From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Santanico Pandemonium

Robert Rodriguez' sexy and ultra-violent crime thriller was memorable for its musical number performed at the sleazy, vampire-infested Titty Twister roadhouse (open 'from dusk till dawn') in Mexico to a leering, cheering audience of mostly truckers.

The nudie dancer-stripper was voluptuous, maroon bikini-clad and caped Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek) on a fiery stage. Her name was derived from the character in the director Gilberto Martínez Solares' nunsploitation horror film Satanico Pandemonium: La Sexorcista (1975, Mex.). She used her seductive human features (full breasts covered by a dark reddish bikini bra) to entice males.

She was introduced as "The Mistress of the Macabre," "The Epitome of Evil" and "The Most Sinister Woman Who Ever Danced on the Face of This Earth." When she removed her cape, she had an oversized white snake phallically wrapped around her.

After performing a sensual, entrancing snake-dance, the Queen Vampire descended (without her snake) into the South of the Border audience for more intimate and sultry dancing. She poured alcohol from a large bottle of booze down her bare leg and stuck her wet foot to be licked into the mouth of deranged criminal Richard "Richie" Gecko (actor/scripter Quentin Tarantino). She also took a mouthful of alcohol and dribbled it from her mouth into his. Richie's brother Seth (George Clooney) applauded loudly when she finished: "That's what I call a f--kin' show!"

When a fight broke out between some of the bar patrons and the Gecko brothers, Richie was stabbed in the hand. Soon, he became an undead victim of Santanico's destructive vampirish attack when she lustfully saw blood dripping from his wounded hand. She morphed into a vampire creature, jumped on Richie's back, and lethally directed her fangs into his neck. Seth fired at the vampire on Richie, and they both hit the floor.

A feeding frenzy was then initiated ("Dinner is served") when the bar employees came back as "undead" vampires and attacked the living. Seth eliminated Santanico, who was threatening to make him enslaved to her, by shooting down a chandelier from above to impale her. Richie also came back as an "undead" vampire, and Seth was forced to reluctantly kill him, by pounding a wooden pool cue into his chest.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

The Borg Queen

The sexy, cunning Borg Queen (Alice Krige) used time travel to enslave Earth's humanity in the 21st century (the year 2063).

Her memorable entrance featured her organic head, shoulders and spinal cord descending from the ceiling and latching onto her synthetic, artificial body, as she announced:

Are you ready?...I am the Borg... I am the beginning, the end, the one who is many. I am the Borg...I am the Collective.

As head of the Borg, her mission was to absorb or assimilate all other species or cultures into the collective consciousness. To captured android Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) (with an implanted emotion chip) from the USS Enterprise, she claimed:

By assimilating other beings into our Collective, we are bringing them closer to perfection.

Trainspotting (1996, UK)

Mark Renton

Director Danny Boyle's black-humored crime drama, set in Edinburgh, England, opened with the introduction of heroin addict Mark "Rent Boy" Renton (Ewan McGregor) and his friends fleeing from the scene of a crime. The pursuit was set to the sounds of Iggy Pop’s "Lust For Life."

His memorable voice-over narration, a diatribe known as "Choose Life," also played as Renton sprinted away from the authorities and security guards:

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f--kin' big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchased in a range of f--kin' fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f--k you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sittin' on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f--kin' junk food into your mouth. Choose rottin' away at the end of it all, pissin' your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarassment to the selfish, f--ked-up brats that you've spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life...But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

Face/Off (1997)

Castor Troy

In director John Woo's sci-fi action film (his third American film), two antagonists opposed each other:

• FBI Special Agent Sean Archer (John Travolta)
• Terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage)

In the credits-introduction, a concealed Castor Troy was first viewed as a sniper setting up the killing of his opponent Sean Archer, who was on a merry-go-round and hugging his son. However, his bullet went astray - Archer was hit in the shoulder and the bullet went through him and killed his son.

Then, six years later, Castor Troy was identified by Archer's FBI office as a freelance terrorist. The psychotic Troy was located in a Los Angeles building where a church choir sang during an international church choirs convention (and a meeting of the American Bar Association). He was placing and arming a bomb (nicknamed Sinclaire) in the building, and then, disguised as a priest dancing provocatively to Handel’s “Messiah," he walked toward the choir after doing some head rotations (or head-banging), with open arms and a grin.

A blonde choir girl (Megan Paul) in the front row dropped her sheet music. Castor picked it up for her, and then let loose some vulgarities as he whispered in her ear and stroked her hair:

"I never really enjoyed the Messiah, in fact, I think it's f--king boring. But your voice makes even hack like Handel seem like a genius."

He then sang "Hallelujah" a few times, squeezed her behind with his two hands, and made a lunatic face toward heaven (was he orgasming?).

Lolita (1997)

Dolores "Lo" Haze

In director Adrian Lyne's controversial version of Vladimir Nabokov's novel (and a remake of Kubrick's 1962 film), the first view of young "nymphet" Dolores Lolita (or "Lo") Haze (15 year-old Dominique Swain) was sunbathing in her backyard. Professor Humbert Humbert (Jeremy Irons), a self-confessed pedophile, was being shown the house as a possible place to rent a room during the summer of 1947 before teaching at Ramsdale's Beardsley College in the fall. Widowed single mother Charlotte Haze (Melanie Griffith) was leading the tour, and Humbert was about to decline her $20/month offer.

Charlotte suggested a last-minute view of her backyard piazza ("Don't say 'no' until you've seen the piazza") - he was stunned by the sight of young daughter Lolita and remarked: "beautiful" - referring to Lolita rather than widowed mother's (Melanie Griffith) garden of lilies. Lo's upraised legs twisted and turned sensuously in the falling water. She was reading a magazine filled with pictures of movie stars, while a lawn sprinkler soaked her pale sundress.

It was Humbert's first heart-stopping view of Dolores "Lolita" (Charlotte pointed her out: "That's my Lo"). When she glanced up at him, she smiled - revealing her braces' retainer. Smitten, Humbert was convinced to stay and rent a room, and he asked for the amount of rent.

U Turn (1997)

Grace McKenna

Director Oliver Stone's western-styled film noir thriller, similar to Blood Simple (1984) and Red Rock West (1993), was a bloody, violence-filled black comedy. The deadly cat-and-mouse game came with many twists and turns involving double-crosses, deception, jealousy and greed.

It opened with disreputable, pill-popping lout/gambler Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) stuck in the remote town of Superior, Arizona while his overheated red Mustang convertible was being repaired for a busted radiator hose by greasy, coke-bottle glasses-wearing mechanic Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton). He was on his way to Las Vegas to repay a debt of $13,000 to a member of the Russian mafia, after already having two of his fingers chopped off as punishment.

He had walked to town where he caught a glimpse of the film's gorgeous femme fatale temptress in a tight orange dress: "half-breed" Apache Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez). The first sight of her was a flashy, blurry scan of her chest. She was coming out of a store carrying packages (drapes), and he followed the flirtatious female down the street to her Jeep, and assisted her with the heavy boxes.

Although she was referring to her recent purchases, he was thinking of something else when she said:

You ever see something and just knew you had to have it?

After introducing themselves to each other, she invited him to her house, to help her install the drapes, and to shower (and clean up) and get something cool to drink. At the house, she told him his fortune - and although she asked what he wanted (supposedly sex with her), she then coldly mentioned she wanted to hang drapes.

There's something in your past. Something. There's a pain. There's something you want very badly. It seems very far away to you right now. But you're determined. You're determined and you'll do what you must to get it....You tell me what every face tells me. Everybody has a past. They have pain and they have something they want. What is it you want?

After helping her with the task, Bobby was asked, seductively: "Now what should we do?" Although she gave plenty of signs that she wanted him, she was also playing games and stalling: "And what game you wanna play? You carry my boxes for me and I fall into bed with you?...Maybe I like to know about a man first. Maybe I like to find out what he's made of...Still didn't answer my question...What is it you want?"

Eventually, Bobby kissed her - but at that very moment, her rich and abusive husband (and father!) Jake (Nick Nolte) barged in and caught them. She blurted out: "I thought you were in Phoenix." He told his slutty wife: "I got a mind to put you over my knee and paddle your ass raw." (Soon after, Jake would surprisingly offer Bobby money to kill his trampish wife!)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

The long opening voice-over (partially quoted here) by The Stranger (Sam Elliott) introduced and described the film's main character: bearded, and long-haired Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges). A tumbleweed rolled along in late-night Los Angeles to the tune of the song Tumbling Tumbleweeds, sung by Sons of the Pioneers:

A way out west, there was this fella that I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself 'The Dude.' Now, 'Dude' - that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then there was a lot about the 'Dude' that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place so dern interestin'.

They call Los Angeles the 'City Of Angels.' I didn't find it to be that, exactly. But I'll allow there are some nice folks there. 'Course I can't say I seen London, and I've never been to France. And I ain't never seen no queen in her damned undies, as the fella says. But I'll tell ya what - after seein' Los Angeles, and this a-here story I'm about to unfold, well, I guess I seen somethin' every bit as stupefyin' as you'd see in any of those other places. And in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin' like the good Lord gypped me.

Now this a-here story I'm about to unfold took place back in the early '90s - just about the time of our conflict with Sad'm and the I-raqis. I only mention it because sometimes there's a man - I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man - and I'm talkin' about the 'Dude' here. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the 'Dude' in Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man - and the 'Dude' was most certainly that, quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide. But sometimes there's a man, sometimes, there's a man. Wow, lost my train of thought here. But, aw, hell. I've done introduced him enough.

The Dude was first viewed with sunglasses and shuffling along in the flourescently-lit dairy section of an almost-empty Ralph's supermarket - opening and smelling the contents of a quart container of Half-and-Half. He was wearing a long open gray overcoat, dirty white T-shirt, his PJ bottoms, and slippers.

At the checkout counter, he wrote out a check (with the wrong date) for $.69 cents.

Blade (1998)

Eric "Blade" Brooks

In this visually-stylish, action-horror-thriller by director Stephen Norrington based on the 1970s Marvel Comics superhero series, hybrid human-vampire stalker Blade (Wesley Snipes) had special powers due to his possesion of vampire blood.

(In a brief prologue, it was revealed in 1967 that his pregnant mother Vanessa Brooks (Sanaa Lathan) had been fatally bitten by a vampire, and gave birth to him as a hybrid. Through some sort of genetic mutation, he had some of the characteristics of the 'undead' - their supernatural strength, for instance - although without their major weaknesses - such as expiring in sunlight.)

The opening scene was set in the late 1990s in a secret, after-hours, throbbing and pulsing rave dance hall. As the revelers partied and the music intensified, blood was sprayed out from the sprinklers above onto the people - most of whom were vampires.

Blade (with a Grace Jones hairdo) made his fabulous first appearance - seen from ground level as the crowd parted in front of him - wearing a black leather trench coat, leather vest (black body armor), and black sunglasses. Blood-drenched vampires backed up but flared their teeth at him, as he raised his shotgun (with silver-filled shotgun shells) and blasted them into oblivion.

American Beauty (1999)

Angela Hayes

The film's blonde teenaged femme fatale, Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) was briefly seen sitting on the front bench of the bleachers during a Rockwell High School basketball game, next to her fellow cheerleader/girlfriend Janie Burnham (Thora Birch).

Angela's major and dramatic entrance was a few moments later, however, during a half-time Dancing Spartanette routine to the tune of "On Broadway." The music slowed down as Janie's father Lester (Kevin Spacey), sitting high in the bleachers, became entranced, transfixed and focused on Angela.

Staring at her and sexually desirous of her in his fantasies, his jaw dropped as the spotlight fell on her and she became the only one on the gym-floor in his view - and he was the only one in the stands.

She teasingly winked at him and then performed (in his projective mind) a personal, one-on-one clothed striptease for him. She gave a knowing look, then unzipped the front of her uniform, causing a torrent and profusion of red rose petals to spill forth from her bare chest.

After a smash-cut back to the full cheerleader group, the band hit its final note and the Spartanettes struck their final pose.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Mini-Me

In Dr. Evil's (Mike Myers) Headquarters in Seattle within the "Starbucks" Needle, Evil's Number Two (Robert Wagner) presented Evil with his perfect clone "except one-eighth your size" - dubbed Mini-Me (Verne Troyer).

As he was introduced, his silhouette was seen distorted (and in full-size), but when the door opened, the camera was forced to pan downward as Mini-Me ran forward.

Dr. Evil remarked: "Breathtaking," as lightning flashed.

She's All That (1999)

Laney Boggs

George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion and George Cukor's My Fair Lady (1964) were adapted in this modern retelling, refashioned as a teen comedy. Popular student Zack Siler (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) took on Dean's (Paul Walker) challenge to transform dorky, geeky, and weird art HS student Laney Boggs (Rachael Leigh Cook) into a prom queen in six weeks.

Dean selected her as the experimental object ("winner") of their bet when she fell up a flight of stairs and dumped all her belongings in their view. Zack feared that he wouldn't succeed: "Look, fat I can handle. Weird boobs, bad personality, maybe some sort of fungus. Come on, scary and inaccessible is another story."

Pre-Transformed Laney Boggs

She made a dramatic reveal and re-appearance after a makeover, walking down stairs in a classic, tight body-contouring red dress. The camera panned up from her feet, along her body and up to her beautiful face. But then, to destroy the romantic mood, she clumsily tripped on the bottom steps and fell into Zack's arms.