10 Movies Much Better Than The One Thing You Remember Them For

4. Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct Sharon Stone
TriStar Pictures

What You Remember It For: Sharon Stone uncrossing her legs

A lot of the fondness aimed at 1992's Basic Instinct more-or-less boils down to people remembering the sex appeal of star Sharon Stone.

The scene where Stone's Catherine Tramell exposes herself during an interrogation has taken on a life of its own, with parodies and references aplenty (most recently in Deadpool 2); indeed, you don't even need to have seen the movie to know where it comes from.

But being known as "that movie where Sharon Stone flashes her vagina" does the incredibly suspenseful, provocative Basic Instinct a disservice. Michael Douglas is at his best, Verhoeven's Hitchcockian direction is rock-solid (and impressive considering he's more famous for his action work), and the plot unfolds at a rapid pace that keeps the carnal intrigue coming. There's so much to enjoy here.

Over time, Basic Instinct has become known as a "sexy movie" because of this one scene, but it really isn't; it's about how a manipulative woman uses sex as a weapon, and it builds a strong thriller around that conceit. It's more horrifying than anything.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!