Am I the only person I know who can't help but laugh when a movie gets called an "erotic thriller"? What the hell does THAT mean?! It's about scary sex?! Or scary people who have sex?! Is there a market for "erotic thrillers"? Can't it just be erotic? Or just a thriller? I first realized how stupid this phrase is when a friend was looking at movies for us to see, and she said, "oooh, look at this one, it's an erotic thriller". What the hell?!

What's your favorite erotic thriller? Other than me, that is.

~ points to her hubby as he walks butt nekkid outta the shower and up to bed ~

there is mine ...

That's a thriller with tits and ass

and they usually suck major ass.

One name came to mind immediately...Shannon Tweed.

you mean when hans was engaging in activities in our supply closet and tripped?

he was then wrapped by an extension cord and dangled above our waste disposal unit.

that was quite an erotic thriller he says. i for one am quite fond of basic instinct.

an erotic thriller that borders on being a wonderful comedy. that and psycho of course.

i also would like to mention "kill cruise" starring elizabeth hurley and patsy kensit.

I don't think I've ever seen an "erotic thriller".

J0eyC0c0 said:

YAAAAAY Shannon



she has FANTASTIC taste in men

[Edited 9/14/04 19:58pm]

CarrieMpls said:

you saw "the hunger", i bet. i'd say that's an erotic thriller.

Anxiety said:

You know, you're right. I have seen that and I would say that's an erotic thriller.

So I guess that one's my favorite.

Anxiety said:

again as I was finding the hunger...you mention it.

she definitely saw basic instinct or fatal attraction...who hasn't? I actually prefer Fatal Instinct.

superspaceboy said:

I've actually never seen either.

well...
"Showgirls" definitely fits into the "scary sex or scary people who have sex" categories.

applekisses said:

applekisses said:

i guess nomi's behavior in the jacuzzi could be characterized as scary. i'm sure poor kyle maclachlan was frightened for his life.

applekisses said:

wonderful documentary. hans has been known to reenact many scenes around the halls.

the patients do seem to love it so, but they are very heavily medicated you know.

hans refuses to take his wig off sometimes and makes us put money in his g string.

i suppose we have to amuse ourselves somehow on long shifts. the stripper pole is lovely.

I am surprised no one said Dead Ringer

EverSoLesa2 said:

or Lolita

Some of the movies they make nowadays that are supposed to "Erotic Thrillers" are about as erotic as the Ghostbusters movie.....

sinister said:

you do not find the stay puft marshmallow man erotic, mr. sinister?

hans finds him deliciously forbidden and once chased a child in such a costume.

he yelled loudly as he ran-"da marshmallows! i must have de marshmallows mr. puft!"

he's still undergoing treatment. i leave smores in his locker when possible.

Anxiety said:

Have you seen the special edition with the new commentary? It's friggin' hilarious!

applekisses said:

i want to get the special edition but i don't want all the crap that comes with it. i'm not THAT big a fan of the movie...but i'd LOVE to hear the commentary.

Anxiety said:

Trust me...the commentary is worth it. It's only like $28.

http://www.twnonline.org/...hmader.htm


Best in ‘Show’
A gay writer’s obsession with a cinematic disaster attracts MGM

By LOANN HALDEN
Features Editor

Why, for the love of god, you ask, is TWN covering the VIP edition release of "Showgirls" on DVD?
It’s a legitimate question, given that the universally panned 1995 film about an aspiring dancer in Las Vegas is known to be a misogynistic mess. And it’s certainly not because of the girl-on-girl action between strippers, because that comes from a leering male perspective.
But yet, there’s something oddly compelling about this train wreck. Watch as monkeys suddenly run through the showgirls’ dressing room! Listen as Cristal (Gina Gershon) and Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley) discuss eating Doggie Chow!
Almost every frame oozes the delectable fragrance of camp, which drowns out the stench of failure.


Don’t believe me?
That’s where David Schmader comes in. The Seattle-based gay writer may very well have seen "Showgirls" more than anyone else on the planet. For four years, he has placed his tongue firmly in his cheek and conducted "annotated" screenings to help the uninitiated embrace this "misunderstood work of art."
MGM, understanding the film’s cult appeal, turned to Schmader to provide the commentary track for the newly released box set. Whether you’ve seen the film or not, skip right to his audio commentary: "The Greatest Movie Ever Made." Schmader not only points out recurring motifs in the film – chips, breasts, and nails – but he also validates the viewers’ sense of bewilderment when the plot takes one if its many unexplained turns. And, of course, he’s there to revel in the wonder of Berkley in spastic robot mode – "a lot of Nomi’s dancing makes you want to call an ambulance."
One of Schmader’s introductory lines sums it up best: "More than any other bad movie … ‘Showgirls’ triumphs in that every single person involved in the makeup of the film … is making the worst possible decision at every possible time. It’s this incredible density of failure that makes ‘Showgirls’ sublime."


An affair to remember
The love affair between writer and film blossomed on the small screen.
"I ignored it when it first came out because at the time I was dealing with more political stuff and I wasn’t going to support this misogynistic piece of crap," says Schmader by phone from his office at the alternative weekly The Stranger, where he’s an editor and columnist. "Then my best friend Mindy, who’s a really smart woman, said ‘You’ve got to see it.’ When it came out on video I finally had a chance to take her advice, and within 10 minutes I knew exactly what she was talking about – that this was just a miracle.
"It was probably 1998 that I finally saw it and over the next year and a half or so I just kept coming back to it and talking to friends about it. Then a friend who had a local cinema invited me in to do a one-nighter, the annotated screening. The first one of those was in late 1999, I think."
The screenings were often held at gay and lesbian film festivals that Schmader attended with the movie version of his solo play "Straight" – which was about infiltrating the Christian conversion therapy movement. Rather than creating some kind of "Rocky Horror" show, with audience members shouting out their favorite lines, he catered to those who had never experienced "Showgirls." Schmader would sit at a desk with a DVD player and microphone, stopping the film to introduce themes and replay certain scenes.



"I got to be very clinical about my delivery and talking about it because the movie is the greatest punchline you could ever dream of," he says. "On the [DVD commentary], obviously people were fans of the movie, for the most part, so it was much more just like sitting in a room with a bunch of other ‘Showgirls’ geeks and talking, because technically I couldn’t do the starting and stopping. I’m glad it’s working. I really didn’t know if it would make the leap into the full commentary, because there are long parts of silence because I really want the movie to be the centerpiece."
And what a showpiece it is – shot by Paul Verhoeven from a script that netted Joe Eszterhas $2 million. Schmader speculates that the screenwriter had only dated strippers in his past or women who only talked when he paid them.
"For me it seems to portray a real lack of connection with how humans behave that was almost admirable, because it was so magic realism, science fiction," Schmader says. "Although that was another thing about the movie – there’s no through line to it. You can’t really understand why anyone’s doing anything. The scene where [Nomi’s] stripper boss and the boobsy mom come to visit her, the last time they saw each other they all hated each other. And now there’s this touching moment of (in gravelly voice), ‘You did good, kid.’ "
Invitations have rolled in to recreate his commentator role with a different bad movie, but finding the equal to "Showgirls" has proved daunting. After all, it did collect a Razzie Award in 2000 for worst film of the ’90s.
"The only other one I’ve tried – and I might do it again – was ‘Mr. Wrong,’ the romantic comedy based on ‘Why can’t Ellen DeGeneres find a husband?’ At the time, it was obvious to certain people, but once she made the announcement, all of a sudden, the entire comedy lost its wind. It became this kind of horrible psychodrama of that point of being in the closet where you’re just the funniest person in every room and it’s the great unspoken why you’re not dating," he says.




"But on the whole I haven’t been able to find bad movies that match up to ‘Showgirls.’ Other movies are bad, yet boring, because they’re bad in the exact same way and ‘Showgirls’ just explodes with horrifying new life at every second that you can’t predict. I just haven’t really found anything that provides the minute per minute mind-boggling excitement of ‘Showgirls’ – as long as you take out the rape scene.
"Out of nowhere, it’s like ‘The Accused,’ " he laments. "You’re like, ‘You haven’t laid the groundwork for this.’ ‘The Accused’ spent a whole movie doing the trial before they showed it. [In ‘Showgirls’] the only decent character in the movie gets gang raped with no motivation. I can’t stand it. (Schmader encourages fast-forwarding through the scene in his commentary.)
"See what happens when you have dreams?"


Friends and finales
With his commentary preserved on DVD, Schmader’s "Showgirls" status has peaked. He held a "big finale" party in Seattle, and now he’s working on a new solo piece, "Mansize," which he calls his "gay notes from underground." The play follows a Russian literature scholar who has lived his life in a cerebral way and finally comes out at 35.
"This has gone far enough, don’t you think?" he says of his role as the "Showgirls" expert. "It’s ridiculous that it ever got to the point where it involved MGM; it’s delightfully ridiculous."
But that doesn’t mean that the "Showgirls" stage is permanently dark. Schmader says he’ll probably continue to resurrect the film once a year because the screenings have turned into such fun group events. Even his boyfriend is smitten.


" ‘Showgirls’ is the one thing that he’ll go to every single performance of, because he’s as entranced with it as I am," Schmader says of his partner, Jake. "It’s one of the things we share, this ability to just treasure hideously awful humanity and find some of the humor in it. And ‘Showgirls’ really allows you to flex those muscles. I’ve really made nothing but great friends and found kind of kindred spirits through touring ‘Showgirls’ around.
"The first time I took it to L.A., a guy who’s now a great friend of mine brought me an original shooting script, which was just like, ‘Oh! The Holy Grail,’ " he laughs. "I thought it would be one step closer, because the big question is ‘OK what were they thinking?’
"These people, they can walk around, they eat, they pay their bills, but they made this. How did this happen? And we still haven’t gotten the true answer. Having me doing the commentary track rather than Paul Verhoeven doesn’t really help, but hopefully one day he’ll provide a commentary track and help us all.
"That made it into the thing, I think, his quote about having his dream picture turn into a celebrated disaster was like watching a butterfly turn into a caterpillar. That was back when it was first released but I doubt he’s developed any kind of ironic hindsight on it – which is all the more amazing. You couldn’t make a comedy that good if you tried; you can only make a comedy that good by trying so hard to make this kind of female ‘Raging Bull’ all about these naked robots."
[Edited 9/14/04 20:49pm]

Natisse said:

I should have known you would mention that.

See below.
[Edited 9/15/04 8:56am]

Here's my favorite erotic thriller:

jerseykrs said:

[Edited 9/15/04 8:57am]

Anxiety said:

Can't get the pic - but it's "Don't Look NOw" with Julie Christie !
[Edited 9/15/04 12:06pm]

[img]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000069I0A.01.LZZZZZ.jpg
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[Edited 9/15/04 12:07pm]