(Credits: Netflix)

We all know that when someone says “Netflix and chill”, they don’t mean watching Finding Nemo. The snacks might be there with low lights, but you won’t dare to press play on a documentary about a cactus now, will you?

When someone says Netflix and chill, it is by default translated to heat and tension. And you want the kind of movie that makes even sitting a few inches away very, very difficult.

And you don’t want a movie that opens with a nude scene. Nah, that would be too tacky. You want something that builds tension slowly and steadily.

We understand. Yes, we do, and hence we have got you five steamy movies that are more than perfect for your Netflix and chill dates. You see, some movies are not meant to be finished.

Five steamy movies perfect for ‘Netflix and Chill’ dates

Unfaithful (Adrian Lyne, 2002)

It has got to be the perfect movie for Netflix and chill nights, and if you haven’t watched it before, you are missing out on a lot. Unfaithful starts off looking like a regular marriage, where Diane Lane plays a wife in the suburbs with a sweet kid and a stable husband. There is nothing going wrong until she runs into a younger guy in the city and makes one mistake she can’t take back. She tells herself it was just once, but she keeps going back, and the film never tries to justify it.

It will be safe to call Lane unreal in this. The way she falls apart slowly, trying to act normal while knowing she’s gone too far, is what makes this feel so sharp. And when Richard Gere figures it out, you don’t even know who you are rooting for anymore. But let us remind you that it is not sexy in a chill way, as it gets unbearable to watch. Which, let’s be honest, makes it perfect (iykyk).

Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992)

Let’s not pretend you already don’t know THE scene. The chair, the cigarette, the look. But what you might forget is how good the rest of this film is at keeping you off balance. Catherine Tramell, played by Sharon Stone at her most magnetic, is either a brilliant manipulator or something much darker, and the film never really tells you which.

Michael Douglas plays the detective pulled into her world, and he spends most of the movie trying to prove she is lying while falling into every trap she sets. The tension in Basic Instinct isn’t just sexual… it is psychological, and it builds until you don’t trust anything or anyone. So if you are looking for just a Netflix and chill movie, this thriller might be a little more than that.

Newness (Drake Doremus, 2017)

Have you ever started something casual and told yourself it won’t get tangled? That’s this film, except everything does get messy and fast. Nicholas Hoult and Laia Costa play two people who meet on an app and click immediately. Before you know it, they are headfirst into a situationship that’s supposed to be honest without any expectations. And though they might not, you… You keep getting attached (to the story).

This is more than just steamy. It is so raw, in a way that’s way too familiar if you have ever tried to keep feelings out of something that clearly isn’t built to last. There is jealousy and avoidance. Of course, together come bad decisions and moments where they come back together just because they don’t know how to stop. The sex feels real; the silence feels even more real. So if you are looking for passionate intimacy, Newness is the one.

Malcolm & Marie (Sam Levinson, 2021)

Zendaya and John David Washington walk through the front door already annoyed, already holding back things they want to say, and what follows is one long night where everything spills out at once. They argue and reconnect, all to fight again, and all while the camera watches them move through the house like they’re trying not to explode.

There’s no side plot here incase you are wondering. Just two people who love each other and hate each other and cannot seem to stop performing for the other person’s attention. The film is shot in black and white, but the tension is high. And it’s stylish, yes, but beneath that, it’s very volatile. But if you want to focus less on the story and more on the steam, this one works just fine.

Indecent Proposal (Adrian Lyne, 1993)

Imagine being offered a million dollars not to cheat, not to lie, but to let someone else have one night with your partner, just once. That’s the setup of Indecent Proposal. Simple and yet completely impossible to answer without breaking something. Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson play the couple, and Robert Redford is the one who makes the offer with a devilish charm.

What happens next isn’t what you’d expect. It is not about the night but the suspicion and guilt that follow after. The way a single choice keeps echoing until neither of them recognises what they had anymore. You keep watching because you want to know if they will come back from it, but some decisions sit too deep. The film knows that, and it makes you work for the answers.