychological thriller that's set in New York. A middle-class married man has casual sex with a woman who has borderline personality disorder. When he ends the fling, she reacts by stalking him. I can't praise this film enough - nor can I find any faults in it. The writing, acting, directing etc. are excellent. This is what a thriller should be like - why isn't it regarded as one of the all-time greats? I can't understand why it missed out on Academy Awards, nor why critics insist that slow, boring films like Vertigo are better.

It's amazing to think that dozens - maybe hundreds(?) - of movies, especially from the Lifetime channel, can trace their lineage to this film (and people like John Carpenter and Brian De Palma turned this down in part as they saw it as unoriginal, taking from Clint Eastwood's great debut, Play Misty for Me). I think that makes this hold up is the acting, pure and simple. Douglas and Close and also Anne Archer as the wife really make this material work as strong as it can - they sell every minute they can, and they have to. This is even in knowing that the movie doesn't really have a very firm moral leg to stand on; we should be on Michael Douglas' side, but he's the one that screwed up.Sure, Glenn Close is crazy, or a victim of abuse as well if one wants to dig a little deeper (who knows what happened with dear old dad before he died of that heart attack), but, and this is important, she's right (certainly initially) or at least has a point that should matter about how he's just tossing her to the wayside after a night or two of "fun". I like that Lyne and the writer have underlying implications that make it more harrowing and that it paints the two sides as neither right or wrong (though of course one is more wrong than the other, the wrongs don't make anything right) up to varying degrees. What makes it not stand up over time is the ending, or even the last act.From a writing perspective it should have ended how it was originally supposed to, with Alex killing herself and framing Dan as if it was murder. It calls back to the mention of Madame Butterfly, which is the set up and pay-off. But because the producers acquiesced it turns into the template for countless s***y movies where the character has one last hurrah to mess with the supposed heroes and blood is spilled and one more life is lost. In a sense my criticism is the same as Ebert's, that it kind of turns into a Friday the 13th movie. But at least for 85% of the running time, maybe 90%, it is a provocative, terrifying drama that has a simple moral message: don't cheat.