SHOCK aims to arouse readers interest with these 10 smoldering scenes from the scariest films.
There are but two moments of true import in the lifespan of a human being: its birth and its death. And while the horror film concerns itself with the mysteries and anxieties surrounding the latter landmark, the act of birth is, of course, directly a result of the act of sex. Sex is the most basic human drive, outside of hunger (also covered heavily in horror) and the act of eliminating waste (sometimes covered in horror, thankfully…not very often!). So it goes to follow that the fear of sex, the need for it, the inexplicable thirst for it and often, perversions of it, are an essential component to the genre and its many, er, appendages.
I think Jewel Shepard said it best:
Well then. Let’s get to it, shall we?
DONT LOOK NOW (1973)
One of the most celebrated and discussed sex scenes from one of the most incredible fever-dream horror movies ever made. In it, grieving parents Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie have intense , beautiful sex in their Venice hotel, while director Nicolas Roeg opts to edit in little fetishized images of the couple getting dressed and preparing to exit into the city. Pino Donaggios first film score adds poetry to this dream-like masterwork.
To love Jess Franco (which I most certainly do) is to embrace the body of work, to understand the obsessions and motifs. Knowing Francos style helps when absorbing the plotless, meandering intensely personal FEMALE VAMPIRE, a low-budget excuse for Franco to dive his lens into his muse Lina Romays marvelous muff. The film is like a dream and, in the most explicit cut, the vampire Irina doens’t drink blood rather she drinks semen and lubricant. In one of the most intense lesbian sequences, after spending some time downtown on a victim, Romay lifts her head up and her face is slick with stickiness. Never mind the nudity, Franco was at his best essaying little steamy asides like this
This British/Spanish Jose Larraz-directed female vamp masterpiece is wall-to-wall erotica and its hard (ahem) to pinpoint a sex scene thats better than the rest. But the first murder, wherein the two comely lady ghouls (Marianne Morris and Anulka) first fornicate fabulously with their male guest and each other before ripping him to shreds, followed by a cleansing shower, is raw, hot and then, ultimately, rather melancholy and beautiful.
The opening moments of Brian De Palmas stylized American giallo, feature POLICE WOMAN star Angie Dickinson flying solo, masturbating in the shower, while Pino Donaggios lush score swoons in the background, Angie and her body double graphically pleasure themselves only to be stopped by a muscled lover, who enters her from behind, his hand over her mouth. But things turn dark as the sex turns aggressive and suddenly, Angie wakes up to her husband on top of her, furiously pounding, finishing quick and leaving her unfulfilled. Its a great opening to great film about sex and death and desire un-quenched.
THE HOWLING (1980)
This Joe Dante werewolf gem boasts the worlds first lycanthropic sex scene. The late Christopher Stone and the even later Elizabeth Brooks, meet by campfire under a full moon and both promptly reveal their own full moons, groping and mating and slowly wolfing out, their fangs growing, hair sprouting, bodies shifting before they both climax and become full-fledged monsters. Hilariously hot, primal stuff.
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)
One of the hottest sex scenes ever, though its oddly often forgotten in conversations about hot, horror movie sex. The chemistry between actors David Naughton and Jenny Agutter is palpable in this film and director John Landis takes his time to build up the sexual tension before letting it go inside a steamy shower; the coupling continues into the bedroom where Naughton then goes down on Agutter, while she orgasms to the strains of Van Morrisons Moondance. Ultra-hot and Agutter has the best O face ever.
BLUE VELVET (1986)
Most of the sex in BLUE VELVET is forced and deliberately unpleasant but the first love scene between the voyeuristic Kyle McLachlan and the emotionally unstable Isabella Rossellini is pure sado-masochistic bliss. As the young man and the beaten down object of his obsession connect at the end of her kitchen knife, he witnesses her assault and then, they eventually embrace; he showing her tenderness long denied and she twisting that gentleness into frenzied sex and consensual hitting. Their connection is the troubled beauty at the core of the film and this first encounter is incredibly, stressfully sexy and urgent.
A controversial scene from Alan Parkers 1987 masterpiece horror-noir sees the rough-around the edges Mickey Rourke as Private Dick Harry Angel slow dancing with Lisa Bonets Epiphany Proudfoot in a leaky New Orleans hotel. They both retire to the bed where they disrobe and Angel begins the slow, fast, slow, rhythms of lovemaking. Its ultra-erotic (and Bonets bullet-hard nipples are impressive), that is, until blood starts pouring out of the ceiling on the mating lovers and heartbeats, screams and images of murder overtake the edit. A brilliant movie and a very strange, perversely erotic sex scene.
CRASH (1996)
David Cronenbergs over the edge vision of J.G. Ballard’s over the top novel deals with people whose fetish is sex in cars at accident scenes and particularly, with people who have been broken in those car accidents. Plenty of weird, overheated couplings run rampant here but for sheer sexual delirium, my vote is for the intense dirty-talk, spoon-sex between James Spader and Deborah Kara Unger; raw, filthy, slow and sensual stuff.
ANTICHRIST (2009)
In this shattering Lars von Trier horror film, Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg play a couple whose dedication to punishing sex distracts them from the tragedy of their child falling to his death. In the opening of the film, we see that horrible moment cross-cut with body doubles penetrating each other in slow motion, a hardcore sequence whose innate eroticism is extinguished quickly. Later, the sex continues sans body doubles and its rough and relentless. Of course, then it gets revolting. Check out our interview with von Trier here for more details…
What’s that? Not happy with this list? Well, hell! Tell us some of your horny horror picks in the spaces below!
