Single White Female



A 1992 suspense/horror film based on the novel "SWF Seeks Same" by John Lutz.

After breaking up with her boyfriend, Allie (Bridget Fonda) gets a new roommate, Hedy (Jennifer Jason Leigh). They become the best of friends. Then things start to get weird. Like when Hedy gets the same haircut as Allie. This is not going to end well.

This movie contains examples of:

 * Ax Crazy: Hedy.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Hedy, again.
 * Bound and Gagged: Allie, twice.
 * Cat Fight: Between Allie and Hedy towards the climax.
 * Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: Hedy while she searches for Allie.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Hedy's shoebox.
 * The elevator's screwdriver.
 * Creepy Basement: Allie even says she's scared to go there during the night.
 * Death By Adaptation: Hedy and Mitchell.
 * Expy: The Roommate, which is basically this film
 * There's a Beverly Hills 90210 storyline with similarities to this as well, right down to the identical haircut.
 * Eye Scream: When Hedy tricks Sam into infidelity by having sex with him (knowing Sam would mistake her for Allie), Sam decides to tell Allie which leads into struggle between him and Hedy. Hedy then accidentally stabs Sam in the eye with her stiletto heel, killing him instantly.
 * I Just Want to Be You: Hedy at first wants to be like Allie's twin (to compensate for the twin sister she lost), but as that doesn't work out, she takes the next best option: become Allie.
 * Infant Immortality: Averted if you count the puppy.
 * Kick the Dog: More like throw it out of the window.
 * Kick the Son of A Bitch: Hedy tormenting and killing Allie's creepy rapist client Mitchell. Her killing of Sam might arguably count as well, depending on how you view Sam.
 * Manipulative Bitch: Hedy, moreso in the original novel than in the film.
 * Mercy Kill: By the end of the film Hedy is so fucked up mentally that it's hard not to see her death as better for her than living.
 * Though the voiceover in the last scene was Allie's, the shot was apparently meant to be ambigious as to just who was in the appartment there. Hedy might be Not Quite Dead...
 * Psycho Lesbian: Possibly Hedy. Does she want to be Allie, or be with her, or both?
 * Rape Is Okay When Its Female On Male: Averted.
 * Slasher Smile: Boy, can Jennifer Jason Leigh emote.
 * Something They Would Never Say: Inverted. Allie has finally realized the extent of Hedy's depravity when she realizes that she's killed her boyfriend and is desperate to get out of the apartment without arousing Hedy's suspicions. So she hurriedly claims that her neighbor Graham called and asked her to stop by. Unfortunately, Hedy killed Graham as well (actually, he was just unconscious, but she didn't know that) and not only knows that Allie's lying, but realizes that Allie has probably figured out everything else as well.
 * Spared By the Adaptation: Graham Knox.
 * Stalker With a Crush/Les Yay/Yandere: A very effective combination of the three.
 * Stuffed in The Fridge/Murder the Hypotenuse: Hedy kills Allie's boyfriend, Sam. It's actually an accident, though Hedy doesn't really feel bad about it afterward.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Hedy inevitably gets one towards the end.
 * Where Were You Last Night: After Allie reconciles with her fiance, Sam, and spends the night with him, she comes home to a distraught Hedy sitting in the dark, who then prompts the question "Where the hell have you been?"
 * Your Cheating Heart: Sam gets caught cheating when his ex-wife calls both his and Allie's apartment and announces that they slept together via answering machine.