Black Widow

Black Widow (1987) is an American psychological thriller directed by Bob Rafelson — watch it online on iFILM, with Debra Winger and Theresa Russell in a two-woman game that keeps shifting which of them has the upper hand.

Federal agent Alexandra Barnes (Winger) spots a pattern: wealthy husbands of the same young woman keep dying, one after another, each in a different city, each under a different name, each with a clean medical explanation. Catherine (Russell) is a gifted chameleon — every identity is complete, every grieving widow act is perfect. Standard investigative tools get Alexandra nowhere. Going undercover puts her in Catherine's actual orbit, including the same man Catherine is currently working on.

Rafelson turns the cat-and-mouse setup into something stranger: the closer Alexandra gets to Catherine, the more the line between observer and subject blurs. Winger plays driven and slightly obsessed; Russell plays warmth with ice underneath. Dennis Hopper and Terry O'Quinn round out the cast. This one is less about the murders than about two women studying each other with increasing intensity. Stream Black Widow (1987) online on iFILM.