Tired of the traditional, estrogen-laden Valentine's Day fare? If so, check out these alternative takes on the romance genre for Hallmark's favorite holiday.
Silence of the Lambs Meet Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). She's a promising young professional, looking for a good time and a serial killer who skins his victims alive. Enter Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a world-weary intellectual feeling confined by his earlier work. Sparks fly in Jonathan Demme's masterpiece, but nothing ever comes of this romance between a girl on the rise and a guy who can't be held down. The original left us waiting for the sequel, if only in anticipation that Clarice might get another phone call.
Top Gun In the Navy, tensions run high. Competition is heated, and so is the passion. This 1986 blockbuster features a red-hot romance set to the tune of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away." On screen, they stand sweaty and poised, intensely staring at one another. But military rules apply, so fighter pilots Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Iceman (Val Kilmer) can only play volleyball and clench their teeth to relieve sexual tension. Oh, and there's this girl that Maverick uses to dispel any locker room rumors.
The Crying Game It's a simple story: guy meets girl, falls in love. Guy finds out girl's not a girl, but instead a guy, and falls out of love. Neil Jordan's 1992 film might not be considered all that edgy of a romance today -- with its rather run-of-the-mill themes on gender-bending -- but there's a twist: the guy is really a former IRA terrorist. Decisions of love become all the more complicated for the transsexual. After all, anyone who supports terrorism is, well, you know...
King Kong King Kong isn't the most recent film to tackle the woman-ape romance, but it's the original, paving the way for such favorites as Mighty Joe Young and Congo. The film tells the story of an expedition team exploring remote islands when their ship is suddenly taken captive. Fay Ray (Ann Darrow), the lone female in the expedition, is offered as sacrifice to the brutish gorilla Kong. Not surprisingly, he's got a soft spot for the young maiden, and, instead of devouring her, falls hopelessly in love. Vacations never last forever, though, and Ray must return home to New York City. Kong has trouble adjusting to fast-paced city life, and, in the end, things don't work out. But they'll always have that time on the Empire State building.
Fatal Attraction Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) has found the man of her dreams in co-worker Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas). The problem: he's married. Office romances never work out, and when Dan breaks things off and returns to the missus, Alex finds herself alone and heartbroken. But she's a no-quit kind of woman, who's not quite ready to give up on her man. Deterred but still determined, she tries everything possible to win Dan over, including kidnapping his daughter and boiling his family's pet rabbit. You go, girl.
