Five steamy movies perfect for a ‘Netflix and Chill’ weekend
Back in the early 1990s, erotic thrillers were absolutely having it at the box office, and Netflix now has a decent little pile of films cut from that same cloth where attraction is never just attraction. Crossing the lines is what takes us into that sensual, steamy territory, and we know that’s what you are here for.
Basic Instinct was one of the films that turned all that into a massive event, because once audiences proved they were more than happy to watch desire and murder all mixed up, things in cinema took a turn for good.
Sure, the genre itself faded a bit after that, but the idea never really went anywhere. It just slipped into other stories where romance looks innocent at first and later turns into something cruel, which is where things seem to be going with this week’s watchlist.
Forget that teeny tiny harmless flirting and a fade to black because these films want bad decisions and absolutely no common sense. Lust and danger: the perfect ingredients for a steamy Netflix and chill watch.
Five steamy movies perfect for a ‘Netflix and Chill’ weekend
Cruel Intentions (Roger Kumble, 1999)
Before we watched Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair become rivals to besties in Legally Blonde, they gave us this 1999 masterpiece. Fascinating, right? Something as juvenile as Legally Blonde was followed by Cruel Intentions, which gives you Sebastian and Kathryn, two filthy-rich Manhattan stepsiblings with far too much time on their hands, and when Sebastian decides he can seduce Annette, the headmaster’s daughter, who has made a very public promise to wait for love, Kathryn turns it into a bet.
Now it is crystal clear that this is going to end badly, but let’s focus on the heat which comes from watching Sebastian treat attraction like a game until, awkwardly enough, he starts catching real feelings and the rules he was so smug about begin biting him back.
And the whole delicious mess is much older than the film makes it look, because Roger Kumble based it on the 1782 French novel ‘Les Liaisons dangereuses’ and changed the setting to the late ’90s. New York without blurring the sex or the cruelty. The man wrote the script in twelve days, crying out loud!
Bone Lake (Mercedes Bryce Morgan, 2024)
Quite the name, eh? Bone Lake clearly suggests that there is going to be a lot of boning in this one, and as a matter of fact, that’s how the film begins. A romantic weekend in a huge lakeside house with lots of shagging except for Sage and Diego, who go there and find another couple, Will and Cin, standing there with the exact same booking, and, for reasons known only to people in thrillers, everybody decides sharing the house sounds like a sane solution.
Before long, Will and Cin start poking at every weak spot in Sage and Diego’s relationship, while, on the contrary, the flirting gets real heavy. Boundaries start getting blurred, and what was a mere awkward double booking turns into a sexy game of attraction and jealousy. Regrettable choices are the offspring of these two.
The Last Paradiso (Rocco Ricciardulli, 2020)
Now, The Last Paradiso initially might give you a good impression because look at the setting: We are going to 1950s Southern Italy with lovely scenery and lots of romance. What could go wrong? Well… quite a lot, as it happens, because Ciccio Paradiso is already busy having it out with the landowners, rinsing local workers dry when he goes and falls for Bianca, who just happens to be the daughter of the man he is fighting. It would’ve been a Romeo-Juliet situation, but here our Romeo, aka Ciccio, is married, so now you have got an affair and class anger.
Moreover, Bianca wants out from under her father’s thumb, while Ciccio is pushing back against a system that is more than just an erotic movie, but the parts where it does get steamy, you might want to take a break to catch your breath. Fun fact: the story pulls from events tied to director Rocco Ricciardulli’s own family, so the film has more feelings attached.
Swimming Pool (François Ozon, 2003)
Any Netflix and chill list is empty without a good French skin flick, and this time we’re commencing it with Swimming Pool. Sarah Morton goes to the south of France because she wants some peace, somewhere quiet to write, basically a break from people getting on her nerves. She gets a big house, a swimming pool, sunshine, and nobody bothering her.
But then comes Julie, her publisher’s daughter, and that whole relaxing break is just gone. She is younger and sleeps with whoever she fancies. You start wondering pretty fast whether Sarah is annoyed by her, fascinated by her, jealous of her… or all three at once. The more Sarah watches Julie, the more you start watching Sarah instead, trying to work out what she is seeing. To be honest, the feelings are quite mixed, so you’ll have to choose for yourself here.
The Servant (Kim Dae-woo, 2010)
The Servant is based on a story Korean audiences already know backwards but presents it with a minor change. Bang-ja is meant to help his master, Mong-ryong, win Chun-hyang over, nice and simple, except he goes and falls for her too. Things get interesting when she starts returning that interest, too, but instead of a hilarious rom-com, it gets super dangerous, because class differences are sitting between them even when nobody wants to admit it.
Also, you need to pay extra attention to this one because director Kim Dae-woo rewrites The Tale of Chunhyang, one of Korea’s best-known folk romances, from the servant’s point of view, which turns a well-known love story into something, you know, slippery. You still get romance, sure, but desire is the primary element here, and nobody comes out of that game with clean hands.