With recent movies like Deep Water and Babygirl suggesting a low-key revival of the erotic thriller, what better time to round up the very best movies of that steamy, sultry genre? The story of the erotic thriller probably begins around the start of the 1980s, when a group of directors who’d grown up on classic Hollywood movies and neo-noir began making a new kind of cinema where the only thing more costly than the suits were the characters’ romantic affairs. By the end of the decade, these stylish and provocative movies had become some of the most profitable in Hollywood; however, they soon fell out of fashion with the rise of the Internet. Since then, there haven’t been so many, but the great ones have easily stood out.
If you’re a fan of those movies I mentioned at the top, you’re going to love delving into this list. Some are from as far back as the 1980s, a time when mainstream Hollywood really got sexy; others are from the more recent past, and if you’re a fan of queer and international cinema that isn’t afraid to provoke, they might be just the kind of movies you’ve been searching for.
In the interest of variety—and with respect to Adrian Lyne, Paul Schrader, Paul Verhoeven, Brian De Palma, and the rest—this selection is limited to one film per director. Additionally, as each is excellent on its own terms, I’ve decided to list them in chronological order based on release date, rather than ranking them.
American Gigolo (1980)
American Gigolo is a film that any fan of Richard Gere, Paul Schrader, fashion, or ‘80s vibes in general simply has to watch. Arriving on screens at the start of the decade, this is the movie that introduced Gere to the world and kickstarted Schrader’s career as a director after he’d gained fame writing Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.
Despite having those names front and centre, the movie’s style (all those Giorgio Moroder synths and Giorgio Armani suits) ended up leaving the biggest mark on the cultural zeitgeist, as did Gere’s morally compromised and impossibly toned protagonist—who became a point of reference for many of the erotically charged characters who sprang up over the following decade. The plot, an early example of the genre, already contains many of its well-worn tropes, with Gere playing a sex worker who becomes wrongfully accused of murder after one of his clients is found dead.
Body Heat (1981)
Body Heat is something you need to see if you like movies where you almost feel the humidity on screen (think In The Mood For Love and Call Me by Your Name). Incredibly, the movie was Lawrence Kasdan’s first as a director after making his name as a screenwriter on Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back, two films you will probably not think of while watching it.
Set in Miami and following a dubious lawyer (William Hurt) who begins an affair with a married woman (Kathleen Turner) and eventually hatches a plan to kill her wealthy husband, the story is a dangerously sexy twist on classic neo-noir. Kasdan basically set out to remake Double Indemnity but delivered a blueprint and high watermark for the erotic thriller genre.
Body Double (1984)
With Dressed to Kill, Brian De Palma helped to invent the erotic thriller, but Body Double feels like the fullest expression of his signature, leering tendencies. If you’re a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, especially movies like Rear Window and Vertigo, you’ll absolutely love seeing how De Palma riffs on them here, updating their themes for an era with far less censorship.
The plot follows an actor who agrees to house-sit an insanely modernist home in the Hollywood Hills, only to discover a beautiful woman in danger through a conspicuously placed telescope. Of course, he becomes obsessed, and of course—for not entirely selfless reasons—he decides to intervene.
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Fatal Attraction hasn’t aged the best of the movies on this list, particularly in its choice to focus on a sexually deranged woman and her attempts to bring down a seemingly blameless family man. Yet, it remains one of the most infamous and influential. No other actor is more central to the history of the erotic thriller than Michael Douglas, so his first foray into the genre makes it a must-watch—just be warned, the movie will seem quite misogynistic by today’s standards.
In the story, Douglas plays a lawyer who has an affair with an editor while his family is out of town, only for the other woman (a brilliant Glenn Close) to become dangerously obsessed with him. Earning $320M on a $14M budget, Fatal Attraction is also notable for confirming the genre's remarkable profitability. It also scooped six nominations at the Academy Awards. If you’ve ever enjoyed a rabbit stew, you probably won’t enjoy one again.
Dead Ringers (1988)
If you’re a fan of David Cronenberg’s movies (think the earlier ones, like Crash and The Fly), then Dead Ringers will be right up your deranged alley. The movie stars Jeremy Irons in a dual role as twin gynaecologists Elliot and Beverly Mantle. One is a cynical womaniser who seduces their patients, the other is a mild-mannered man who occasionally falls hopelessly in love. What could possibly go wrong?
You could almost make the case that all of Cronenberg’s films are in some way a part of the erotic thriller genre, yet few fit the bill quite as seductively as this eerily sterile riff on the tale of the doppelgänger. If you’ve seen the recent TV reboot, I truly recommend going back to the original.
Bitter Moon (1992)
Bitter Moon is a must-watch for anyone who hasn’t completely (understandably) sworn off Roman Polanski’s movies, especially his juicier thrillers like The Ghost Writer and The Ninth Gate, or provocative, thought-provoking movies like The Comfort of Strangers.
By 1992, some filmmakers had already started to satirise the genre, and none did it better than Polanski did with Bitter Moon. This movie, which I still find incredibly shocking, stars Hugh Grant as an upper-middle-class Englishman on a honeymoon cruise who becomes obsessed (that word again) with another woman (Emmanuelle Seigner) on board. This affliction only grows more problematic as her husband (Peter Coyote) begins to regale him with the lurid story of their marriage. Grant’s famously flustered mannerisms, a kind of stand-in for the audience’s performative outrage, have rarely been so caustically funny as they are in this incomparable movie.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Basic Instinct is probably the essential Paul Verhoeven movie, so if you like the style of the director’s sci-fi work, like Robocop and Total Recall, I recommend giving it a try—again, be warned: there are a couple of scenes that would not fly in a new release today. Michael Douglas stars again, this time as a detective who is seduced by the primary suspect in a murder case, a novelist famously played by Sharon Stone.
I’ll admit, I was tempted to go for Elle, the director’s most recent masterwork, but no list of erotic thrillers would be complete without Basic Instinct, an iconic piece of ‘90s provocation. It says much about how our viewing habits have changed that Basic Instinct was, at that time, the fourth highest-grossing film of 1992—bettered at the box office only by Aladdin, Home Alone 2, and The Bodyguard.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut was Stanley Kubrick’s final movie, and it’s still one of his best. If you appreciate Kubrick’s incomparable style, I’d recommend seeking it out. It’s also, believe it or not, a Christmas movie—just be sure the kids have gone to bed before putting it on.
There was so much going on around the time of the movie’s release (including Kubrick’s death, swirling rumours about the record 400 day shoot and the disintegration of Cruise and Kidman’s marriage), it’s probably no surprise it took so long to be considered not only one of Kubrick’s best but a classic of the erotic thriller genre.
The director’s dreamlike swansong, which follows a New York doctor (Cruise) down a late-night rabbit hole of unfulfilled sexual desires, has never felt more influential than it does when seen today—another great reason to watch.
Stranger By The Lake (2013)
Stranger By The Lake is a modern classic of queer cinema. Even if that’s not necessarily a genre you’re interested in, I’d definitely recommend seeking it out—especially if you’re a fan of Hitchcockian suspense and the kind of thrillers that play out in sultry weather.
The story takes place around a picturesque cruising spot in the French countryside, where a young man witnesses a murder but is already too consumed by the killer to stay away from him. It’s a daring film about the limits of desire and one of the best movies of the 2010s. Proving this, it also picked up the Best Director award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival—an early sign that the genre had the potential to make a comeback.
The Handmaiden (2016)
The Handmaiden is the most recently released entry on this list, and it comes from the South Korean master director Park Chan-wook—so if you’re a fan of the director’s legendary Oldboy or even his more recent movie, Decision to Leave, it should be right up your alley.
For this film, Park brilliantly reimagines Sarah Waters’ Fingertips (a novel set in the Victorian era) by moving the action to Japanese-occupied Korea. The plot follows a pair of Korean con artists posing as a handmaiden and a count who plan to seduce a Japanese woman out of her substantial inheritance, yet stumble on something slippier in the process. Imagine one of Park’s revenge movies but directed by Guillermo del Toro, with all the Mexican’s signature gothic flourishes, and you’ll have some idea of the incredible tone.
