Forget 'All About Steve.' Here are Hollywood's Best Stalker-Girlfriend Movies.

by Raina Kelley

In All About Steve, Bradley Cooper is a cute news camera man who goes on a blind date with Sandra Bullock. For her, it's love at first sight. For him, it's "Whoa, get away from me before I get a restraining order." So Sandra does want any self-respecting woman would. She stalks him, even if that means hitting the road as he travels from state to state for his job. The premise is potentially funny, because (a) Hollywood loves stalker-girlfriend films; and (b) Who wouldn't want to stalk Bradley Cooper?

But here’s my thing about stalker-girlfriend movies.  I usually root for the stalker.  I guess it all started in 1987 when Fatal Attraction was released. Alex Forrester (the character played by Glenn Close) rocks! Right up to the moment she kidnapped the kid, I was firmly in her corner.  I mean, really. He’s the one who was married. And this is where I part ways with other feminists who bemoan the surplus of stalker girlfriends in neighborhood cineplexes. I would rather a sister go crazy and go down fighting than to shuffle quietly offscreen with all the gumption of a lamb going to slaughter.  And another thing: despite the fact that most stalker girlfriends end up dead, these movies can be seen as a sort of revenge therapy for women. Because in the real world, stalking is a man’s game (87 percent of the time, according to one study) and there are no Hollywood endings.

Besides, who goes to the movies for the real world? I want the stalkers that make you shriek—women who were stone crazy and not afraid to show it. Yeah, yeah, we recently had Obsessed, but that was all about Beyoncé, the roundhouse-kicking good girl. Here’s my highly objective list of the best stalker girlfriends ever committed to celluloid:

Alex Forrester in Fatal Attraction (1987): From the moment she growls; “I’m not going to be ignored, Dan,” you know Michael Douglas’s character is in big trouble. The modern template for hot chicks with loose morals and borderline personality disorder, Alex is smarter, faster, and meaner than Dan. She doesn’t hesitate to hit him where he’ll hurt the most. That’s what you want in a stalker girlfriend—ferocity and enthusiasm.

Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) in Misery (1990):  Though she falls more in the superfan camp than girlfriend, Wilkes is a homicidal nurse who kidnaps her favorite author under the guise of saving him from a car accident. (Stay with me.) A true believer in the old adage; “You gotta be cruel to be kind,” Wilkes has Paul Sheldon (James Caan) hopping from one hobbled foot to the next until right before the credits roll. Striking a blow for homely and socially awkward sociopaths everywhere, she still manages, with her dying breath, to teach her prey the message underlying most of these stalker chick flicks─“You’re lucky to be alive, mister. Just be grateful you didn’t marry the crazy one. Now go on and enjoy your perfect life. And be nice to your wife … you never know when she might snap.”

Evelyn (Jessica Walker) in Play Misty for Me (1971): This is the raw material that Fatal Attraction was made from. Except it’s Clint Eastwood who plays the hapless protagonist (and DJ) on a break from his free-spirited girlfriend (Donna Mills).  In between Evelyn’s intrusions (they start with steak and salad and work their way up to stabbing Clint’s housekeeper and cutting Donna’s hair off), there are some really trippy scenes. It’s worth Netflixing just for the 10-minute scene set to Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Evelyn is a little too insane and Clint is little too blasé about the whole thing, but Evelyn gets her licks in. And did I mention the polyester bell-bottom pantsuits?

Hedy Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in Single White Female (1992): Played with just the right amount of wide-eyed delusional jealousy, Hedy is a nutcase from minute one. Except Allie Jones (Bridget Fonda) is too busy being stepped on by her cheating boyfriend and sexually-harassing employer to notice. Until that is, Hedy starts bumping off Allie’s loved ones and killing innocent dogs. I’ll admit, the whole story behind Hedy’s motivations is a little trite. But it’s worth it just to see Bridget Fonda’s character finally stand up for herself.

Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) in Swimfan (2002): This is Fatal Attraction meets Felicity (remember how Keri Russell traveled all the way to New York to stalk a boy at college?). Madison is obsessed with Billy (Jesse Bradford) who has sex with her (“just once”) but prefers his girlfriend. Madison proceeds to ruin his life, you know, by lurking around his locker, following him home, sending him nude photos of herself via e-mail and getting him kicked off the swim team. But Billy fights back, clears his name and gets his gal pal back. As much as I liked Madison’s ingenuity and give her points for sheer cruelty, she really was misguided. I wondered why she’d waste all her maniacal energy on such a lunkhead.