LETHAL WOMAN (1988)

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological*

Of all the many cinematic takes on the classic short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” LETHAL WOMAN had the most potential to provide a novel take on the venerable concept. I’m not talking about the obvious twist of the script, which makes man-hunting into a scheme for female empowerment. Rather, I’m thinking of the movie’s one venture into mythopoeic waters; that of naming its villainess “Diana,” after the Roman name for the Goddess of the Hunt.

To be sure, the film’s first third doesn’t seem like it’s going to delve into matters mythic or, for that matter, metaphenomenal. In this pair of reviews I noted that the “human-hunting” scenario doesn’t automatically qualify a given film for metaphenomenal status; that like many other such tropes, it’s uncanny or naturalistic depending on the way it’s handled. LETHAL’s set-up initially seems staunchly naturalistic, as protagonist Derek Johnson, retired army major, is compelled to return to active service by his superiors. The army’s become aware that about twenty of their officers have gone missing, and the only thing that allows investigators to connect the dots is that all fhe missing men had some contact with an enterprise on a Caribbean island (presumably outside the U.S.’s sphere of control). An ad promises customers an “erotic adventure,” and army intelligence has tracked down the island as belonging to a former officer, Christine Newhouse (Merete Van Kamp). The army brass wants Johnson to masquerade as a customer, to expose whatever’s going on.

As the officers brief Johnson on Christine, however, the film shifts into her viewpoint, showing the events of the past in a way that doesn’t exactly flatter the army. Christine, an army brat from childhood, has shown such formidable skills in firearms and in unarmed combat-practice that she’s called to confer with her current superior, Major Maxim. But Maxim hasn’t summoned Christine to praise her, but to order her to stop showing off her skills, because they’re bad for the morale of the male soldiers. When Christine refuses to submit to Maxim’s will, he resorts to overpowering and raping her in his office. Two subordinates outside the office hear the commotion but don’t get involved. When Christine brings charges against the Major, he claims that the sex was voluntary on her part, and even Christine’s boyfriend testifies against her so as to avoid being penalized by the Major. Christine loses her case and leaves the army, justifiably bitter against all men (though at least one woman is implicated in the corruption, since Christine’s best female friend reacts by falling into bed with her traitorous ex-boyfriend).

Thus far, the backstory seems very naturalistic, particularly in the harrowing rape-scene, which would not have been out of place in any melodramatic movie-of-the-week. But since this is a “Most Dangerous Game” riff, Christine somehow sets up a covert man-hunting operation on the aforementioned island. How she paid to purchase the island, or recruited to her service a half-dozen other female victims of rape—the script does not trouble to ask. Further, since Christine—who has rechristened herself Diana—is only focused on military men, she and her people have no particular reason to accept Johnson as an applicant. At the end of the briefing, an officer says that Johnson was somehow associated with the trial Christine lost, but his status at the time isn’t explained, nor does Christine/Diana recognize him when the two meet. Nevertheless, Johnson’s application for the erotic adventure is accepted.

Before he arrives, though, the viewer gets to see Diana’s modus operandi played out. One might’ve thought that the woman-hating Major Maxim would have been one of Diana’s first targets, but instead, he’s the last one to get hunted before Johnson arrives on the island. Obviously, had he been killed offstage, this would have deprived the film’s audience the pleasure of seeing the despicable fellow offed on-camera. Initially Maxim comes to the island, thinking that he’s going to have sex with all the island-women, who are, inevitably, equally gorgeous. Instead, they all don archaic hunting-outfits—complete with non-feminine “war paint”-- and chase Maxim through the woods. The huntresses all utilize archaic weapons as well: knives, spears, and crossbows, and it’s at this point that the film forges an interesting connection between the “Dangerous Game” trope and the Greek myth of Actaeon. While that venerable Greek hunter wasn’t precisely guilty of rape, he did, however unwittingly, commit an act of sexual voyeurism against the goddess Diana, for which offense she changed him into a hart, who was then destroyed by his own hunting-gods. The Diana of LETHAL WOMAN takes a more personal tack. Having wounded Maxim with an arrow, Diana personally grapples with him, and before killing him blinds him by stabbing his eyes with barbed earrings. Can you say “displaced sexual symbolism?” Knew you could.

Now, at this point, viewers are likely to feel more sympathy with Diana’s Amazons than they ever would’ve experienced toward Count Zaroff and his close imitators. So, when Johnson arrives on his mission of investigation (and maybe assassination), the script has to work hard to make the society of rape-victims less sympathetic. Diana sets up a demonstration of martial arts for Johnson’s benefit, and one of the tough girls beats up on a girl named Tory (Shannon Tweed), whom Johnson already likes. Johnson’s decent intentions toward Tory may have been intended to represent normative male-female relations, but the romance between Johnson and Tory is too bland to offset the intense melodrama of Christine/Diana’s maltreatment. The writers also strenuously avoid giving more than incidental characterization to the other huntresses, probably so that when Johhson has to kill some of them, the viewers won’t think of him as a Bad Guy.

Inevitably the hunt is on, and though Johnson takes out some of his pursuers, he ends up falling to his apparent death, just like the protagonist of the original Condon story. He survives, sneaking back into Diana’s compound. Here appears another small twist on the original, for Diana very nearly kills Johnson, and he’s only saved because Tory, “the good woman,” stabs Diana with a spear. Here, too, the script gives Diana the sympathetic edge, for though the spear goes right through her, she comes close to stabbing Johnson with the very weapon that has killed her.

The film ends quickly, before anyone raises the question as to whether Tory’s last-miute change of heart overturns her earlier participation in twenty murders. There’s no real question that Diana, the “Lethal Woman” of the title, is the star of the film. The only interesting aspect of Johnson is that twice the script remarks on how short he is. For a time I wondered if this also had a sexual subtext. Now I think it was just the script’s way of reminding viewers that Diana almost wins her fight with Johnson partly because he’s not that much bigger than she is.