The Beginner’s Guide to Essential Erotic Thrillers

If 'Deep Water' leaves you wet, wild, and wanting more, fear not: we've got a list of movies to tide you over.
Deep Water

The Last Seduction (1994)

There are femme fatales, and then there’s Linda Fiorentino’s Bridget. She’s a merciless maneater who, after skipping town on her husband, becomes entangled with an insurance man and uses her many talents to start conning more victims. But while Bridget has moved on with a new identity, her past is about to catch up with her. Fair warning, aspects of The Last Seduction are certainly a product of the time, but if you’re looking for an erotic thriller and a character study that is fully willing to embrace the depraved, you’ve found it. (Anna Swanson)

Available on Hoopla, Vudu, Tubi.


Crash (1996)

From the demented mind of professional pervert David Cronenberg, Crash tells of TV director James Ballard (played by erotic thriller patron saint James Spader), who stumbles into a very niche sub-culture after getting in a serious car accident. As he finds himself slipping deeper and deeper into the thrall of the group, car crash victims who use vehicular chaos as an aphrodisiac, Ballard begins to explore what fuels him in an effort to rekindle his marriage. A pulsing nightmare of twisted metal and dented fiberglass, this is the Crash that should have won Best Picture. (Meg Shields)

Available under the Don Valley Parkway.


Bound (1996)

The door kick debut feature from the Wachowski sisters, Bound leans into its film noir genre underpinnings by telling its tale from the perspective of the femme fatale, Violet (Jennifer Tilly). Underestimated by all the violent, hard-browed gangsters that surround her, she forms a genuine romantic bond with Corky (Gina Gershon), an ex-convict renovating the apartment next door. Together, the pair concoct a scheme to undermine Violet’s volatile mobster boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano) and ride off into the sunset together.

Deliciously stylish exploitation fare that never teeters over into feeling exploitative, Bound is a directorial debut for the ages, and one of the best the erotic thriller genre has to offer. (Meg Shields)

Available on Fubo, Showtime, Showtime Amazon Channel, Showtime Roku Premium Channel, DIRECTV, Spectrum on Demand.


Wild Things (1998)

Arguably the best thing to ever come out of Florida, Wild Things is a gloriously twisted swamp romp with twists that you will never see coming. The film stars Matt Dillon as a high school guidance counselor who is accused of rape by two students (Denise Richards and Neve Campbell). But one local cop (Kevin Bacon) suspects there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

Scandalous, hilarious, and thoroughly entertaining, Wild Things will have you blushing and laughing out loud. Oh, and did we mention it features a pitch-perfect supporting performance from Bill Murray? When it comes to ’90s erotic thrillers, this is one of the most delightful (and delightfully raunchy) examples. (Anna Swanson)

Available on Netflix.


Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Stanley Kubrick knew that it was high time the erotic thriller got in the Christmas spirit, and Eyes Wide Shut was born. On a cold December night, reeling the revelation that his wife has had fantasies about other men, Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) follows the rabbit hole to an elite and highly secretive orgy. But is this just another example of the wealthy indulging themselves, or is something far more sinister going on? Over a three-hour runtime, the film toys with this question as Bill becomes more entangled in a dangerous web of conspiracy.

Kubrick’s signature restraint and precision give Eyes Wide Shut a wealth of details in something as simple as a throwaway line of dialogue or a piece of set decoration. It’s fitting that a film very much about obsession is itself obsession-worthy. And if you think you have a clear answer to the troubles that plague Bill, think again. (Anna Swanson)

Available on Kanopy.


Gone Girl (2014)

There’s nothing quite like seeing Ben Affleck in a perfectly cast role, and the peak of this is his performance as the duplicitous doofus Nick Dunne. When his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), goes missing, suspicion naturally turns to Nick. But while he’s intent on clearing his name, Amy paints a very different story of their relationship.

We’ll leave the plot summary at that so any reader who recently emerged from a cave and knows nothing about the last decade of pop culture won’t be spoiled. But suffice it to say that if you’re looking for dark twists, demented relationships, and performances that blow every other actor out of the water, Gone Girl delivers.

Available on DIRECTV, Sling, Spectrum on Demand, Freeform.


The Handmaiden (2016)

If you’ve gotten this far in our erotic thrillers list, we’re gonna assume you have a healthy craving for something twisted, and we’re here to humbly offer one of Park Chan-wook‘s best films. It follows the intricate story of a young handmaiden hired to serve a Japanese heiress in 1930s Korea. With hefty fortunes and insatiable desires at play, it doesn’t take long before the simple job becomes very complicated.

Expertly plotted and displaying the director’s masterful command of tone, The Handmaiden is a complete whirlwind of interpersonal dynamics and mysterious revelations. It helps to go into the film knowing as little as possible, which is why we also have to give it credit for having such a legendary trailer. (Anna Swanson)

Available on Prime Video.


Elle (2016)

If you’ve seen enough erotic thrillers, after a while, you start to pick up on what we’re going to call: “ahhhhh, the French.” French erotic thrillers have a very distinct flavor to them; a raw, taboo-embracing attitude that goes places no Yankee would dare tread. They are a genre unto themselves, like Japanese Pink films or giallo.

So it’s unsurprising that such specificity would alert the exacting gaze of Paul Verhoeven. While not necessarily satirical, Elle is, nevertheless, an exacting portrait of what French erotic thrillers have to offer. And while prior encounters with the likes of The Piano Teacher (2001) or Romance (1999) are not necessarily barriers to entry, as with much of Verhoeven’s work, being in on the joke goes a long way. Especially with subject matter as controversy-courting as this.

Elle follows Michèle (Isabelle Huppert), the CEO of a gaming studio who is raped in her home by a masked assailant. What follows is a game of cat and mouse, with Michèle refusing to let the incident unsettle her carefully crafted life. (Meg Shields)

Available to rent.

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Meg Shields and Anna Swanson: Based in the Pacific North West, Meg enjoys long scrambles on cliff faces and cozying up with a good piece of 1960s eurotrash. As a senior contributor at FSR, Meg's objective is to spread the good word about the best of sleaze, genre, and practical effects.