Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission. This article was originally published on April 6, It has been updated to include more movies.
We all feel it, that emptiness in our souls where the erotic thriller should be. It is the bridge between the high and the low. It is the handshake between film snobs and trash collectors. Richard Gere had already been cutting a handsome figure in crime thrillers for years before , but American Gigolo helped cement him as a sex symbol for erotic-thriller connoisseur. In this film written and directed by Paul Schrader, Gere plays a sex worker named Julian who is generally enjoying the high life thanks to the compensation from his very satisfied clients.
After the bad job, the wife turns up dead, and Julian ends up the prime suspect in her murder. Pull up this classic and find out! With an all-time erotic thriller title, Body Heat is a classic of the genre. There are plans to knock off a spouse so two lovers can run off with the money together. Based on the novel of the same name by James M.
When he agrees to come on as a hired hand, the two obviously fall into a torrid affair that will lead to sex, murder plotting, and Lange becoming increasingly unhinged and screaming at Nicholson until her voice trembles and breaks in that singularly Jessica Lange way!
Did someone say Kathleen Turner? The voice of all erotically thrilling voices is back on the list with Crimes of Passion , a Ken Russell joint that goes from seduction to straight-up sexcapades. Stripped to Kill follows a lady cop who goes undercover as a stripper to catch a killer picking off exotic dancers. Within the first 15 minutes of the film, multiple strip scenes are staged and a woman is set on fire, and that really sets the tone for everything else that comes after.
