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avg. user rating (1-10): 9
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123 minutes
United States (1992)
18
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BASIC INSTINCT FILM REVIEW |
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Paul Verhoeven's unashamedly upfront thriller introduced the world to Sharon Stone, playing ice-maiden murder suspect and author Catherine Trammel, who is being investigated (in more ways than one) by Michael Douglas
Basic Instinct wastes no time in establishing its shock tactics. Opening on a shot of a man and a blonde woman making love, it soon descends into a bloodbath as the woman hacks her bound-up lover to pieces with an ice pick. The unfortunate victim is rock star Johnny Boz (Cable), ex-boyfriend of Catherine Trammel (Stone), who just happens to have written a novel in which a duplicate murder occurs, down to the last detail.
Detective Nick Curran (Douglas) is put on her case but soon finds himself drawn towards her in a less than professional way. Far from being just a pretty face, she is manipulative and vulnerable by turns, and has Curran eating out of her hand despite the fact he suspects she may still be the killer.
Despite overtly referencing Hitchcock - Trammel's dresses directly mirror Kim Novak's in Vertigo, as do some of the shots - Basic Instinct is a far more lurid affair than anything by the master of suspense. Given the ludicrous plot twists, its noir aspirations and some of the most crass moments in nineties cinema, it's not exactly a work of art. But it's this blindness to its own implausibility is partly what makes watching it entertaining.
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