{"id":1234360,"date":"2025-02-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234360"},"modified":"2025-02-24T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T13:00:00","slug":"35-of-the-horniest-erotic-thrillers-ever-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234360","title":{"rendered":"35 of the Horniest Erotic Thrillers Ever Made"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

We may earn a commission from links on this page.<\/p>\n

Whatever happened to the erotic thriller? There\u2019s something of a bell curve to the distribution of the subgenre, rising with the relaxing of the production code in the late 1960s, topping out in the \u201880s with prestige fare like Fatal Attraction<\/em>, and tailing off by the mid-2000s to the dominance of franchise culture. Today\u2019s box office values big-budget, four-quadrant blockbusters, making marketing of films about adult sexuality nearly impossible. <\/p>\n

Streaming has opened a window for movies that resemble the erotic thrillers of yore, but the kind they used to make\u2014feature lurid hooks and big stars\u2014remain decidedly absent from theaters. (Genre master Adrian Lyne even returned to the director\u2019s chair for the Ben Affleck\/Ana de Armas Hulu thriller Deep Water<\/em> in 2022,<\/em> which was a welcome\u2014if largely critically reviled\u2014throwback.) Sex on the big screen is creeping back in as the superhero tide recedes, but sex on the big screen is down by nearly half<\/a> since 2000. Plenty will say that’s a good thing; those people are wrong<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Yes, there\u2019s plenty to criticize, even in the best examples of the form. The sex is often more titillating than realistic; the movies have also almost always been written and directed by men and emphasized on male perspectives, and many of the women who starred in them didn\u2019t have the best time of it (consider Sharon Stone\u2019s oft-repeated accusations<\/u><\/a> that an iconic nude scene in Basic Instinct<\/em> involved a nasty bit of trickery from director Paul Verhoeven). It’s also very much the case that explicit imagery isn’t a requirement for eroticism, as some of these films will show\u2014but we’re also not here to be prudish.<\/p>\n

And yet, it remains curious the way sex seems to have largely vanished from mainstream, theatrically released films. So without further ado, let\u2019s celebrate some of the best\u2014or at least the most interesting\u2014examples of a type of movie that they just don\u2019t make anymore.<\/p>\n

\n

Dressed to Kill<\/em> (1980)<\/h2>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Any erotic thriller worth its salt pays at least some tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, film noir, or both, and director Brian de Palma set the tone with Dressed to Kill<\/em>, a juicy mystery involving a sex worker (Nancy Allen) who witnesses a murder and becomes both the prime suspect and the killer\u2019s probable next victim. The style is absolutely delicious, and there\u2019s a reason it started a new trend; the blend of classic tropes and overt sex is almost too hot to handle. Without spoiling too much, though, it very much comes from an era in film when queer representation was limited to absolutely batshit killers, and so loses some points for falling back on lazy (and overused, even in 1980) stereotypes. You can stream Dressed to Kill<\/em> on Tubi and MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video<\/a><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
Dressed to Kill (1980)\n <\/div>\n