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An erotic thriller that flopped in more ways than one threatens to prematurely evacuate the streaming charts

It happens to everyone eventually.

fatale-2020
via Lionsgate

We’re not here to clutch our pearls at the mere thought of onscreen amorousness taking pride of place on a major streaming service, quite the opposite in fact. That being said, we’d have preferred if this week’s titillating title wasn’t quite so flaccid, even if Fatale has proven to be a great deal more popular with crowds than critics.

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In fact, audiences literally enjoyed it twice as much, with the film’s middling 44 percent Rotten Tomatoes score being dwarfed by its rock hard 88 percent user average. Fatale has been thrusting away at the Netflix charts this week, too, but having dropped by several places since yesterday it could be staring a premature evacuation right in the face.

fatale-2020
via Lionsgate

Per FlixPatrol, the salacious tale of Michael Ealy’s sports agent being hoodwinked by a one-night stand that turned out to be a cop has entered the Top 10 in several countries, and it won’t pull out until its voracious appetite has been satisfied. Not very entertaining, and certainly less than capable of getting you hot under the collar, it’s not exactly the genre’s finest example.

Could it end up getting a second wind? Perhaps, because it’s been made perfectly clear that the humble erotic thriller is one of the most reliable forms of filmmaking for pulling in subscribers on a regular basis, for reasons which should remain fairly self-explanatory.

A $7 million box office haul ensures that it slipped by without anyone noticing the first time around, but Fatale has now found itself becoming an unlikely sensation long after the fact, because we’re all unashamed fans of smut at the end of the day.