Steamy sex appeal, beautiful people, betrayal, affairs, obsession and, of course, murder — these are the basic tenets of a perfect erotic thriller.
If you’re planning on bingeing Amazon Prime Video‘s new erotic thriller show 56 Days, you may find that it leaves you wanting more. Look no further than some of the best erotic thrillers ever made.
Watch With Us has created a list of our favorite erotic thrillers and ranked them by Rotten Tomatoes scores.
Our picks include the infamous Basic Instinct, queer romance Bound and the sweaty Body Heat.
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5. ‘Basic Instinct’ (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 56 percent
Beautiful but enigmatic crime novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) becomes the prime suspect in the brutal death of her rockstar boyfriend, who is killed via ice pick, mirroring the murder in her latest book. However, the homicide detective assigned to her case, Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), is weak to her charms, and Catherine easily seduces him. While they pursue an intensely passionate relationship, murders begin to pile up, and Nick discovers an unsettling development: his psychologist girlfriend, Beth (Jeanne Tripplehorn), is connected to Catherine.
Despite mixed reception upon release, Basic Instinct is frequently pointed to as a peak example of the erotic thriller genre, partly due to its growing favor with critics and audiences in the years since it debuted. Anchored by weirdly undeniable chemistry between Stone and a sexy, V-neck-sweater-wearing Douglas, Paul Verhoeven‘s violent, titillating masterpiece is stylish, maximalist and no-holds-barred.
4. ‘Fatal Attraction’ (1987)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 74 percent
Michael Douglas was kind of the “erotic thriller leading man of the moment” in the ’90s, and in addition to Basic Instinct, he also starred in Fatal Attraction. The plot follows Douglas’ Dan Gallagher, a successful New York City lawyer in a loving marriage with his wife Beth (Anne Archer), and together they have one daughter, Ellen (Ellen Hamilton Latzen). But after a brief affair with a woman named Alex (Glenn Close), Dan finds himself the victim of Alex’s stalking. Feeling jilted after their one-night stand, Alex’s behavior becomes increasingly unstable, and Dan believes he and his family are in danger.
Fatal Attraction was a smash hit at the time, garnering critical acclaim, Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) and is credited with popularizing the erotic thriller phenomenon of the late ’80s to mid-’90s. More than just a sexy soap opera, director Adrian Lyne draws real power from his film through meticulous visual imagery, a clever screenplay and career-best work from Close and Douglas.
3. ‘Body Double’ (1984)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 84 percent
In what is essentially an erotic thriller take on Alfred Hitchcock‘s Rear Window, Body Double centers on down-on-his-luck actor Jake Scully (Craig Wasson), who recently lost his job as well as his cheating girlfriend. However, things finally seem to be turning around for him when he’s asked to house-sit a luxurious residence in the Hollywood Hills. While looking through the homeowner’s telescope one night, he witnesses the murder of a beautiful woman (Deborah Shelton). In his search to find answers, Jake delves into the sleazy underworld of adult entertainment, and he’s led by pornstar Holly Body (Melanie Griffith).
Body Double may have been a commercial failure at the box office, but it’s achieved modern status as a cult classic. Nowadays, critics and viewers appreciate Brian De Palma‘s aesthetic indulgences and overt homages, viewing the film as a successful satire of the excesses of Hollywood and ’80s culture that smartly subverts its own first half in the second half. Body Double now handily earns its place among the best films of the 1980s.
2. ‘Bound’ (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 87 percent
Violet (Jennifer Tilly), the girlfriend of violent mobster Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), meets lesbian ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) one day in her apartment building elevator. Fresh out of prison and working for the building as a painter and plumber, Corky instantly feels a connection with Violet, and they quickly embark on a passionate romance. But Violet needs to escape from Caesar’s grip, so she and Corky hatch a plan to ditch him and steal $2 million of the mafia’s money. But will the two women be able to make it out alive?
It’s hard not to be enthralled by the spicy chemistry between Tilly and Gershon in Bound. Before Lana and Lily Wachowski directed The Matrix, they helmed this erotic thriller that marked a confident directorial debut. Bound has endured as both a fun neo-noir and an authentic cinematic depiction of a lesbian couple that, at the time, was especially refreshing for the ’90s mainstream. LGBTQ audiences still adore the film, and it’s grown a deservedly zealous cult following.
1. ‘Body Heat’ (1981)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97 percent
Womanizing lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) begins a love affair with Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), the wife of sketchy South Florida businessman Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna). As their affair intensifies, the two adulterers make plans to murder Edmund and frame it as an accident with the help of bomb-maker Teddy Lewis (Mickey Rourke). But things are not quite as they appear with the beautiful and sultry Matty, and Ned soon finds himself spiraling into a situation far more complicated than a simple murder cover-up.
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Heavily inspired by the 1944 film noir Double Indemnity, Body Heat is about as sweaty and steamy as its own title suggests. The delicious chemistry between Hurt and Turner drives a story with classic noir ingredients, but given a modern twist. Stylish, melodramatic and as intense as the relationship between Matty and Ned, Body Heat is an enthralling ride that’s full of salacious surprises.
