Here are the 12 best erotic thrillers, ranked.
Some lean more toward erotic; others lean more toward thrillers.
All are great.
12 — American Gigolo
Richard Here is transfixing in Paul Schrader’s slick thriller about a young man paid for his steamy very 1980 liaisons with wealthy women.
It’s so beautiful looking you could watch it with the sound off, but if you do you’ll miss the incredible Giorgio Moroder soundtrack, which contributes to its irresistible sunshine noir atmosphere, as does Blondie’s magnificent “Call Me.”
The film would be higher if not for its ending, which, to us, feels a little soft considering the cool cynicism that precedes it.
11 — Body Heat
A modern take on another film on this list, also about insurance, Body Heat floats on the pulse-pounding chemistry between William Hurt and Kathleen Turner.
She gets to deliver the irresistible noir line, “You’re not too smart, are you? I like that in a man.”
Lawrence Kasdan wrote and directed the Florida-set thriller, one of two films on this list set in the darkest corners of the Sunshine State.
10 — No Way Out
No Way Out, starring Kevin Costner and a never-better Sean Young, melds erotic tension with political intrigue.
Costner plays Lt. Commander Tom Farrell, who has a passionate connection with Young’s femme fatale, the mysterious Susan Atwell. It turns she has some history with Gene Hackman’s character, the Secretary of Defense.
But the twists are just beginning — and the film ends with the biggest and least predictable of them all. If we have one complaint about this movie, it’s that we wish there was more screen time between Costner and Young.
9 — Indecent Proposal
Indecent Proposal hangs on a tough question: How much money would it take for you to sleep with a stranger? Or to let your spouse sleep with a stranger? And what if that stranger looked like Robert Redford?
Directed by Adrian Lyne (who will turn up again on this list), the film features Demi Moore as Diana Murphy, the real estate agent wife of Woody Harrelson’s architect character, David Murphy. They’re trying to salvage their dream home when they encounter handsome rich guy John Gage, played by Redford. He makes them, you guessed it, an indecent proposal: He’ll pay $1 million for a night with Diana.
The what-would-you-do question keeps lingering in the background as the film takes you through the Murphys soaring highs and crashing lows.
8 — Fair Play
The newest film on this list, Fair Play was a Sundance sensation that sparked a bidding war Netflix won.
The feature debut from the immensely skilled writer-director Chloe Domont, it stars Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich as a young couple who have to hide their relationship at the cutthroat hedge fund where both work. The secrecy kind of makes things more exciting, until she gets a promotion that he expects, and vicious emotions come to the surface.
The film didn’t get the attention it deserved in a limited theatrical release and on Netflix, but it’s a fascinating look at workplace dynamics post #MeToo. And if you like HBO’s masterful Industry, which operates in the same realm, it’s a must watch.
7 — Fatal Attraction
You knew this one would be here. Adrian Lyne’s cultural phenomenon is one of the most successful erotic thrillers of all time, powered by astonishing performances by Michael Douglas and Glenn Close.
They have an affair; she can’t let do; she won’t be ignored. No one — and no rabbit — is safe.
Close’s character, Alex, is on our list of cinema’s scariest female stalkers. And Michael Douglas is perhaps the actor most associated with erotic thrillers, thanks to an incredible run of ’80s and ’90s films that challenged gender norms and kept people talking — and arguing.
6 — Cruel Intentions
Hear us out. We know lots of people prefer Dangerous Liaisons, the grown-up version of Christopher Hampton’s 1985 play Les Liaisons Dangereuses, adapted from Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 novel.
But there’s something so twisted about setting the story in the world of a New York private school that we actually prefer Cruel Intentions.
Written and directed by Roger Kumble, it stars Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar as twisted step-siblings who place a bet involving the pristine Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon).
The film wittily goes places you’d never expect – and even more wittily, leaves certain things to the imagination. It also ends with one of the best needle drops of the ’90s.
5 — La Piscine
For a long time, things move slowly in this lurid, languid tale of a beautiful French couple (played by real-life exes Alain Delon and Romy Schneider. They’re kind of bored, kind of kinky, and eminently watchable, even when not much happens.
Then their old friend Harry arrives, played by Maurice Ronet. And unfortunately for everyone, he brings his 18-year-old daughter, Penelope, played by Jane Birkin.
Passions and jealousies erupt, culminating in one of the most ridiculous of movie deaths – you can’t tell if it’s just roughhousing or serious until it’s too late. But the movie isn’t over, and more surprises are to come.
Knowing the twisty romantic history between Delon and Schneider makes the film all the more fascinating.
4 — The Postman Always Rings Twice
One of the gold standard noirs of the 1940s may feel like it precedes the concept of an erotic thriller — but along with the No. 1 movie on this list, it set the template for the whole genre.
Lana Turner plays Cora, who starts a relationship with Frank, a drifter played by John Garfield who her husband has foolishly hired to work in his roadside diner. Soon Cora enlists Frank in a scheme to kill her husband, because, well, Frank’s not too smart, and she likes that in a man.
But the twists are just starting, and things get very dark. At one point it seems like justice might be denied.
But then fate has its say.
3 — Basic Instinct
The best of Michael Douglas’ erotic thrillers, thanks in no small part to the overwhelming magnetism of his co-star, Sharon Stone.
She plays a wealthy heiress and novelist who seems to lay out a murder plan on the page — but she wouldn’t really do that, would she?
Douglas’ San Francisco detective, Nick Curran, goes under covers to find out.
Basic Instinct has a famous interrogation scene, an ice pick, and plenty of breathless twists, courtesy of screenwriter Joe Eszterhas and director Paul Verhoeven, perhaps the most in-demand bad boys of the erotic thriller genre. The success of Basic Instinct got them a lot of free rein in Showgirls, with much-debated results.
2 — Wild Things
We know, lots of people dismiss this high school-set erotic thriller as trashy and problematic.
That’s why we like it.
It’s relentlessly, brilliantly twisty, with just the right amount of excess, and a stellar cast that includes Neve Campbell, Denise Richardson, Matt Dillion, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Murray in a brilliant supporting role. We also love the appearance of Thersa Russell, whose 1987 film Black Widow, with Debra Winger, maybe also should have been on this list.
It only has a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means a lot of critics were just too squeamish to appreciate its swampy brilliance.
1 — Double Indemnity (1944)
There are a lot of sultry moments in the films on this list, but none can compare to the exchange between insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) as he flirts with Barbara Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson about her husband’s auto policy.
Again, nothing about this scene should be titillating. But thanks to an anklet — and a lot of fast-paced entendres — it’s maybe the steamiest scene ever filmed. Just watch.
Directed by Billy Wilder — from a screenplay he wrote with William Chandler — it set the bar for every one of the erotic thrillers that have come since. It’s madly suggestive despite showing hardly any skin.
If you liked this list, you may also like our list of 10 Movies for When You Need an Escape, featuring La Piscine.
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Main image: A promotional image from Indecent Proposal. Paramount.
