Hollywood's Top 5 Erotic Thrillers

Here are 5 of Hollywood's most successful efforts to turn us on. Erotically charged thrillers from Hollywood for steamy summer nights. Even though I've seen them all several times before, they all still hold my interest in some way. In these films the sex isn't gratuitous. They were made to do what they did- generate high levels of sensuality and turn us on while keeping us on the edge of our seats. They are all rated R and all won awards. They carry highly charged and memorable sex scenes but also great film scores, acting, and production values. You might ask what it is that turns us on so much about these 5 classic erotic thrillers? Well, three of these five hits share a variation on a common theme, what happens when the person you fall into a relationship with is someone who might be thinking about murdering you?

Fifth Place, The Big Easy (1986)
Remy McSwain (Dennis Quaid) is is a New Orleans detective with a big easy approach to police work, somewhere between honest and crooked. Assistant District Attorney Anne Osborne (Ellen Barkin) is the smart, pull no punches investigator from the D.A.'s Office out to get McSwain's badge. McSwain's investigating murder and police corruption and Osborne is investigating McSwain. Set and shot in Orleans it's always been one of the hottest thrillers around. Quaid and Barkin turn in career performances and steam up the screen together. As the ultimate in laid back big easy police detectives, Quaid shines in a role tailor made for his southern drawl and down home charm. The sex scene between the two is a very sexy , character-dominated scene where McSwain and Osborne fumble awkwardly towards their desires. Way underrated since its 1987 release. Nominated Best Motion Picture, 1988 Edgar Alan Poe Awards.

Fourth Place, Sea of Love (1989)
World weary New York detective Frank Keller (Al Pacino) could retire if he wanted to after twenty years but he hasn't gotten over his wife leaving him and there's always another murder to investigate. He's assigned to investigate a series of murders tied together by the lonely hearts column. To solve the crime He places his own ad and starts dating hoping to find the killer answering his ad. After a while he meets Helen Cruger (Ellen Barkin) and sees her again because he's attracted to her. Then he starts thinking she's a killer but he's at a point in his relationship with her that he's not sure he cares. Intense story and an even more inters sexual chemistry between Barkin and Pacino keep us on the edge of our seat to the end. Nominated Best Motion Picture, 1990 Edgar Alan Poe Awards, Nominated Best Actor Al Pacino, 1990 Golden Globe Awards.

Third Place, The Last Seduction(1994)
Bridgett Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) is beautiful and married to a doctor but she has a problem: She has just taken off with nearly a million dollars in illegal money she and her husband just came into. She decides to hideout from her husband's detectives and others in a small town. She needs help and picks up Mike Swale ( Peter Berg ) in a bar who falls in love with her, they become lovers and Mike really has no idea what or who he has really gotten himself involved with. Linda Fiorentino is diabolical. Bridget, uses her beauty and her body to get what she wants and does both with alarming ease. One of the best femme fatale roles ever written. Nominated Best Motion Picture, 1995 Edgar Alan Poe Awards, Best Actress Linda Fiorentino, 1995 London Critics Circle Film Awards.

Second Place, Body Heat (1981)
Set in the sweltering heat of South Florida, Ned Racine (William Hurt), a lackadaisical and bored lawyer with an eye for women hits on married Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), a ruthless femme fatale, and becomes ensnared in a plot to murder her wealthy businessman husband (Richard Crenna). Nominated for Best Picture by the 1982 Edgar Alan Poe Awards and Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen by 1982 Writer's Guild of America this film launched Turner's career and she was nominated for a Golden Globe. Also worth mentioning is John Barry music for the film, a smoldering sax driven film score that once you hear you'll never forget. Slick plot with some clever twists. Turn down the lights, get yourself a drink, turn up the air conditioner.

First Place, Basic Instinct (1992)
Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone) is an ice-queen and successful author who becomes a big-time suspect in Detective Nick Curran's (Michael Douglas) murder investigation. The murder victim is Catherine Trammel's ex-boyfriend and she's just finished a novel in which a murder occurs in the very same manner as did her ex-boyfriend, down to the last detail. Curan's got more than a professional interest and Trammell manipulates Curran in spite of his belief she may be the killer. Basic Instinct is no stunning feat of cinema and it's got some questionable plot twists that make it seem implausible at points but it's off the scale in luridness and sexuality. It too has a great music score. Try and get the director's cut. Highly entertaining.