What Was the Erotic Thriller?

Vulture's week-long celebration of erotic thrillers. [vulture logo](   Erotic Thriller Week The genre is dead, but the conversations it started aren’t even close to climax. This week, Vulture celebrated and interrogated the erotic thriller, an amorous, noir-ish relic of a [hornier Hollywood](...   One of the most famous erotic thrillers is 1992's Basic Instinct. The film features perhaps the greatest single performance in erotic-thriller history: Sharon Stone as novelist and infamous exhibitionist Catherine Trammell. The movie is sexy even when everyone’s clothed. But before we lose ourselves in filthy cat-and-mouse psychological games, here is a guide to watching erotic thrillers with your significant other, [written by actual significant others](.   Michael Douglas's persona became synonymous with the subgenre. His movies — Fatal Attraction (1987), Basic Instinct (1992), and Disclosure (1994) — all undercut their male lead in fascinating ways, a key requirement of any self-respecting erotic thriller. The tension within Douglas — between a modern-day softness and an old-school machismo — is what makes such cinematic humiliations so compelling. Here was the ultimate boomer avatar: [the male ego under siege](, both from others and from itself.   Wanna know how to tell you’re watching an erotic thriller without question? Well, an erotic thriller might include... Secret Identities, Blinds Are Always in the Way, Tasteful White Button-downs, [Femme Fatales](, and/or Effective Use of Westchester County [See all 22 signs you're watching an erotic thriller](.   But why has the genre disappeared? Ask anyone in the industry and they’ll tell you that sex-pulsed neo-noir [lost the ability to court controversy]( with sexually illicit material, while also creating four-quadrant cultural sensations. Some have attempted to resuscitate the erotic thriller, but to no avail. Even as a morality tale, Adrian Lyne’s [recent entry in the genre,]([Deep Water](, fails to make much of an impact.   All this to say, [Make Hollywood Horny Again.](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [unsubscribe](param=daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferencesÂ]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on e-mail newsletters please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved.