~~ Erotic Thrillers of the 80s and 90s ~~

Red Blood Diaries

The 1987 episode of You Must Remember This is probably the best yet (of this season; I haven't heard previous ones). Positioning Fatal Attraction and Dirty Dancing as conservative vs liberal box-office mirrors of each other is a creative read, but it totally works; her identification of Patrick Swayze's Johnny Castle as the antidote to Reagan-era toxic masculinity (encapsulated, here, by Michael Douglas in FA) almost makes me want to take a look at the film--hell, both films--with fresh eyes.

I think I've told this story on the board before, but when I was 10 and really wanted to see FA, my mom finally agreed (I was persistent verging on harrassing when it came to movies I wanted to see) on the condition that we "talk about" the film afterwards. I agreed, thus leading to a discussion of the sex scenes ("that is not the way that people have sex") which I think may have constituted my "sex talk" with my parents. When I tell this story, people are always divided between this being my mom's genuinely earnest attempt at a 'teachable moment" or her zinging me for insisting on such inappropriate viewing material.

i love how Longworth often gets me to reconsider movies I thought I had made up my mind about. I dunno if i will rewatch Fatal Attraction but I am definitely thinking about it in new ways thanks to her.

I met Sherry Lansing 10 years ago at a work function & had dinner with her but knew zero about her history at the time so mostly exchanged smalltalk & pleasantries. Kicking myself tbh.

Anyway. Enjoying this season immensely.

actually more like 20 years ago re Lansing - time flies when yr old lmao

True story: in 1983, I was in 8th grade Unitarian Sunday school. We got to vote on what movie to go see as an end-of-year treat.

The final tally was: 9 votes for "Risky Business" and 1 vote for "Terms of Endearment."

So I first saw Rebecca de Mornay's breasts with my church youth group.

I still don't know who voted for "Terms of Endearment."

Enjoying this season immensely.

Yup, very good. I don't really have much of a desire to reconsider histories from times I've lived through -- it mostly frustrates me thinking about idiotic things that happened within living memory, if you get my drift -- but this has been a good way to reframe many things.

The 1987 episode of You Must Remember This is probably the best yet (of this season; I haven't heard previous ones). Positioning Fatal Attraction and Dirty Dancing as conservative vs liberal box-office mirrors of each other is a creative read, but it totally works; her identification of Patrick Swayze's Johnny Castle as the antidote to Reagan-era toxic masculinity (encapsulated, here, by Michael Douglas in FA) almost makes me want to take a look at the film--hell, both films--with fresh eyes.

You really should. Dirty Dancing is sharper and more erotic than its reputation suggests -- and, of course, as men we condescend to stuff young girls like. But Jennifer Grey, in a charming performance, is sexually alert, and the film respects her sexual maturation: it's rare in an '80s picture -- any American picture! -- in which the male star consents to be the object of desire.

And, of course, Cynthia Rhodes gets an abortion and there's no -- not a one -- consequence or regret.

A couple weeks ago I finished Michael Koresky's Films of Endearment, about re-watching with his mom some of those '80s films starring the decade's essential actresses (Lange, Weaver, Pfeiffer, Cher, etc.).

True story: in 1983, I was in 8th grade Unitarian Sunday school. We got to vote on what movie to go see as an end-of-year treat.

The final tally was: 9 votes for "Risky Business" and 1 vote for "Terms of Endearment."

So I first saw Rebecca de Mornay's breasts with my church youth group.

I still don't know who voted for "Terms of Endearment."

― Nutellanor Roosevelt (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, June 8, 2022 7:01 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Lol, I saw "Trading Places" with my church youth group.

xp a really great read

My 11th grade French teacher took our class to see Betty Blue, the most serious of erotic thrillers.

lol sure

I watched that last year, that is a p wild choice!

This is in the neighborhood: Trapped, with Charlize Theron, Kevin Bacon, and Courtney Love. 2002, so not '90s; not remotely erotic, though it tries a couple of times; and tense for a while, not at all after that.

First hour, it's an okay diversion. The last 20 minutes, though, has to rank with the most ludicrous resolution of a thriller I've ever seen.

The upcoming You Must Remember This pod season is covering '90s Erotic Thrillers/Neo Noir etc.

i took a Neo Noir film class in my first year of uni, i am kinda looking forward to the new series. I loved the last one.

xpost -- Very much waiting on that series. Her 80s one was excellent.

Halfway through the 80s one, was savouring it, but will need to speed up.

really wish there was an easy way to view some of these films, lifes just too short to hunt around all the streaming services, and try to keep on top of it all.

its like listening to a classic albums podcast but each song might be on a different streaming services and some songs completely missing...

If you have public libraries in your area, many of them stock these things on DVD.

I really have to see Jade again someday

David Corelli : Cristal, Baluga, Wolfgang Puck... it's a fuckhouse.

Just over a week away:

The next season of @RememberThisPod begins in just 11 days! Make sure you're subscribed wherever you get your podcasts for new episodes of #Erotic90s every Tuesday starting March 28: pic.twitter.com/Xrcu9OdSMu

— YouMust RememberThis (@RememberThisPod) March 17, 2023

Aaaaand, as if on cue, Criterion is streaming a bunch of these titles starting next month:

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8101-the-criterion-channels-april-2023-lineup

Erotic Thrillers
Sleekly stylish, deliriously plotted, and unabashedly steamy, the erotic thrillers of the 1980s and ’90s are both the ultimate guilty pleasure and an illuminating reflection of an era’s changing attitudes toward sex on-screen. As the ’70s came to a close, with studio filmmaking in decline, home video and cable on the rise, and new X-rated movies ushering in an era of “porno chic,” Hollywood studios and independent filmmakers began pushing boundaries to cash in and create popular films that could never have been made before. Often dismissed as disreputable byproducts of the video-store era, these carnal classics can now be seen as rich cultural texts, laden with tantalizing ideas about gender, the relationship between sex and violence, and the cinematic gaze. Encompassing masterful genre deconstructions by directors such as Brian De Palma (Body Double), Paul Schrader (The Comfort of Strangers), and the Wachowskis (Bound*) as well as lesser-known titles now ripe for reappraisal (Color of Night, Dream Lover, Fleshtone), these late-night cable staples are journeys into our collective fears and fantasies.

FEATURING: Dressed to Kill (1980), Body Heat (1981), Crimes of Passion (1984), Body Double (1984), The Bedroom Window (1987), Sister, Sister (1987), Call Me (1988), The Comfort of Strangers (1990), Poison Ivy (1992), Dream Lover (1993), Color of Night (1994), Criminal Passion (1994), Fleshtone (1994), The Last Seduction (1994), Jade (1995)*, Bound (1996)*; COMING MAY 1: Single White Female (1992); JUNE 1: Basic Instinct (1992)

i am excite!

Skinterion

Interesting lineup. I expect some "the orange in Call Me vs. the peach in Call Me By Your Name" discussion once people get a load of that one.

I don't know if Dream Lover's quite "ripe for reappraisal." It does have Mädchen Amick, my fourth-favourite person from the '80s with umlauts attached.

One of these days I'll double feature Poison Ivy and Color of Night on Criterion because it's perverse

rich cultural texts, laden with tantalizing ideas

Yeah that's totally why I watched Body Heat when I was 14.

The tantalizing ideas, the rich cultural text.

This is what I was asking for upthread, a shame its US only and not available in UK.

I could futz around with VPNs etc. but its never an easy solution, always more work than necessary when I just want to sit down and enjoy the rich cultural texts..

Feel like Karina has turned her enunciation game up a notch.

Xpost Hamildan

If you want to watch on a laptop you only need a VPN to sign up as a member - you can use any of the chrome browser vpn plugins. After that, the site will take a UK payment cards and you don’t need to use the VPN when you’re watching movies.

It’s possible to download the app via VPN too but I can’t remember how I did that!

I've needed this to return as winter drags on.

my god The Bedrooom Window, which I saw as part of Criterion's Isabelle Huppert series, has her worst performance and presents Steve Guttenberg as an erotic figure.

The he has the same malleable sexuality as peter riegert in crossing delancy

presents Steve Guttenberg as an erotic figure

Clearly you have not yet taken in the magnificence that is Can't Stop the Music.

that's my Guttenberg Bible

https://townsquare.media/site/341/files/2013/02/morgan_0.jpg

Guttentag!

iirc the bedroom window also has steve guttenberg give the least convincing use of the word "bitch" in a movie ever

That movie has a lot of Least Convincing things, for example the Art Deco nightmare of a bar they hang out at.

Who made him a star, anyway?

Hey, let's not forget Short Circuit, where he has a threesome with Ally Sheedy and a robot:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c4/60/f2/c460f240be5066d3830fd6e52bb3baac.jpg

Guttenberg > Selleck > Danson

well, compared to the last two, Guttenberg is Alain Delon.

Have only listened to the first 15 of the ep but, damn, if this turns into a 14-episode arc of how much the '90s sucked when it comes to sexual politics, it's going to be amazing.

Having finished listening to it, especially with her personal note at the end, I'm thinking your guess is right. Also looking forward to next week, which was fairly clearly signalled.

Will be interesting to see how this all comes together with the main impetus for the project, which is how the American cinema came to turn its back on depictions of sex almost entirely

One not mentioned yet. Save Mewith Lysette Anthony and Harry Hamlin.

Hamlin glowers through a telegraphed plot where red flags are slapping him constantly, and yet the show goes on. Plus, Michael Ironside in the cast!

Watched a couple of the Criterions (second viewing for each).

I actually tried to buy The Bedroom Window a couple of years ago and found it a little pricey. Hard to believe that when assembling the cast, someone said "erotic thriller" and someone else said "Steve Guttenberg!" I think Isabelle Huppert was getting lots of acclaim at the time for her French films, but to me she seemed miscast here. The only Robert Palmer song I ever liked, "Hyperactive," is used, the one thing I still remembered about the film, and Carl Lumbly, the detective, did a great job a few years ago providing Miles Davis' voice in Birth of the Cool.

Dream Lover is sillier but more interesting, I'd say, mostly thanks to Madchen Amick. Truly bizarre coincidence: after I finished watching last night, I was flipping around and came across two stations playing Seinfeld. One was airing the episode with Larry Miller as the doorman, the other had the episode with James Spader doing his 12 steps. Honest to god. (Both in Dream Lover, if you don't know.)

Here we go …

The enemy gained a very powerful ally today https://t.co/774eiUrFeX

— Brandon Streussnig (@BrndnStrssng) April 13, 2023