Black Widow (1987)

A woman (Theresa Russell) gets off a jet and learns her husband has died. She goes to their home and picks up a brandy decanter and pours it into the sink as if it had some importance. It does. A data analyst (Debra Winger) for the Justice Department shows us how it matters as we watch her slowly decipher the evil plotting of the aforementioned widow. These are women who are lonely and seem detached from the world. They soon meet up at a vacation resort after the analyst has posed as a reporter to try to talk to the dark loner. The widow was fearful of being interviewed and had a panic attack but we never learn why, but no matter for BLACK WIDOW is engaging and full of scenes to occupy us. Anyway back at the resort the two ladies become friends and share the interests of the same man. The analyst would never be a suitable fit as her emotions are somewhere else. Likewise with the dark widow. Here a man is after two women who are obviously incompatible with him and he doesn't realize it. What is kewl is how this drama is completed. Will the nice man be murdered like the others before? Will the black widow set up the data analyst in some incriminating design? We wait until the last seconds to see how it concludes, sheer delicious cinema. I like how the characters have to guess what the other ones know. [4.3 stars]