Casey Chong presents a selection of underrated erotic thrillers that are worth a watch…
Erotic thrillers may have significantly dwindled in today’s era, even though this subgenre does make a splash – for better or worse – occasionally with movies like the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, Netflix’s Fair Play and this year’s Nicole Kidman starrer Babygirl. The subgenre had its peak moments back in the day, particularly during the ‘80s and ‘90s era dominated by the genre-defining Body Heat, Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. The success of these movies paved the way for countless others, some of which are underrated erotic thrillers that deserved a second chance. And here are the ten of them below.
Payback (1995)
The late Anthony Hickox may have been primarily known for his horror works from the Waxwork duology to Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth but occasionally he did venture into different genres such as with Payback, an erotic thriller that feels like The Postman Always Rings Twice knockoff. However, a surprisingly better-than-expected knockoff, thanks to Hickox’s assured direction effectively combines neo-noir tropes – the cynical protagonist (C. Thomas Howell’s Oscar Bonsetter) and a femme fatale (Joan Severance’s Rose Gullerman) – and some erotically charged moments.
If you can look past Howell’s distracting handlebar mustache, he does a good job playing an ex-convict seeking vengeance against the prison guard (Marshall Bell) who killed his friend behind bars. The highlights, of course, lie in the sizzling chemistry between Howell and Severance, who plays the prison guard’s sexy waitress wife. Hickox also goes as far as trying to top Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange’s tabletop sex in The Postman Always Rings Twice with Howell and Severance’s animalistic coupling in the kitchen.
Femme Fatale (2002)
Up until the cop-out reveal, Brian De Palma does a good job going all out with every trick in his filmmaking playbook. He shows his masterful direction right from the get-go – a daring diamond heist, complete with a kinky moment in a bathroom stall between Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (now Rebecca Romijn) and Rie Rasmussen. The elaborate opening set piece recalls the brilliant work of De Palma’s Mission: Impossible, detailing every move with deliberate camerawork and editing that effectively builds the tension from various points of view.
Double crosses, seduction and manipulation subsequently dominate Femme Fatale with De Palma’s crafty screenplay focusing on the protagonist’s complex plan, one of which revolves around baiting Antonio Banderas’ paparazzo Nicolas Bardo. De Palma’s knowingly exploitative approach is where the fun lies, resulting in a sexy and entertaining neo-noir romp. And to top it off, a guilty-pleasure moment of Romijn’s striptease and a quickie.
Jade (1995)
Despite making a brief comeback with 1985’s To Live and Die in L.A., the 1990s wasn’t kind to William Friedkin. One of his efforts was Jade, which arrived at the time of the erotic-thriller boom but sadly bombed at the box office. Friedkin is no Paul Verhoeven, where the latter’s Basic Instinct is famously responsible for igniting the said genre. But The French Connection director has his way of approaching an erotic thriller. Instead of something titillating, he shot most of the sex scenes in a graphically raw manner.
The movie also features The Last Seduction’s Linda Fiorentino in a classic femme fatale character while Friedkin brings out the best in David Caruso’s engaging lead performance as the fiercely determined assistant district attorney. Jade equally showcases Friedkin’s visceral flair in the direction that defines some of his best works, notably the thrilling car chase scene in the hilly city of San Francisco as he captures the sheer tactility and urgency of the set piece.
Sea of Love (1989)
The 1980s period wasn’t exactly a fruitful decade for Al Pacino, especially after coming from a stellar ‘70s era with the first two Godfathers, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. Save for Scarface, his 1980s output was mostly forgettable but the arrival of Sea of Love marked the actor’s comeback, perfectly embodying the characterization of a burnt-out cop with an alcoholism issue.
Director Harold Becker effectively combines police procedural and erotic-thriller elements, where the latter is evident with the introduction of Ellen Barkin in her breakthrough role as the sultry divorcée Helen Cruger. The highlights of the movie lie in the onscreen chemistry between Pacino’s Detective Frank Keller and Barkin’s Cruger and like a good erotic thriller, it all begins with a tease. Becker incorporates a shifting power play as the eventual sexual tension mounting between Frank and Helen, where the latter takes control of how the game is determined.
Color of Night (1994)
By the time the 1990s arrived, then-newly minted star Bruce Willis was already on top of the world, thanks to a certain movie called Die Hard. 1994 saw the actor appear in four movies including one of his best roles in Pulp Fiction; then there’s Color of Night – an anomaly in Willis’ filmography where he tries his hand at playing a role in an erotic thriller. A psychologist, to be exact who suffers from color blindness after witnessing a suicide.
The movie marks the return of director Richard Rush, whose previous movie was The Stunt Man in 1980, and his odd venture into the erotic-thriller territory is best described as an overblown, exploitative guilty-pleasure fun. Rush throws in plenty of red herrings with various subgenres from the twisty Hitchcockian-style whodunit to a slasher-horror, an action movie (the car chase comes to mind) and of course, the sexual tryst between Bruce Willis and Jane March blending in altogether. The latter was a big deal back in the day when Bruce Willis bare it all in the infamous swimming pool scene with March.
Crash (1996)
No, not that undeservedly Best Picture Oscar winner of the same title, but rather David Cronenberg’s love-or-hate controversial NC-17 erotic thriller that took home the Cannes’ Special Jury Prize. Beginning with Howard Shore’s enigmatic yet alluring score playing in the opening credits, Cronenberg sets the tone in a deliberately cold precision. Based on J.G. Ballard’s provocative 1973 novel of the same name, Cronenberg depicts the characters as if they inhabit the transgressive world of their own with the director’s icy and atmospheric visual palette making sure of it.
The sex scenes lean more into the strange fetishism of auto erotica using car crashes and accidents as unlikely tangible forms of growing lust and desire. Crash clearly isn’t for everyone but Cronenberg manages to bring in his unique, one-of-its-kind filmmaking quality that belongs in his wheelhouse while bringing out the best in his actors from James Spader to Holly Hunter, Deborah Kara Unger and Elias Koteas in their cast-against-type roles like no others.
Blue Steel (1990)
There was once upon a time when Kathryn Bigelow used to ooze a distinctive style in her earlier movies and one of them was Blue Steel in 1990. Although promoted as an action thriller, where a uniformed rookie cop Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) becomes the target of a deranged madman (Ron Silver) who possesses a stolen .44 Magnum, Blue Steel is sneakily laced with erotic-thriller elements. Take the suggestive opening-credit sequence, for instance: The Terminator’s Brad Fiedel’s ominous score playing in the background with the moving close-up shots of a Smith & Wesson revolver, all bathed in an icy-cold blue color palette. The camera focuses on every nook and cranny of the pistol, complete with the insertion of a bullet into the chamber.
Ron Silver’s antagonist character’s fetish of the .44 Magnum and his subsequent killing spree become the erotically symbolic visuals that Bigelow embraces her stylish direction wholeheartedly. Blue Steel also features Curtis and Silver at their respective best performances while Bigelow’s signature flair for a slow-motion orgy of blood and violence, notably the shootout finale, is one for the ages.
Chloe (2009)
Atom Egoyan is no stranger to making cerebral erotic thrillers, as ween with Exotica and Where the Truth Lies. And then, there’s Chloe which explores the provocative themes of insecurities, sex and obsession backed by a stellar cast. The title in question refers to Amanda Seyfried’s sultry call girl, whose cast-against-type role at the time when she is primarily known in comedies seen in Mean Girls and Mamma Mia!
Her transition to a more adult-skewed role marks a breakthrough for Seyfried with her bravura performance. The movie also features equally solid performances from Liam Neeson and particularly Julianne Moore playing an emotionally insecure OB-GYN who finds herself increasingly drawn to Chloe, resulting in the movie’s most explicit scene between these two characters.
Bound (1996)
The Wachowskis rose to prominence with their groundbreaking sci-fi actioner The Matrix but believe it or not, the siblings’ directorial debut Bound feels like an odd one out if compared with the rest of their sci-fi-heavy filmography. Their debut feature is a slickly-produced neo-noir with a queer twist, evidently in its unforgettable pairing of Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly as two lovers conspiring together to steal the latter’s money-launderer’s (Joe Pantoliano in a perfectly sleazy antagonist role) bag full of cash.
The Wachowskis already established their unique visual styling with all the essential neo-noir and erotic-thriller tropes: double crosses, money, sex and manipulation. The sex scene between Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly is one of the highlights of the movie with Bill Pope’s sensual cinematography and the Wachowskis’ genre know-how direction perfectly capturing the lurid tribadism of affectionate kissing and rubbing skin.
The Fourth Man (1983)
Nine years before the Dutch provocateur directed the controversial 1992 hit Basic Instinct that turned Sharon Stone into a household name, Paul Verhoeven had already tackled the erotic thriller in his native country with The Fourth Man. Like Sharon Stone’s Catherine Tramell, Verhoeven’s protagonist is also a bisexual novelist except the gender is a male lead played by Jeroen Krabbé. He’s a delusional alcoholic who is constantly seeing things – visions of death, to be exact – with the nature of his character allowing Verhoeven to layer his movie with religious symbolism and vivid displays of sex and violence.
A Verhoeven-directed erotic thriller, of course, wouldn’t be complete without the introduction of an obligatory femme fatale and here, it’s Renée Soutendijk’s fetching Christine Halsslag straight out of the Hitchcockian mold of a sultry icy blonde.
What are your favourite underrated erotic thrillers? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Casey Chong