We're living in prudish times. Cinematic sex has become an ongoing point of debate on social media – and according to the internet commentariat, sex in movies, for the most part, is bad. It's no wonder, really, considering that movies themselves have, over the last two decades, taken a turn for the chaste.
Back in the '80s and '90s, though, you couldn't throw an ice pick in the general direction of a movie theater without stabbing Michael Douglas's bare ass. For a relatively brief moment of time, erotic thrillers – films intertwining sex and violence into a deliciously lurid, adults-only cocktail – ruled the multiplex. Sure, they were often problematic, and almost always trashy. But the onscreen sexlessness of the past 20 years has left us nostalgic for the simple, sleazy pleasures of the erotic thriller era. And we're not the only ones, as hot-and-bothered movies like Challengers, Love Lies Bleeding and the meme-launching Babygirl were among the most buzzed-about films of 2024.
