Movie
Tick Tock (2000)
Most films in the 1990s and 2000s featuring lesbians had them as villainesses, and this twisty thriller is no exception. Tick Tock has a quite unique storytelling mechanic where a plot twist occurs, time rewinds to an earlier point, and we then see events from another character’s perspective. This approach suits this cleverly evolving story set in Bakersfield, California (lots of landmarks are used, notably the Beale Memorial Clock Tower).
Rachel Avery is a trophy wife to the domineering Holden (David Dukes in one of his last film roles), and her best friend and lover Carla is a scheming photographer. Initially the theme appears to be blackmail with Carla setting up Rachel with a guy named Travis Brewer (Linden Ashby as a cowboy type). He then attempts to blackmail Rachel with Carla’s photographs, not realising the two women are in cahoots to murder Holden and frame Travis for the crime.
Extra players are gradually revealed through flashbacks, including a private detective who Holden has hired to follow Rachel and identify her secret lover. This is also a ploy by the scheming women, using the PI to create an alibi for Rachel while Carla commits the murder. She does the deed fully nude except for surgical gloves, which is an inventive way of keeping blood off her clothes. The murder weapon is an ivory tusk Travis was tricked into handling earlier.
With the detective set for an appointment at Holden’s place, the plan is for him to discover the body. Rachel and Carla gloat in the restroom over successfully duping the two men into aiding them in their diabolical murder plot. But like all brilliant plans, this one comes apart in the middle act leading to increasing desperation.
Villainesses
Rachel Avery (Megan Ward), Carla (Kristin Minter)
Carla is the planner and drives most important events, with Rachel shown as more reluctant – even though it’s her who will inherit her husband’s money. When the detective fails to make his intended appointment and Travis discovers Holden’s body first, the fall guy cleans up the murder scene and the women are forced to make alternative plans. Carla repeatedly claims “this is even better than we planned” every time something goes wrong. And a lot of things do, so get ready to hear those words a lot.
Rachel and Carla have a narrow miss after they recover the corpse from where Travis dumped it and get pulled over by a deputy sheriff. Rachel passes an alcohol test with Carla watching – in true smoking, femme fatale fashion – and the lovers just manage to keep the faulty trunk closed. Unfortunately for them, their joy proves short lived as they find the Avery residence occupied by Holden’s daughter Anne, who’s introduced by – yes, another time rewind segment.
Rachel becomes increasingly stressed and angry towards Carla as their plan falls apart. This leads to her abandoning the frame up plot when she watches her accomplice seduce Travis at a remote cabin. Enraged, she knocks Travis out with a shovel. Things go downhill rapidly when Carla finds the dead body has fallen out of the trunk. While Rachel is able to find the missing cadaver, she runs into the private detective – now working for Anne to investigate Holden’s disappearance – and gets detained. Carla comes quite literally racing to the rescue, running down the pesky PI at high speed.
When the schemers attempt to frame Travis again, he’s ready and waiting with a revolver. Carla feigns an argument to gain the advantage, but Rachel’s patience with her co-conspirator has run out and she shoots Carla fatally in the chest. The finale has Rachel escort the handcuffed Travis through the nearby woods at gunpoint, only to discover the gun she stole from the detective is faulty. Perhaps she should have taken Travis’ weapon instead, but she’d wiped it clean and left it beside Carla’s body.
After a chase and struggle, an enraged Rachel bashes Travis’ head in with a shovel. However, the dying man had freed himself from the handcuffs and secured Rachel’s ankle to his wrist. Thus the murderess is left to die alone in a secluded woodland. An epilogue features a news report of Travis being a suspect in Rachel’s kidnapped. Months – or maybe years – later, the final scene reveals the skeletal remains of Rachel and Travis remain undiscovered.
Video Review
Honourable Mentions (Unranked)
Hourglass (1995) – Dara Jensen (Sofia Shinas), Kami (Colette O’Connell)
Another psycho lesbian pairing, Dara and Kami are the highlight of this terrible thriller about a fashion mogul targeted by a mysterious woman who murders everyone in his life. C. Thomas Howell plays Michael Jardine (no connection to the detective from the Scottish TV series Taggart) and he’s as unlikeable as they come. Not good when the viewer has to put up with his insane rants and crass attitude for pretty much the entire duration.
The film borders on unwatchable with boring boardroom segments, difficult to follow dialogue, and bizarre sequences such as a house party with people dancing around Jardine’s father as he sleeps on a life support machine. Dara is a scheming murderess skilled in martial arts with a varied wig collection. Her best moments before the hectic climax are sparring with Jardine in a health centre, the opening strangulation of his wife during a sexual encounter on a beach (nowhere near as good as it sounds, unfortunately), and a knife attack on Jardine’s business associate. The central character’s brother is also on Dara’s kill list, but that murder happens off screen and we only see the seduction and post mortem corpse.
Jardine’s assistant Kami is also Dara’s accomplice, and if he weren’t busy scolding his associates he might have spotted the obvious killer couple in his midst. The two lovers reveal their plan for the denouement, and Dara proceeds to beat up Jardine while taunting him about all the people she’s killed. Choroegraphy is amateurish here, but the scene is interesting enough to include as an honourable mention. Jardine takes out Kami – throwing her off a balcony – but Dara survives and Jardine ends up in prison plotting his own revenge. Hard to feel any sympathy for this guy, and anyone who makes it to the end will likely root for the villainess.
Listen (1996) – Krista Barron (Sarah Buxton)
Just the one lesbian psycho this time, though any 1990s movie buff will know to suspect Krista for that reason alone. She’s the friend and on/off lover of the main character Sarah Ross (Brooke Langton), a woman who enjoys listening to phone sex conversations via crossed telephone wires. That’s until she discovers a man she’s eavesdropping on lives in her own apartment building, and the women are being murdered. There’s a serial killer on the loose collecting earrings from the victims, and it may just be someone in Sarah’s life.
A number of suspects are provided, including a really sinister co-tenant named Randy Wilkes and her boyfriend Jake Taft. Plenty of suspicion is thrown on these guys. Wilkes threatens Sarah after she shares her suspicions about him with the police, and Jake watches violent videos in a seedy screening room while waving his hands like an orchestra conductor (with accompanying music for added effect). And yes – there’s also a guy who has photos of women plastered on his bedroom wall. That would be the apartment manager, but he’s ruled out pretty quickly when he commits suicide after being falsely accused.
The finale is a double dose of fake suspect reveals and fatal shootings. Wilkes attacks Sarah – and refusing to stop even when the police show up – then Jake acts all threatening, only for Krista to blow him away. This was all part of the villainess’ frame up plot, and she secretly plants evidence to incriminate the dead boyfriend. With the competion all deceased, Krista now how Sarah to herself.
Action Woman Fan 