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In the pantheon of below the belt badmouth moving-picture show genres , few outrank the titillating thriller . Often thought of as exploitative , crummy , gratuitous , and outright cockamamy , the erotic thriller has possibly the most in question reputation out of all the cinematic music genre . While many notable examples certainly live up to this ill-famed bequest — the absurdly namedBody of Evidencecomes to mind — there ’s more to the music genre than just lewd scenes .
10. Body Heat (1981)
Oscar nominee Kathleen Turner delivered a mighty screen debut in Lawrence Kasdan ’s 1981 titillating thrillerBody Heat . William Hurt stars as Ned Racine , an tactless attorney who begins an intimacy with Matty Walker , a seductive woman wed to a powerful tycoon . Soon , Ned hatch a plan to kill Matty ’s hubby and operate away with her and her married man ’s money . However , not all is as it seems , and Ned find himself in an inescapable situation .
Inspired by the classic film noirDouble Indemnity , Body Heatis far steamier and more provocative . Turner is dynamite in the role of a Graeco-Roman femme fatale , and she ’s perfectly complement by Hurt as the pitiable , yet astonishingly resourceful Ned . The central toBody Heat‘s success is chance the proper balance between authoritative noir constituent and exploring them through a emphatically modern approach , and its success at this resulted in one of the earliest neo - noirs that like an expert showcases the natural endowment at its center .
9. Dressed to Kill (1980)
Brian De Palma ’s dissentious 1980 erotic thrillerDressed to Killremains a source of public debate . Two - time Oscar victor Michael Caine stars as Dr. Robert Elliott , who ’s treating to a sexually repressed lady of the house , Kate . When Kate is brutally murdered , her Word joins a prostitute who find the crime to test and discover the murderer before he impinge on again .
Likemany of the best thriller , line up to Killis directly mold by Hitchcock ’s work ; it even contains several lineal references to the Master of Suspense ’s germinal classic , Psycho . The game , which feature a manful assassinator with a three-fold , homicidal distaff personality , remains controversial over its supposed minus depicting of sexual nonage . However , the film is among De Palma ’s most absorbing , from its intense , somewhat brassy visuals to its spin , transfix mystery . It also boast yet another hammy performance from Caine , who is at his most convinced in pulpy , over - the - top fiction .
8. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
The name “ Stanley Kubrick ” might not be the first to add up to intellect when discussing the titillating thriller . Kubrick directed some true masterpiecesin multiple genres , from sci - fi to satire and beyond . However , he ’s also behind a rather unlawful erotic thriller / play asterisk the once - mighty husband - and - married woman duo of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman . Eyes Wide Shutfollows a loaded doctor who attends an underground sex party follow an contestation with his wife . However , he shortly realizes he ’s in over his head .
Cruise is the utter protagonist for this eery film that effortlessly blend sensuality with whodunit . Ever curious about the dismal corners of the mind , Kubrick ’s lens lingers on Cruise ’s underframe , observe the inherent eroticism in every human interaction . Eyes Wide Shutfeatures one of the most - blab out - about panorama in ’ 90s film , a flakey binge where Kubrick throws his audience into an enthralling , yet deeply stir up existence that walk a fine transmission line between the oneiric and the real . As much a psychological dramatic play as it is an titillating thriller , Eyes broad Shutis a once - in - a - lifetime team - up between three of film ’s groovy creative strength .
7. Wild Things (1998)
Neve Campbell joins Denise Richards , Matt Dillon , and Kevin Bacon in the 1998 erotic thrillerWild thing . The plot roll around a high schoolhouse guidance counselor accused by two students of intimate ravishment . However , the narration soon grows complicated , divulge a web of intricate Lie that will surely take the consultation by surprisal .
No titillating thriller has ever featured a more convoluted or deliciously ludicrous plot of land asWild thing . The photographic film in reality pushes the envelope , take Hellenic tropes from the writing style and tally a refreshing , if not necessarily coherent , twist . It has one scandalous crook after the other ; few make sense , and the now - notorious conclusion surely falls asunder upon confining examination . However , the shape is so game — particularly a never - expert Campbell in one of her most mercurial and unforgettable character — that it effortlessly elevatesWild Thingsto the apex of titillating thriller .
6. Fatal Attraction (1987)
Adrian Lyne ’s 1987 erotic psychological thrillerFatal Attractionis among the most well - known and celebrated illustration of the genre . In her breakout performance , Glenn Close star as Alex Forrest , a single editor who becomes obsessed with Dan Gallagher , the married man she had a one - Nox stand with . What begins as a one - time thing shortly ferment into a dangerous ordeal as Alex loses her slight hold on her saneness .
WithFatal Attraction , Glenn Close did for the femme fatale what Margaret Hamilton did for the beldame trope inThe Wizard of Oz . Close has statedhow men would approach her on the street and in reality thank her for supposedly saving their marriages ; in other words , she scared them into fidelity . Aside from her tour First State military group , Fatal Attractionexcels as a taut , emotionally demanding thriller that invoke to a someone ’s enceinte insecurity . Doubt , fear of solitariness , familiarity , and the need to actually need someone else are all juggled with telling skill by Lyne , Close , and Douglas .
5. Basic Instinct (1992)
Academy Award campaigner Sharon Stone became an all-night sensation thanks to her deliciously loathsome performance inPaul Verhoeven‘s 1992 erotic thrillerBasic Instinct . Michael Douglas star as Nick Curran , a San Francisco law tec investigating the brutal death of a rock’n’roll whizz . The prime suspect is Catherine Tramell , a seductive and cryptical writer who Nick find himself impossibly pull to .
Often described as a lustful andstylish Hitchcockian thriller , Basic Instinctis probably what most mass think of when they discover the terminus “ erotic thriller . ” The film has all the makings of a great Verhoeven movie : emotional violence , lurid motif , and arresting , yet discomforting characters left and right . Stone is the film ’s backbone , delivering a star - making characterization of shameless opprobrium that remains admirable . In her hands , Catherine Tramell is as resistless as everyone in the film arrogate she is . It ’s an telling feat that few other actresses could achieve .
4. The Handmaiden (2016)
Directed , co - produced , and co - written by Park Chan - wook and based on the 2002 novelFingersmith , The Handmaidenis , without a doubtfulness , the best erotic thriller of the 21st one C . The plot centre on Count Fujiwara , a Korean con Isle of Man who engage a young orphan pickpocket to work as a handmaid to a loaded Nipponese charwoman , in hopes of defrauding her .
extremely conventionalize , yet narratively rich , The Handmaidenstrikes a singular balance between sumptuous visuals and redolent storytelling . Park ’s camera is simultaneously voyeuristical and revelatory , ogle his performing artist . yet taking the clip to in reality care about their inner turmoil . Everything about this film is gorgeous , from the costume to the staging to the ridiculously riotous production design that ’s as redolent as it is immersive . The Handmaidenis the rarefied picture show that marry style with substance , skirt the whole involvement in black temper and a distinctive nakedness that makes for a enthralling watch .
3. Bound (1996)
lead it to the Wachowskis to make one of the best titillating thriller in account . Bride of Chuckystar Jennifer Tilly get together Gina Gershon in the directors ’ dare and subversiveBound , which follows the story of Violet , the dissatisfied girl of a mafioso . After entering into an affair with Corky , a woman of late released from prison , Violet dream up a plot to slip a turgid nitty-gritty of mafia money .
Although many erotic thriller focalize more on the first portion of that particular equating , Boundactually places more emphasis on the second . A close and kinetic atavist to the classical crime caper that first saw the genre rise , Boundfinds the Wachowskis in full creative exemption . Tilly and Gershon are outstanding together , delivering two explosive performances that jump off off the screen , and they ’re indorse by an excellent corps de ballet that include a really menacing Joe Pantoliano . Fans of the erotic will find plenty to bask here , butBoundlargely excels as an like an expert made thriller that put up out as one ofthe honorable movies of the ’ 90s .
2. Exotica (1994)
Atom Egoyan is a master of the adverse . His films often deal with the inherent wretchedness of being alive , but none captures it better thanExotica , the secondly - good erotic thriller of 1994.The Fall of the House of Usheractor Bruce Greenwood star as Francis Brown , a depressed homo grieving the destruction of his daughter by spending his days in the Exotica nightclub , where he becomes obsessed with Christina , a beautiful young social dancer .
No titillating thriller has ever captured the inherently bittersweet nature of human connector as hauntingly asExotica . Egoyan is at his most assured , offering a bleak , yet promising take on heartbreak and the human condition . Greenwood is the perfect vessel to explore such complicated flavour , as he incarnate Francis ’ desolation with discomforting dependability . Still , Exotica‘s real asterisk is Mia Kirshner , whose portrayal of Christina is haunt and hypnotizing . Somber yet vulnerable , Kirshner is utterly brainy in the role , crafting a rummy depiction of hurting and psychic trauma that should have earned her an Oscar nomination .
1. The Last Seduction (1994)
If anyone has ever come close to taking Barbara Stanwyck ’s poll as cinema ’s ultimate femme fatale , it ’s Linda Florentino in the virtuoso 1994 erotic thrillerThe Last Seduction . The photographic film centers on Bridget Gregory , a ruthless woman who convinces her pitiable husband to sell cocain before run away with the money . En route to Chicago , she stops in a small Ithiel Town , where she go into into a relationship with an policy federal agent , who she finally convinces to avail get rid of her husband .
Bridget Gregory is the embodiment of the femme fatale , and Florentino delivers a tour de force in the role . She ’s sexy , vicious , provocative , dangerous , and utterly irresistible . You , me , and the men she make know she is fuss , but we do n’t care ; such is the strength of her allure . Florentino is magnetise in a role that should have bring in her an Oscar , especially considering how infamously weak the1995 Best Actress category was — but I digress . In the end , The Last Seductionis the crowning precious stone of the titillating thriller : clever yet appropriately ruttish , ruthless but seductive . It ’s a film that understands what it is and decides to be the best potential version of it . And with such a performance at its center , how can it not ?
Image via Paramount Pictures
