Time for a palate cleanse.
Between our recent revisiting the high-gloss trash that is Basic Instinct, and the trash that movie inspired, we could easily sour on erotic thrillers. Lucky for us, some directors actually know how to make good movies about sex and suspense.
Related: 10 iconic ’90s erotic thrillers inspired by the queers
Meet the Queer Fatale: an LGBTQ character that awakens the sexual passions of a same-sex partner, and leads them into a dangerous world of lust and death. Call us crazy, but that is our idea of a good time.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Anyone wishing for a sexual charge along with their dramatic tension, look no further. These ten films know how to hold an audience’s attention and treat LGBTQ characters with a modicum of respect. Besides, they’re also sexy as Hell.
Sequin in a Blue Room
A young man named Sequin (Conor Leach) discovers his sexuality and the world of dating apps, which leads him into a dark world of sex parties and obsession. While Sequin searches for a man with which he had an unusual connection, another former lover begins to stalk him. Loaded with shadowy, often surreal visuals and creepy atmosphere, it’s the kind of movie that can titillate and repulse at the same time.
Streams on Amazon & YouTube.
Nevrland
A German teenager named Jakob raised a world of macho men and forced to work in a slaughterhouse undergoes a sexual awakening when he meets an aspiring gay photographer. The underground world of gay dance parties and sex offers Jakob newfound freedom, but can he handle it? Sensuous and hallucinatory, movies rarely get this sexy or frightening.
Streams on Amazon, Dekkoo, YouTube & VUDU.
Cruising
Exorcist director William Friedkin set off one hell of a controversy with this 1980 thriller. Gay activists at the time objected to the film’s central premise: a cop investigates a serial killer who murders gay men in leather bars. The movie also became notorious for its scenes of unsimulated kink and fetish sex. Viewed today, Cruising doesn’t feel all that offensive. In fact, we kind of enjoy its central story about a cop obsessed with the case…because he gets so turned on by the leather scene.
Streams on Amazon, YouTube & VUDU.
Mulholland Dr.
Mulholland Dr. began life as a TV pilot. How bizarre then, that it should ultimately become one of the best erotic thrillers of the 2000s. Naomi Watts stars as Betty, a plucky actress that helps Rita (Laura Elena Harring)–a woman with no memory–discover her true identity. Of course, the pair stumble on a murder tied to an up-and-coming director (Justin Theroux) and the mob. And, in a refreshing twist of logic Betty and Rita fall in love. But there’s more to this story than it seems. Or is there less?
Streams on Amazon, YouTube & VUDU.
The Dark Place
Sean Paul Lockheart (better known as adult performer Brent Corrigan) stars in this erotic mystery thriller about family betrayal in California wine country. Keegan (Blaise Godbe Lipman) and his boyfriend Jake (Lockheart), just want to make peace with Keegan’s mother, Celeste (Shannon Day). When she falls into a coma, Keegan rushes to clear his name, and discover the truth behind a creepy mystery.
Streams on Amazon, Peacock & YouTube.
Summer of ’85
French giant François Ozon directs his dream project: this erotic thriller about young love, betrayal, and guilt. Alex (Félix Lefebvre) falls head over heels for the handsome David (Benjamin Voisin). Six weeks later, David is dead, and Alex is left to ponder how their relationship turned to obsession. Summer of ’85 will captivate and seduce anyone that knows the wonderful, awful, sting of young love.
Streams on Showtime, Amazon, YouTube & VUDU.
Strangers on a Train
Leave it to Alfred Hitchcock to make a gay, erotic thriller in the early 1950s. Adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel, the story finds Guy (Farley Granger, who was bisexual in real life) in a chance meeting with Bruno (Robert Walker). The two have an awkward encounter in which Bruno offers to kill Guy’s wife in exchange for Guy killing Bruno’s father. Guy rebuffs the deal, but Bruno won’t take “no” for an answer. As played by Granger and Walker, Bruno and Guy have an underlying sexual charge between them. We get the sense the pair would be a whole lot happier if they just hooked up, rather than kill for each other.
Streams on Amazon, YouTube & VUDU.
Single White Female
Lesbianic thriller, or campy nonsense? Can both be true? Single White Female pairs Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allie and Hedy, respectively. Allie welcomes Hedy into her life as a roommate, and very quickly, Hedy becomes obsessed. She begins dressing like Allie, styles her hair to match…and begins targeting Allie’s loved ones for murder. Love or hate the ridiculous premise, Fonda and Leigh go all-in on their roles and elevate Single White Female beyond mere dreck.
Streams on Amazon, Hulu, Paramount+, Roku Channel, VUDU & YouTube.
Stranger by the Lake
Hansome Frenchman Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) takes a vacation to a nude, gay resort, where he meets Michel (Christophe Paou) a handsome man to whom he feels an instant, powerful attraction. When Franck witnesses Michel commit a murder, he finds himself even more turned on. A suspenseful dance between the two ensures, as Franck wrestles with his moral obligation to do the right thing and his overpowering lust for a killer. Stranger By the Lake also earned notoriety for its graphic nudity and scenes of unsimulated gay sex.
Streams on Amazon.
Bound
The Wachowskis made an auspicious feature film debut with this lesbian thriller starring Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon. Corky (Gershon), a lesbian ex-con, tries to get her life on track as a plumber. She falls hard and fast for Violet (Tilly), one of her clients, who also happens to be the girlfriend of a violent mafioso named Ceasar (Joe Pantoliano). The gal pair plot to escape to a new life together using Ceasar’s mob money…though of course, they have to get away from him first.
Streams on Showtime.
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Saps48
I count on Queerty to come up with interesting, thought-provoking suggestions. Many movies I have seen, or are in my queues, have come directly from these pages. Well done, yet again.
spiralx
As soon as the opening credits for Bound play, you know you’re in for something sleek, clever and really intriguing.
Owen Blacker
Such an amazing film; I can’t recommend it highly enough. And with the Wachowski sisters as joint writers–directors, before they became more widely-known with The Matrix.
Sooooo good. Run, don’t walk, to catch it!
bachy
Of these I’ve seen ‘Mulholland Drive’, ‘Cruising’, ‘Stranger by the Lake’ and ‘Single White Female’, all of which were quite thrilling! Stories about homosexual relationships lend themselves to obsession, darkness and danger, as we’ve lived in the demimonde for centuries; we know the arena! It is only in our era that some gays are attempting to reposition themselves as wholesome as apple pie – via ideas like coming out, gay marriage and gay parenthood.
WRT ‘Single’, always loved Bridget Fonda, who unexpectedly quit acting for parenthood over 12 years ago.