10 iconic ’90s erotic thrillers inspired by the queers
Basic Instinct celebrating its 30 year anniversary, and with star Sharon Stone also celebrating her birthday earlier this month, we here at Queerty would like to take a moment to meditate on the genre both Basic and Stone helped ignite: the ’90s erotic thriller.Of course, the movies had already given us dozens of erotic thrillers long before the 1990s.
Basic Instinct,however, upped the game on graphic sexuality, violence, and infused the genre with something new to titillate audiences: queerness.But wait, you ask: how is it that the queers inspired a genre all about dangerous women seducing hostile men in the most hetero way possible?Related: 9 genuine reactions I had while watching ‘Basic Instinct’ for the first time everUnderstand this: in the 1980s and ’90s, sex had taken on newfound danger due to the AIDS crisis.
Moreover, the appearance of bisexual and fluid women in the genre made the female characters more sinister by tapping the homophobia of the time.
Go figure that a number of gay icons also turned up in these titles.Viewed today, the films will probably inspire more howls of laughter than terrified screams.
