12 Trashiest Films Ever Made
3. Basic Instinct (1992)
What happens when the director of The Fourth Man meets the screenwriter of Jagged Edge? You get a movie that mixes the outrageous sex and violence of Paul Verhoevens movie with Joe Eszterhass third-hand borrowings from Hitchcock.
A film so tacky that even Russ Meyer wouldve turned his nose up at it, Basic Instinct is a Shannon Tweed movie writ large, with only Verhoevens slick direction and the presence of Michael Douglas to suggest the movie wasnt made for late-night cable. Eszterhas later claimed that the sex scenes werent such a big deal in his original script, which didnt even include the films signature moment Sharon Stones gratuitous beaver shot.
If nothing else, Verhoeven deserves credit for launching Stones career as well as a subgenre of films that include Body Of Evidence, Jade, Color Of Night and Sliver. You can see why he left Hollywood and returned to Holland.