The 21 Most Horny Horror Movies of All Time
Many academically minded people have written in great detail and with astonishing eloquence about the connection between sex and death in horror films. We’ll get straight to the point with some of the best and most graphic examples of sexuality in the horror film genre.
But first, a disclaimer: these are horror films that span decades, and as such, they don’t always or often offer the healthiest views about human sexuality. Whether it’s vampire erotica or horny teenage tourists, sex in movies is complicated and not always sexy, even when we’re invited to get horny.
Some of these films make deep and complex, if often uncomfortable, statements about the connection between sex and death; others are pure titillation – movies that feature naked bodies and sweaty, squirming flesh to get more asses in the seats. We’re not here to differentiate between sublime arousal and base sexual urges—if it’s sexual, it’s considered.
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Mourning the recent death of their child, Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland travel to Venice to retire and then almost immediately encounter a psychic who claims to be in contact with their daughter. Adapted from Daphne du Maurier’s story and ultimately about how grief and loss can profoundly change a relationship for better or worse, the film includes one major sex scene involving the couple, but it quickly became the subject of lustful history. horror: Not only does it include depictions of oral sex, unheard of in a mainstream film in 1973 and rare even today given that the recipient is a woman, but the scene is both emotionally raw and impressively explicit. So much so that for decades since then there have been rumors that the scene itself was completely unsimulated. This is probably not true, despite the fact that a Paramount executive claims to have seen it , but it still gives you an idea of how the scene captures the imagination. Warren Beatty (of all people) even fought to have the scene removed from the film , horrified that his then-girlfriend Christie would be involved in such a sordid affair.
Where to watch: digital rental
Knife + Heart (2018)
Yann Gonzalez’s witty and stylish French slasher film is set, quite logically, in the world of 70s gay porn. Anne Parese (Vanessa Paradis) runs a production company that makes exploitation films centered on Knife + Heart , but a series of murders occurring on the set barely attracts the attention of the local police, who aren’t too upset about the deaths of gay porn actors. Anne decides that her next film will be about the murders themselves, turning the film into a film that only attracts the attention of the killer (and his spiked dildo). The film celebrates giallo, with plenty of deep cuts for fans of classic Italian horror and ’70s sleaze in general, but with a great look.
Where to shout: Shudder, AMC+, digital rental
Mulholland Drive (2001)
I guess we should call this a thriller to differentiate it from less established horror films like Friday the 13th , but no one evokes nightmarish disunity and existential dread quite like David Lynch, and this is a story about the madness of an aspiring actress. just as terrible as they come. But it’s not all bad for Diane Selwyn (Naomi Watts) – or is it for Betty Elms? She ends up in a very hot, very difficult relationship with Laura Harring’s Rita, culminating (ahem) in one of mainstream cinema’s hottest same-sex love scenes this side of Bound . It’s also almost the moment where everything bright and hopeful for our heroine turns dark and forbidding, but I think that has more to do with the type of film we’re making than the sexy gay stuff.
Where to watch: digital rental
Hunger (1983)
There’s not much plot here, but who needs one when you’re painting a stylish and sexy vampire love triangle between Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon, all three of whom are on about the most beautiful terms. Deneuve plays vampire Miriam Blaylock, and Bowie plays her longtime companion John. Miriam is truly immortal, but John fades away after centuries and desperately tries to preserve not only his life, but also his youth. Enter Sarah (Sarandon), the doctor he turns to for help and who quickly becomes the latest target of Miriam’s erotic allure. Director Tony Scott’s film is glossy, with diaphanous style and settings, but the chemistry (and sex) between Miriam and Sarah is delightful.
Where to watch: digital rental
Defense from Temptation (1990)
K (Kadeem Harrison) and Joel (James Bond III, who also wrote and directed) had been best friends since childhood, but while Joel became a minister, K abandoned his equally religious upbringing to move to New York and become actor. . However, it is Joel who falls in love with a mysterious woman they meet while partying in New York. She’s known only as the Temptress (by writer Cynthia Bond), and she’s been seducing and killing men in seedy New York City bars for a while now, being a succubus and all. It’s a smart, stylish, early 1990s erotic horror that has more than its share of sex and nudity.
Where to watch: Tubi, Peacock, Shudder, AMC+, Prime Video.
Species (1995)
There’s an alien on the loose and she must mate! The production here is very much like a 1950s monster movie, and that’s what makes it interesting. SETI scientists obtain the genome of an alien from space and, believing the senders to be benevolent, go ahead and combine it with human DNA. So are you. The result is SIL (Natasha Henstridge), a hybrid that grows to adulthood in just a few months and which scientists quickly realize cannot be controlled. Fearing that she will mate with humans (will she ever be able to!) and end up destroying our gene pool, they try to kill her before she escapes and, as expected, start looking for humans to fuck. It may not be high art, but the film’s subtle thrills inspired several sequels and even a novel or two.
Where to watch: Tubi, Prime Video, Pluto TV, digital rental.
Society (1989)
Considering that it contains, without exaggeration, one of the most daring sex scenes in the history of horror films, it would be a mistake not to include Brian Yuzna’s directorial debut. That said, there’s far more shock than excitement in this story about the young scion of a wealthy family (Billy Warlock, best known for his long-running, Emmy-winning role on Days of Our Lives ). He begins to suspect that his family is involved in some kind of murderous sex cult. It would be a huge shame if he were proven wrong, so it wouldn’t be much of a spoiler if we learned that they are indeed the leaders of just such an organization – with a twist. At the climax, it all turns into a massive and truly shocking orgy, although you may not find it particularly exciting (though I’m not here to judge).
Where to watch: Fubo, digital rental via Fandango at Home
Cat People (1982)
In a loose remake of the equally sensitive, if much less explicit, 1942 original, Cat People stars Nastassja Kinski as Irena, who reunites with her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell) in New Orleans while learning about old family history. It turns out, you see, that they come from a long line of werepanthers (not as stupid as that sounds, at least in the context of the film), and the transformation usually occurs in moments of maximum passion. Sex transforms them, and only killing a person can reverse them. This complicates her crush on zookeeper Oliver (John Heard) and creates strange tension with Paul, who informs her that their species tends to be incestuous. The result is an erotic fever dream of a film with a completely wild ending.
Where to watch: digital rental
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Unlike Tod Browning’s 1931 adaptation of Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola’s version is an often unwieldy collection of stunning images and unforgettable moments. However, just like the previous film, what works here works flawlessly and remains as exciting as it is hot. Gary Oldman’s performance here is campy career best, his entire motivation boiling down to his love (i.e. erotic obsession) for Winona Ryder’s Mina Harker, whom he believes to be the reincarnation of his beloved wife Elisabeth (and why shouldn’t he, considering they’re played by one and the same actress). Come for the blood drinking, wolfman sex and yearning, stay for the lustful and half-naked vampire slaves who inhabit Dracula’s Castle and can’t keep their hands off Keanu Reeves’ Jonathan Harker.
Where to watch: Paramount+, MGM+, digital rental.
Knock Knock (2015)
While we’re on the topic of Keanu Reeves, let’s jump right into this sexy 2015 home invasion horror film from writer-director Eli Roth ( Hostel , Thanksgiving ). Family man Evan (Reeves) is home alone when two very wet young women (Ana de Armas and Lorenza Izzo, who are caught in a storm, you see) come to the door and have a quick flirt with the middle-aged father. . The three of them have some pretty aggressive sex, which ends up being understandable but an extremely poor decision on poor Evan’s part. It’s a sexier and slightly more satirical take on more serious torture thrillers like Funny Games , and a compelling reminder that you’re absolutely right to never answer the doorbell.
Where to watch: Pluto TV, digital rental.
Stranger by the Lake (2013)
This slasher/horror film also echoes the erotic thrillers of the good old days. Here Pierre Deladonchamps plays Franck, a regular visitor to the nudist beach and surrounding woods – popular destinations for cruises. Frank begins a passionate relationship (meaning: lots of explicit sex in the woods) with Michel (Christophe Pauw), who Frank later spots drowning someone in a lake. The investigation into this event heats up, and Frank is forced to give up a good cause, even in the face of murder.
Where to shout: digital rental
Daughters of Darkness (1971)
Ah yes: the erotic bisexual vampire genre, which definitely had its moment in the 1970s. Daughters of Darkness is better than most and certainly more genuinely sexy. Eschewing the hot lesbian-for-straight vibes of other films, Daughters has a look that borders on arthouse, with a stately and elegant style and a desire to go deeper. Delphine Seyrig plays Countess Elisabeth Bathory, who happens upon a newlywed couple honeymooning in a remote region and immediately sets about seducing his wife, distracting her from her boring human sexual and moral conformity.
Where to shout: Shudder, Tubi, digital rental
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
The recent AMC series adaptation is great and lacks any subtext regarding Lestat and Louis (and Armand!) Subtext is vastly overrated when it comes to weird topics, but this 1994 adaptation gets impressively close to that edge, and seeing a pair of famous stars males setting up a home and raising their surly vampire daughter while sucking each other’s blood was exciting. day. As for the threesome, in the mid-1990s you could do a lot worse than bring together Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas. The film continues to be an extremely interesting and very, very tense story of domesticity and murder in New Orleans.
Where to shout: digital rental
Titan (2021)
Just another movie about a gender-fluid erotic dancer and serial killer (Alexia/Adrienne, played by Agathe Roussel) who gets fucked in a car, ends up pregnant, and is then taken by a man (Vincent Lindon) who believes it: in Alexia (soon identified as Adrian) he found his long-lost son. You know. Typical Hollywood. There’s a lot going on in writer-director Julia Ducournau’s wild love story, and the sex and erotica aren’t exactly conventional (unless you’re into Crash- style vehicular sex), but the film certainly has an undeniable and undeniably kinky sensibility. .
Where to Shout: Hulu
Ax II (2010)
Adam Green’s slasher series was created as a clear homage to the cheesy slasher films of the past, with roles and performances from actors best known for A Nightmare on Elm Street , Friday the 13th , Candyman , Halloween , etc. This doesn’t just mean a lot of terrible practical events. effects, but also a lot of nudity (ie boobs) and sex. The second film in the series, in which the last girl from the first film, Marybeth (Danielle Harris), returns to the moor with plans to take revenge on murderer Victor Crowley (Kane Holder), goes further than the rest in its (non-male) nudity. and sex. Try to play up a sex scene with a corpse that won’t stop thrusting for deliberate bad taste.
Where to watch: Tubi, Prime Video , Screambox
Nadia (1994)
Taking its cue from the 1936 classic Dracula’s Daughter (with its extremely thinly veiled lesbian subtext and tagline “Save the women of London from Dracula’s daughter!”), the film opens with the death of Count Dracula at the hands of his old enemy Van Helsing (Peter Fonda) – traumatic daughter of the vampire Nadya (Elina Levenson) In a sullen quest for revenge, she seeks out Van Helsing’s daughter to have sex with – Nadya will make her a slave and use her to destroy the entire family. The latest example of the sexy queer vampire genre, Nadia brings a bit of arthouse style (David Lynch produces and makes a cameo) to the blood, gore and horny gay vampires.
Where to shout: Prime Video
Swallowed (2022)
Ben (Cooper Koch) just wants to escape to Los Angeles to start an exciting new life as a gay porn star, but first his friend Dom (who’s secretly in love) has a great idea: they’ll make a quick drug. If you want, run across the Canadian border for seed capital. In fact, and unsurprisingly, this is a very bad idea, since they both have to swallow condoms filled with mysterious… something. Some of the condoms break during a confrontation with a bigot in a truck stop restroom, and things go from bad to worse when they finally meet a drug lord (Mark Patton) who is both ruthless and extremely hot for Ben. Oh, and did I mention that condoms are filled with insect larvae that bite you to give you a high or an erection? Classify this as Boner Body Horror.
Where to watch: digital rental
Thirst (2009)
If you want subversion, it’s hard to beat the great South Korean director Park Chan-wook ( Oldboy , Deciding to Leave ) and he’s at the peak of his powers in this erotic vampire horror film. Christian priest Sang Hyun (Song Kang Ho) volunteers to be infected with the virus for research, but as a result finds himself experiencing an endless thirst for blood, as well as sex. This builds to a bloody climax as Sang-hyun gradually loses his old morals, but in the meantime a passionate romance occurs, as well as some nastier moments of sexual violence. A true vampire film unlike any other.
Where to watch: digital rental
Possession (1981)
A horror film about a difficult divorce written during the director’s real-life marital rift, Andrzej Zulawski’s Whiplash tells an allegory of a failed marriage in the form of a literal monster. While her marriage to Sam Neill’s Mark disintegrates, Isabelle Adjani’s Anna raises a creature who seems to have taken Mark’s place in her affections; The film features a memorable sex scene with a shapeless monster mass, which attracted the attention of anti-video crusaders in Britain, where it was banned. It was recently restored to its full length and makes a compelling case that Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill were two of the hottest actors in the game circa 1981.
Where to watch: Shudder
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Hardly the most graphically sexy horror film, An American Werewolf in London nevertheless more than matches the presence and chemistry between David Naughton and Jenny Agutter throughout the film. It doesn’t get much hotter than the movie’s central shower sex scene.
Where to watch: Tubi, Prime Video , The Criterion Channel.
Wrong Turn 6: Last Hope (2014)
It was promised that this list wouldn’t consist entirely of sublime erotica, so we’ll end with a rather sloppy reboot of Wrong Turn , part of a series long past its prime by this point. No matter! It’s more like a cannibalistic murder in the woods in the venerable tradition of the slasher film, full of horny people hanging out naked, having sex, or even just running around in wet clothes before getting killed. The perfect late-night entertainer, but earns extra points as one of the most horny (almost) examples of the form in recent memory.
Where to watch: digital rental