“What are the best Femme Fatale Movies?” We looked at 134 of the top Femme Fatale films, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 33 films, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Femme Fatale” movie lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 100+ movies, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

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Top 33 Best Femme Fatale Movies Ever Made

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33 .) Born to Kill (1947) directed by Robert Wise

Lists It Appears On:

• Churn Blog
• IMDB
• IPPL

Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) has just received a Reno divorce. That night, she discovers one of her neighbors, Laury Palmer, and a gentleman caller murdered in Palmer’s home. The killer is her neighbor’s other boyfriend, Sam Wilde (Lawrence Tierney), an insanely jealous man who won’t abide anyone “cutting in” on him.

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32 .) Fatal Attraction (1987) directed by Adrian Lyne

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Kos
• Taste Of Cinema
• Telegraph

A married man’s one night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.

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31 .) Game of Thrones (2011-2019) directed by

Lists It Appears On:

• Entertainment
• EW
• Sabotage Times

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30 .) Inception directed by Christopher Nolan

Lists It Appears On:

• Starburst Magazine
• Taste Of Cinema
• The Cinemaholic

Leonardo DiCaprio plays a thief who steals corporate secrets from sleeping minds. Now he must be the first to pull off the reverse: planting an idea in exchange for his freedom.

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29 .) Kill Bill (Vol. 1) directed by Quentin Tarantino

Lists It Appears On:

• Entertainment
• EW
• Softonic

An assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.

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28 .) Kiss Me Deadly (1955) directed by Robert Aldrich

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges

One evening, Hammer gives a ride to Christina, an attractive hitchhiker on a lonely country road, who has escaped from the nearby lunatic asylum. Thugs waylay them and force his car to crash. When Hammer returns to semi-consciousness, he hears Christina being tortured until she dies. Hammer, both for vengeance and in hopes that “something big” is behind it all, decides to pursue the case.

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27 .) Mildred Pierce (1945) directed by Michael Curtiz

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• WH Smith

After her unfaithful husband leaves her, Mildred Pierce proves she can become independent and successful. However winning the approval of her spoiled daughter proves a greater challenge.

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26 .) Murder, My Sweet (1944) directed by Edward Dmytryk

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• IPPL

Gumshoe Philip Marlowe is hired by the oafish Moose Malloy to track down his former girlfriend. He’s also hired to accompany an effeminate playboy buy back some jewels. When the exchange results in the playboy’s murder, Marlowe can’t leave the case alone, and soon discovers it’s related to Malloy’s. As he gets drawn deeper into a complex web of intrigue by a mysterious blonde, the detective finds his own life in increasing jeopardy.

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25 .) Species directed by Roger Donaldson

Lists It Appears On:

• EW
• Softonic
• Starburst Magazine

In 1993, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Project receives a transmission detailing an alien DNA structure, along with instructions on how to splice it with human DNA. The result is Sil, a sensual but deadly creature who can change from a beautiful woman to an armour-plated killing machine in the blink of an eye.

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24 .) The Big Heat (1953) directed by Fritz Lang

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges

Dave Bannion is an upright cop on the trail of a vicious gang he suspects holds power over the police force. Bannion is tipped off after a colleague’s suicide and his fellow officers’ suspicious silence lead him to believe that they are on the gangsters’ payroll. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Bannion becomes a furious force of vengeance and justice, aided along the way by the gangster’s spurned girlfriend Debbie. As Bannion and Debbie fall further and further into the Gangland’s insidious and brutal trap, they must use any means necessary (including murder) to get to the truth. ×

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23 .) The Big Sleep (1946) directed by Howard Hawks

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

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22 .) To Die For directed by Gus Van Sant

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Kos
• EW
• Taste Of Cinema

Suzanne Stone wants to be a world-famous news anchor and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. What she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in cold determination and diabolical wiles. As she pursues her goal with relentless focus, she is forced to destroy anything and anyone that may stand in her way, regardless of the ultimate cost or means necessary.

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21 .) Who Framed Roger Rabbit directed by Robert Zemeckis

Lists It Appears On:

• Reel Rundown
• Starburst Magazine
• Taste Of Cinema

’Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly raised when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect.

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20 .) Body Heat (1981) directed by Lawrence Kasdan

Lists It Appears On:

• Hollywood Intoto
• Reel Rundown
• Screen Queens
• Taste Of Cinema

In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman convinces her lover, a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband.

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19 .) Cruel Intentions directed by Roger Kumble

Lists It Appears On:

• Entertainment
• EW
• Softonic
• Starburst Magazine

Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster’s daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kathryn. But if he loses, Kathryn will claim his most prized possession.

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18 .) Detour (1945) directed by Edgar G. Ulmer

Lists It Appears On:

• Churn Blog
• IMDB
• Starburst Magazine
• Taste Of Cinema

Al Roberts, a New York nightclub pianist, hitch-hikes to Hollywood to meet his girlfriend Sue. The gambler he’s riding with, Charles, unexpectedly dies. Afraid the police wouldn’t believe the truth, Al takes the man’s identity. In a gas station, he gives a lift to Vera, a woman that knew Charles and blackmails Al with tragic consequences.

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17 .) GoldenEye directed by Martin Campbell

Lists It Appears On:

• Entertainment
• EW
• Starburst Magazine
• The Cinemaholic

James Bond must unmask the mysterious head of the Janus Syndicate and prevent the leader from utilizing the GoldenEye weapons system to inflict devastating revenge on Britain.

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16 .) Laura (1944) directed by Otto Preminger

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• IPPL
• List Challenges

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he’s investigating.

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15 .) Out of the Past (1947) directed by Jacques Tourneur

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges
• Taste Of Cinema

Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, CA. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

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14 .) Scarlet Street (1945) directed by Fritz Lang

Lists It Appears On:

• Churn Blog
• IMDB
• IPPL
• Taste Of Cinema

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she’s really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Dan find out that art dealers are interested in Chris’ work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

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13 .) Sunset Boulevard (1950) directed by Billy Wilder

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges
• Taste Of Cinema

A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.

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12 .) The Killers (1946) directed by Robert Siodmak

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges
• Sabotage Times

Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called “the Swede”. When the killers find the Swede, he’s expecting them and doesn’t put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede’s past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

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11 .) The Killing (1956) directed by Stanley Kubrick

Lists It Appears On:

• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges
• Taste Of Cinema

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

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10 .) The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) directed by Tay Garnett

Lists It Appears On:

• IMDB
• List Challenges
• Reel Rundown
• WH Smith

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

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9 .) Chinatown (1974) directed by Roman Polanski

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Lounge
• Flick Chart
• List Challenges
• Sabotage Times
• Taste Of Cinema

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband’s extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

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8 .) Gone Girl (2014) directed by David Fincher

Lists It Appears On:

• Entertainment
• EW
• Screen Queens
• Softonic
• Taste Of Cinema
• Waterstones

With his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent.

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7 .) The Maltese Falcon (1941) directed by John Huston

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Lounge
• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges
• Taste Of Cinema
• Telegraph

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

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6 .) Vertigo (1958) directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Kos
• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• List Challenges
• Taste Of Cinema
• Telegraph

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend’s wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

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5 .) The Last Seduction (1994) directed by John Dahl

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Kos
• EW
• Hollywood Intoto
• List Challenges
• Sabotage Times
• Starburst Magazine
• Taste Of Cinema

Looking to escape her unhappy marriage, villainous femme fatale Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) convinces her husband, Clay (Bill Pullman), to sell cocaine, then steals the profits and runs out on him. She stops in a small town en route to Chicago, where she ensnares her next conquest, insurance man Mike Swale (Peter Berg). After getting a job at his insurance company, Bridget convinces Mike to run a scam – but things take a deadly turn when she recruits him to help get rid of her husband. ×

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4 .) Gilda (1946) directed by Charles Vidor

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Kos
• Flick Chart
• Hollywood Intoto
• IMDB
• IPPL
• List Challenges
• Reel Rundown
• Telegraph

A gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she’s married to his new boss.

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3 .) L.A Confidential directed by Curtis Hanson

Lists It Appears On:

• Entertainment
• EW
• Flick Chart
• Hollywood Intoto
• List Challenges
• Starburst Magazine
• Taste Of Cinema
• The Cinemaholic

Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

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2 .) Basic Instinct (1992) directed by Paul Verhoeven

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Lounge
• Entertainment
• EW
• List Challenges
• Sabotage Times
• Screen Queens
• Softonic
• Starburst Magazine
• Taste Of Cinema
• Telegraph
• The Cinemaholic

A police detective is in charge of the investigation of a brutal murder, in which a beautiful and seductive woman could be involved.

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1 .) Double Indemnity (1944) directed by Billy Wilder

Lists It Appears On:

• Daily Kos
• Daily Lounge
• Entertainment
• Flick Chart
• IMDB
• IPPL
• List Challenges
• Starburst Magazine
• Taste Of Cinema
• Waterstones
• WH Smith

A rich woman and a calculating insurance agent plot to kill her unsuspecting husband after he signs a double indemnity policy. Against a backdrop of distinctly Californian settings, the partners in crime plan the perfect murder to collect the insurance, which pays double if the death is accidental.

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The 100+ Additional Best Femme Fatale Films

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#	Movies	Directors	Lists
34	Batman Returns		EW
–	–	–	Flick Chart
35	Blue Velvet		List Challenges
–	–	–	Starburst Magazine
36	Brick	Rian Johnson	Flick Chart
–	–	–	Taste Of Cinema
37	Dead Reckoning (1947)	John Cromwell	IMDB
–	–	–	IPPL
38	Decoy (1946)	Jack Bernhard	Churn Blog
–	–	–	IMDB
39	Derailed		EW
–	–	–	Softonic
40	Firefly (2002)		EW
–	–	–	Sabotage Times
41	Gun Crazy (1950)	Joseph H. Lewis	IMDB
–	–	–	List Challenges
42	House of Cards		Entertainment
–	–	–	EW
43	Leave Her to Heaven (1945)	John M. Stahl	IMDB
–	–	–	IPPL
44	Mulholland Drive		List Challenges
–	–	–	The Cinemaholic
45	Pickup on South Street (1953)	Samuel Fuller	Flick Chart
–	–	–	IMDB
46	Pitfall (1948)	André De Toth	IMDB
–	–	–	IPPL
47	Swordfish		Entertainment
–	–	–	EW
48	The Lady from Shanghai (1947)	Orson Welles	Flick Chart
–	–	–	IMDB
49	The Paradine Case (1947)	Alfred Hitchcock	Daily Kos
–	–	–	IMDB
50	The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)	Lewis Milestone	IMDB
–	–	–	Taste Of Cinema
51	The Third Man (1949)	Carol Reed	IMDB
–	–	–	List Challenges
52	Too Late for Tears (1949)	Byron Haskin	Churn Blog
–	–	–	IMDB
53	A Touch of Death		WH Smith
54	Aeon Flux		EW
55	American Beauty		Daily Kos
56	Angel Face (1953)	Otto Preminger	IMDB
57	AUDITION		Starburst Magazine
58	Batman vs Superman		The Cinemaholic
59	Being John Malkovich)		The Cinemaholic
60	Big Heat		IPPL
61	Big Sleep		IPPL
62	BLADE RUNNER		Starburst Magazine
63	Body Double		Daily Kos
64	Cape Fear		Waterstones
65	Casino Royale		Daily Lounge
66	Chuck		EW
67	Criss Cross (1949)	Robert Siodmak	IMDB
68	Crooked House		Waterstones
69	Dark Passage		IPPL
70	Disclosure		EW
71	Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)	Roy Ward Baker	IMDB
72	Dream Lover (1993)		Screen Queens
73	Ex Machina		Hollywood Intoto
74	Fallen Angel (1945)	Otto Preminger	IMDB
75	FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL!		Starburst Magazine
76	Femme Fatele		Hollywood Intoto
77	Force of Evil (1948)	Abraham Polonsky	IMDB
78	FROM DUSK TILL DAWN		Starburst Magazine
79	GOLDFINGER		Starburst Magazine
80	High School Confidential! (1958)	Jack Arnold	IMDB
81	Human Desire (1954)	Fritz Lang	IMDB
82	I Wake Up Screaming (1941)	H. Bruce Humberstone	IMDB
83	In a lonely place		IPPL
84	Key Largo		IPPL
85	Killers		IPPL
86	La Femme Nikita		EW
87	Lady from Shanghai		IPPL
88	Lady in the Lake (1946)	Robert Montgomery	IMDB
89	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider		Softonic
90	Macao		IPPL
91	Maltese Falcon		Daily Kos
92	Mata Hari		List Challenges
93	Memento		Hollywood Intoto
94	Miss Sadie Thompson		Hollywood Intoto
95	Mr. and Mrs. Smith		EW
96	My Cousin Rachel (2017)		Telegraph
97	Niagara (1953)	Henry Hathaway	IMDB
98	Night and the city		IPPL
99	Nikita		List Challenges
100	Odds against tomorrow		IPPL
101	One Girl’s Confession (1953)	Hugo Haas	IMDB
102	Play Misty for Me		Daily Kos
103	Postman always rings twice		IPPL
104	Pulp Fiction (1994)		Telegraph
105	Red Sparrow		Softonic
106	Romeo Is Bleeding		List Challenges
107	Sons of Anarchy		EW
108	STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT		Starburst Magazine
109	Strange love of Martha Ivers		IPPL
110	Sudden Fear		IPPL
111	The Avengers		The Cinemaholic
112	The Blue Angel (1930)		Sabotage Times
113	The Blue Dahlia (1946)	George Marshall	IMDB
114	The Bride Wore Black		WH Smith
115	The Crocodile Bird		Waterstones
116	The Dark Knight Rises		EW
117	The File on Thelma Jordon (1950)	Robert Siodmak	IMDB
118	The Lara Croft Movies		EW
119	The Last One Left		Waterstones
120	The Long Kiss Goodnight		EW
121	The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956)	Raoul Walsh	IMDB
122	The Strange Woman (1946)		Churn Blog
123	The Woman in the Window (1944)	Fritz Lang	IMDB
124	The Woman on the Beach (1947)	Jean Renoir	IMDB
125	They Drive by Night		List Challenges
126	This Gun For Hire		IPPL
127	Transporter 2		The Cinemaholic
128	UNDER THE SKIN		Starburst Magazine
129	Wild Things		The Cinemaholic
130	Woman in the window		IPPL
131	X-Men		EW

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20 Best Femme Fatale Film Sources/Lists

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Source	Article
Churn Blog	Great Femme Fatales: 6 Underappreciated Film Noir Villains
Daily Kos	Saturday Night at the Movies – “Body Heat” and Other Femme Fatale
Daily Lounge	And Then SHE Walked In’: Hollywood’s Best Femme Fatales
Entertainment	10 of the best and most deadly femmes fatales in Hollywood history
EW	25 of the Greatest Femme Fatales
Flick Chart	The Best Femme Fatale Movies of All Time
Hollywood Intoto	Top 5 Movie Femme Fatales – Hollywood in Toto
IMDB	Greatest Femmes Fatales in Classic Film Noir
IPPL	Great Movies: Dangerous Women in Pivotal Roles: Infamous Femme
List Challenges	Top 25 Femme Fatales in Film – How many have you seen?
Reel Rundown	The Greatest Femme Fatales in the History of Film
Sabotage Times	The 9 Most Devilish Femme Fatales – Sabotage Times
Screen Queens	Modern Femme Fatales
Softonic	8 Best femme fatale movies 2018
Starburst Magazine	Top 20: FEMME FATALES
Taste Of Cinema	The 20 Greatest Femme Fatales in American Cinema
Telegraph	Femmes fatales in movies
The Cinemaholic	10 Best Femme Fatale Movies of All Time
Waterstones	Peter Swanson Picks his Five Favourite Fictional Femme Fatales
WH Smith	Ultimate Femme Fatales