Summary reviews of films on this list can be found on the reviews page.
INTRODUCTION
The direct-to-video, or DTV erotic thriller is a mostly unexplored terrain. Over 700 erotic thrillers were produced from 1980-2000, compared to the 80-odd studio films made during that same period. Both the DTV and studio erotic thrillers are animated by the same abstraction -- desire is dangerous -- but in the articulation of that theme, the DTV films draw from a much larger pool of influence. From the studio films, critics and film writers have extrapolated assumptions about the erotic thriller that are not always true; that its source must always be film noir; that all erotic thrillers must have a femme fatale; that the…
Summary reviews of films on this list can be found on the reviews page.
INTRODUCTION
The direct-to-video, or DTV erotic thriller is a mostly unexplored terrain. Over 700 erotic thrillers were produced from 1980-2000, compared to the 80-odd studio films made during that same period. Both the DTV and studio erotic thrillers are animated by the same abstraction -- desire is dangerous -- but in the articulation of that theme, the DTV films draw from a much larger pool of influence. From the studio films, critics and film writers have extrapolated assumptions about the erotic thriller that are not always true; that its source must always be film noir; that all erotic thrillers must have a femme fatale; that the films are male fantasies which demonize women. These assumptions are occasionally reinforced by the DTV films, but they are just as often interrogated or completely overturned. Most DTV erotic thrillers are not influenced by film noir, don’t have recognizable femme fatales, and never tire of thrusting complex women into border zones of dangerous desire for following their own appetites.
BOOKS AND ARTICLES TO READ
For a (somewhat lengthy) definition of the subgenre and a survey of its history, see: Crimes of Desire: A Casefile on the Erotic Thriller, published (in English) in the Italian film journal Lo Specchio Scuro.
Also useful as a place to begin is Douglas Keesey's terrific 2005 CineAction article They Kill for Love: Defining the Erotic Thriller as a Film Genre.
Three academic books address the erotic thriller and its reflected themes in detail. These are The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema by Linda Ruth Williams, Sexy Thrills: Undressing the Erotic Thriller by Nina K. Martin, and Soft in the Middle: The Contemporary Softcore Feature in its Contexts by David Andrews.
