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When it comes to adulthood, there are few things more complicated than sex. (Okay, maybe taxes, but those aren't nearly as enjoyable.) Yes, sex is fun, but it's never just fun. It can also be exciting, delicate, primal, and, on some occasions, downright thrilling. Perhaps that's why auteurs have returned so frequently over the years to films that blend sex and danger (sometimes to the point of horror—but, you know, do you what you're into, with consent).
So we wrangled a list of them together—films that titillate while still resisting straight smut-hood. (Okay there's a little of that.) The best of these films use sex in a nuanced, thought-provoking way. They highlight the vulnerability of sex and the danger of an illicit pairing. They can pique your sexual curiosity, get your heart pumping, and still make you feel like you watched something decent.
So turn the air condition up a bit to keep things comfortable, snuggle up with someone who's down with a touch of dirty, and check out this list of some of the sexiest erotic thrillers ever.
Don't Worry Darling (In Theaters)
Don't worry about all the controversy surrounding this sexy, suburban thriller, and just experience it for yourself, darling. Directed by Olivia Wilde, the film stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as a happy couple in the 1950s who move to a creepy town created just for the mysterious company he works for.
Fear
Famous for that roller-coaster scene, Fear stars a young Reese Witherspoon as a teenager who falls in love with a shady guy named David (Mark Wahlberg). Her father doesn't approve, and David becomes increasingly protective of her until he can't take it anymore and breaks into their house.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Beside the fact that it's an excellent film, the sexual tension in The Talented Mr. Ripley is beyond palpable. Starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Matt Damon, the film follows Tom Ripley—a common man tasked with bringing back a wealthy playboy to the States in the 1950s. He travels to idyllic Italy, but it soon becomes apparent that Ripley is far more menacing than initially perceived, and he'll do anything to either be or have the man he is supposed to be fetching.
Ex Machina
You should not fuck with robots. You should not fuck robots. You should not robots, period. Ex Machina is stereotypically A24-level beautiful, but it's equal parts sexy and terrifying as two men, a programmer and a tech company's CEO, come to learn that the invention they've created—a gorgeous robot by the name of Ava—is far more powerful than the two initially believed. Let's just say she's no Alexa.
Black Swan
Desire is a dangerous thing, be it for professional aspirations or personal ones. Black Swan dives deep into the world of ballet, pitting Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis against each other as much as it throws them together. Sensual, intense, and deeply disturbing, the feature from Darren Aronofsky is somehow sexy in a way that is borderline troubling. It will also ensure that you don't pick at your fingernails ever again,
Mulholland Drive
Be prepared to do some reading after you finish this famously complicated and mind-boggling thriller from auteur David Lynch, which skewers Hollywood with its offbeat humor and dark cautionary themes. While Lynch's neo-noir focuses mostly on an aspiring actress (Naomi Watts) playing amateur detective upon her arrival in Los Angeles, the film features a notorious lesbian love scene between Watts and her co-star, Laura Elena Harding.
Crash
Not to be confused with the Oscar-winning movie about how everyone in Los Angeles is secretly racist, this Crash is directed by David Cronenberg and based on J. G. Ballard's cult novel. The film stars James Spader, Holly Hunter, Deborah Kara Unger, and Rosanna Arquette as a group of people with a very particular fetish: they get turned on by car crashes.
American Gigolo
Richard Gere bared all in this thriller written and directed by iconoclast Paul Schrader. Gere stars as Julian, a suave and sophisticated male escort living in Los Angeles who begins an affair with a wealthy women (played by Lauren Hutton). But when one of his regular clients is murdered, Julian is the prime suspect—and he must prove his innocence while avoiding a similarly deadly fate.
Lust, Caution
Ang Lee followed up his acclaimed romance Brokeback Mountain with another controversial film: an erotic espionage-themed drama in which a Chinese woman sets out to seduce a Japanese official in an attempt to assassinate him.
Stranger by the Lake
Franck is a handsome young man who spends his idle summer days on a lakeside beach that's serves as a popular cruising spot for gay men. He spots another gorgeous man he's like to know, but his affections are complicated when he witnesses the object of his desire drowning another man in the water—which begins a complicated, psychosexual love affair.
The Postman Always Rings Twice
A remake of the 1946 noir film (based on James M. Cain's classic novel), this David Mamet-penned adaptation stars Jack Nicholson as a drifter who begins a steamy affair with a woman who runs a roadside diner (Jessica Lange). As their chemistry burns with passion, so does their nefarious plan to murder the woman's husband.
Body of Evidence
Color of Night
Bruce Willis plays a damaged former psychologist who finds himself attracted to a mysterious woman, who fulfills his most erotic desires. While the relationship becomes manipulative, it also becomes dangerous—as the former doctor is stalked by his patient's murderer who will stop at nothing to kill him before he discovers their identity.
Bad Education
Gael Garcia Bernal stars in this complex murder mystery from acclaimed auteur Pedro Almodóvar. A director in Madrid meets a mysterious actress, who turns out to be his childhood best friend (and crush) Enrique. The two begin a psychological journey into their troubled pasts in a twist-filled Spanish noir.
Dead Ringers
Director David Cronenberg is most interested in making his audience squirm, and there's no better example than this creepy and bizarre thriller in which Jeremy Iron plays a pair of twin gynecologists (yep, you read that right) whose brotherhood is tested in deadly ways when they both fall for the same beguiling woman.
Bad Timing
After a young American woman living in Vienna overdoses on pills, a detective investigates to see if the event was a suicide attempt. He soon discovers that she was having an fraught affair with a psychology professor (played by Art Garfunkel)—an affair that sparked a sexual obsession.
Sliver
Sharon Stone stars as a recently divorced woman who moves into a new swanky apartment in New York. She soon becomes romantically involved with two of her neighbors: a handsome man who's spying on the building's residents, and a novelist who may also be a murderer. Things get sexy, but they don't end well for anyone.
Single White Female
After breaking off her engagement, Allie (Bridget Fonda) is in need of a roommate in her giant Manhattan apartment. She finds Hedy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) through a personals ad and offers her a room. But their comfy relationship turns bizarre when Hedy becomes obsessed with Allie—an obsession that turns deadly.
Cruising
A serial killer is stalking and murdering gay men in New York City, and Al Pacino's detective must go undercover in the dark underbelly of the S&M scene to find him. William Friedkin's thriller was controversial upon its release, but it's become a cult classic that also serves as a striking time capsule of pre-AIDS queer life.
Gone Girl
Based on Gillian Flynn's runaway bestseller, David Fincher's film is a dark and brooding look at a modern marriage masked as a bloody thriller. When Amy Dunne disappears, her husband Nick is the obvious suspect. But amid a media frenzy that blows apart his life, Nick discovers that his wife is hardly the women he knew and loved.
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