10 Best Erotic Thrillers Ever

Brian De Palma was a key director in forging the erotic thriller landscape. Not unlike how Lawrence Kasdan would update film noir a year later with Body Heat, De Palma's 1980 film Dressed To Kill presented a similarly modernised, no-holds-barred take on Hitchcock.

Heavily influenced by Psycho, but with a far more explicit sexual element, Dressed To Kill centres on Angie Dickinson as a middle-aged housewife whose sexual frustrations lead her down some dangerous paths. A bizarre murder mystery ensues, incorporating Michael Caine as Dickinson's psychiatrist, and Nancy Allen as a call girl.

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the film, we won't give away Dressed To Kill's big twists here, although it's tricky to discuss the film without addressing them. For one, they take the film into very provocative and, by modern standards, scandalously non-PC territory.

Still, the film is to be admired for its frank portrayal of sexuality in mature women (Dickinson was 49 at the time), as well as its level-headed and non-judgemental representation of Allen's sex worker.

Given how sleazy and excessive Dressed To Kill gets, it might be regarded something of a guilty pleasure - but then, that's par for the course with erotic thrillers. In any case, De Palma's creative direction (making fascinating use of wide angles and split screen) lifts it all to a higher level.