Erotic Thrillers Unexciting

Basic Instinct 2's less-than-stellar 10th-place finish at the film box office last weekend (just $3.2 million) has prompted some questions, as reported by Tatiana Siegel over at Reuters. It seems that the "erotic thriller" isn't thrilling many people these days, if the southbound box office of #2 Basic Instinct and the cool reception to films such as Jade and Showgirls are any indication.

The first Basic Instinct took in $353 million worldwide, and its director (as well as "the widely-ridiculed" Showgirls), Paul Verhoeven,

attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.

"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values.

Gosh, then what are we on the "religious right" all upset about? It seems people in Hollywood are afraid to make erotic movies! We have been heard.

And just to make it clear that he is clueless, or perhaps just anti-Christian (or both) he goes on:

"And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."

I'd like to make that: "Christianity and promiscuity--fornication, adultery, etc.--"porneia" to St. Paul--have never been good friends. And just maybe it's the other way around: promiscuity and erotic thrills are not being a good friend to the movies right now, and they certainly are not good friends to sex.

Scribe Nicholas Meyer, who was an uncredited writer on 1987's seminal sex-fueled cautionary tale "Fatal Attraction," agrees . . .

"We're in a big puritanical mode," he said. "Now, it's like the McCarthy era, except it's not 'Are you a communist?' but 'Have you ever put sex in a movie?'"

What are these guys smoking? Who is chasing them? Christians--no, those nasty Puritans are back--are banning sex in the movies? Gads, sex not only in the movies, it's on prime-time television and cable, the internet--you don't have to go to the movies to see erotic thrills.

Has it every occurred to them that lust, after multiple viewings, isn't all that interesting? Maybe "pure" eroticism is just one-dimensional and boring? I mean, how much can you say about it? And is the following comment unintentionally admitting this?

Mark Damon, once dubbed the king of eroticism for producing such steamy classics as 1986's "9 1/2 Weeks" and 1990's "Wild Orchid," said he stopped producing sex-steeped dramas because "I didn't find any scripts that were worth producing. The genre had exhausted itself."

Well, there's a thought.

Comments

[Terry Bohannon]

I'd place more blame on the director and screen writer than the genre. (Not that I'm in support of the genre.)

A horrible movie, even if it's a "sexy," is still a horrible movie. And looking at the pulse of the movie reviews, (here), perhaps Paul Vanderhoeven is in a state of denial.

[Timothy Ald]

The director's name is actually Paul Verhoeven, and you barely scratch the surface of the irony of his "deep thoughts."

Mr. Verhoeven is also a member of the Jesus Seminar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Verhoeven

Enough said?

[dcypl]

Don't you thik it's ironic that the people who have been targets of Christians in the past are now blaming them for a lack of market share in the most overpriced section of the entertainment industry?

Their lacklustre performance (maybe a bad choice of words) seems to be more closely linked with the continued rise in internet pornography, rather than being seriously influenced by the political sway held by Christians, (some of whom are likely devout internet pornography users, just like the average male).

[Matt B.]

Sadly, I think DCPL's comment is spot-on. I mean, who wants to fork over eight or nine bucks to go sit in a public venue and watch some soft-core porn that just doesn't do what it used to? I don't doubt that there are many pious Christians (Jews/Muslims/Hindus, for that matter) who wouldn't go see BI-III if you paid them, but I suspect that most of the crowd that would've formerly been in the "BI-demographic" have found more serious, hardcore outlets for their debased minds.

[Terry Bohannon]

BI-III?