Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct is a 1992 American thriller/neo-noir film, directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas, starring Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jeanne Tripplehorn and George Dzundza.
"And then I come to find out that all of the lesbian sex scenes got cut out of that movie because a test audience was, uh..."turned off by them". Boy, is my thumb not on the pulse of America... If I had been in that test audience, the only one protesting would've been Michael Douglas demanding that his part be put back in!"
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The film centres around police detective Nick Curran (Douglas), who is put in charge of the investigation of a brutal murder of a wealthy former rock star. Beautiful, seductive and wealthy writer Catherine Tramell (Stone) could be involved; over the course of the investigation, Detective Curran becomes involved in a torrid and intense relationship with the mysterious woman--who turns out to be very dangerous.
It was followed by a sequel that was panned by critics and spectacularly bombed at the box office.
Tropes used in Basic Instinct include:
- All Men Are Perverts: What gets Nick into so much trouble.
- Anti-Hero: The backstory of the film's protagonist, Nick, includes driving his wife to suicide and killing innocent people due to drinking and drug use while on the job.
- Anything That Moves: Catherine Tramell.
- The Bad Guy Wins: See Karma Houdini.
- Car Fu: Roxy first tries to kill Nick by running him over, and then again by playing chicken. She loses.
- The Chessmaster: Catherine Tramell.
- Coitus Uninterruptus:
- Catherine casually changes her clothes in front of the police detectives sent to escort her to the station for questioning in a show of contempt.
- Nick has a hostile discussion with Roxy just after having had sex with Catherine as if he were fully clothed.
- Continuity Snarl: In the infamous interrogation scene, Catherine's cigarette disappears when she takes her jacket off, then reappears in her hand right after. Not that this is where most viewers are looking...
- Date Rape: Debatable whether the first scene of Nick and Beth in her flat qualifies as this.
- Deadpan Snarker: Nick and Catherine.
- Death by Sex: The killer's modus operandi.
- Depraved Bisexual: Catherine again.
- Does Not Like Shoes: Catherine is usually barefoot at her house.
- Downer Ending: Nick clearly doesn't have much longer to live...
- Drives Like Crazy: Catherine. And Nick, when he's following her.
- Gambit Roulette: ... but who cares about the plot?
- Fatal Attraction: Most of the drama.
- Follow the Leader: In the mid-nineties, pretty much every single thriller was Basic Instinct with some conceit.
- And this film itself was following Fatal Attraction. They even got Michael Douglas!
- Four Is Death: When Detective Gus gets into the elevator to meet Beth, he ends up getting stabbed on the 4th Floor.
- Giallo
- Going Commando: Catherine, most famously in the interrogation scene.
- Great Way to Go: "Hey, he got off before he got offed!"
- Karma Houdini: Catherine Tramell.
- Narcissist / Sociopath: Catherine.
- One-Scene Wonder: Wayne Knight's character.
- Out with a Bang: The movie opens with a woman murdering her partner during sex. With an ice-pick. Ouch.
- Panty Shot: Famously averted.
- Psycho Lesbian: Roxy.
- Quip to Black: "Looks like he got off before he got offed."
- Self-Made Orphan: Catherine Trammell killed her parents and wrote a book based on the incident.
- Stealth Parody: Kind of. In his book The Devil's Guide to Hollywood, screenwriter Joe Eszterhas states essentially that he conceived and wrote this film in thirteen days as a cynical exercise in creating the most Lowest Common Denominator screenplay possible. So he could get back his record of being the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood. And he succeeded.
- The Unfair Sex: Averted. Catherine is a sociopath, Roxy is a Psycho Lesbian, Hazel Dobkins murdered her husband and children and Beth is a murder suspect. In fact the number of evil females led to accusations of misogyny.
- Unrated Edition: The movie that basically put the trope into the mainstream.
- Vapor Wear: Exemplified in the interrogation scene. Lampshaded by Catherine later on.
- Villain Protagonist: Catherine.