An unseen blonde is in the throes of passion with rock star Johnny Boz, who is repeatedly stabbed only moments later with an ice pick. Amidst the ice pick jokes, the countless parodies and the controversy, it remains a curious piece of erotic neo-noir.īASIC INSTINCT (1992) opens with arguably its second most infamous scene.
This week marks 30 years since one of Paul Verhoeven’s most infamous Hollywood films, the first of two partnerships between him and writer Joe Eszterhas, dropped on audiences. Like the Master of Suspense, Verhoeven’s films have often straddled a line between sex and violence - and just as often at the expense of his female leads. “It’s not too difficult to see that BASIC INSTINCT is heavily influenced by Hitchcock’s Vertigo,” director Paul Verhoeven once told Caleb Hammond.
