Many academically minded types have written at great length and with fascinating eloquence on the connection between sex and death in horror movies. We'll cut right to the chase, offering up some of the best and most potent examples of sexuality in the horror-movie genre.
But first, a disclaimer: These arehorrormovies, spanning decades, and, thus, don't always, or often, offer up the healthiest representations of human sexuality. Whether it's vampire eroticism or horny teen campers, sex in movies is complicated, and not always sex-positive, even as we're being invited to be aroused.
Some of these movies have deep and complex, if often uncomfortable, things to say about the links between sex and death; others are pure titillation—movies that throw in some nude bodies and sweaty, writhing flesh in order to get more butts in seats. We're not here to make a distinction between high-minded horniness and baser sexual impulses—if it's sexy, it's under consideration.
The Untamed(2016)
Alejandra (Ruth Ramos) and Angel (Jesus Meza) don't have the greatest sex life: she's bored and frustrated, he's sleeping with her brother Fabian (Eden Villavicencio) on the side while acting like a homophobic creep in public. All typical family drama, until we meet Veronica (Simone Bucio), a new friend of Fabian's who's had a satisfying years-long sexual relationship with a many-tentacled creature that came from a meteor and now resides in an old couple's barn. But even the best relationships can take dark turns, and the sexy tentacle thing gets aggressive, causing an injury that raises questions and draws in the other characters. Things quickly get violent, but who can resist the allure of hot tentacle monster?StreamThe Untamedon Tubior rent it from Prime Video.
Don't Look Now(1973)
Mourning the recent death of their child, Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland take off for Venice to get away from things—and then almost immediately run into a psychic who claims to be in contact with their daughter. Adapted from a Daphne du Maurier story, and ultimately about the ways in which grief and loss can profoundly alter a relationship for better or for worse, the movie includes one major sex scene involving the couple, but it quickly went down in horny horror history: Not only does it include a depiction of oral sex, unheard-of for a mainstream movie in 1973 and rare even today, given that it's a woman on the receiving end, but the scene is both emotionally raw and impressively frank. So much so that rumors have persisted in the decades since that the scene itself was entirely unsimulated. Probably not true, despite the Paramount executive who claims he saw it, but still gives you a sense of the scene's hold on imaginations. 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 business.StreamDon't Look Nowon Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video.
Knife + Heart(2018)
Yann Gonzalez’s slick and stylish French slasher is set, quite reasonably, in the world of ‘70s gay porn. Anne Parèze (Vanessa Paradis) runs a production company that makes the exploitation moviesKnife + Heartcenters on, but the series of murders that occur on set barely draw the attention of the local police, who aren’t terribly torn up about the deaths of gay porn actors. Anne decides that her next film will be about the murders themselves, unfolding a movie-within-a-movie that only draws the attention of the killer (and his spiked dildo). The movie celebrates giallo, with plenty of deep cuts for fans of classic Italian horror, and ‘70s sleaze more generally, but with a gorgeous look all its own.StreamKnife + Hearton Shudder and AMC+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Mulholland Drive(2001)
I think we're supposed to call this a thriller to distinguish it from less-reputable horror movies likeFriday the 13th, but no one evokes nightmarish disconnection and existential dread like David Lynch, and this story of the descent into madness by an aspiring actress is as horrific as they come. But it's not all bad for Naomi Watts' Diane Selwyn—or is it Betty Elms? She finds herself in a very hot, very heavy relationship with Laura Harring's Rita, climaxing (ahem) in one of mainstream cinema's hottest same-sex love scenes this side ofBound. It's also very nearly the moment when everything bright and hopeful turns dark and forbidding for our heroine, but I think that's more to do with the type of movie we're in than with the sexy gay stuff.RentMulholland Drivefrom Prime Video.
The Hunger(1983)
There's onlysomuch plot here, but who needs plot when charting a stylish and sexy vampire love triangle among Catherine Denueve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon, all three at approximately their most beautiful. Deneuve is vampire Miriam Blaylock, while Bowie plays her longtime companion John. Miriam is truly immortal, but John is fading after centuries, and desperate to preserve not just his life but his youth. Enter Sarah (Sarandon) the doctor whom he seeks out for help, and who quickly becomes the latest target of Miriam's erotic fascination. Director Tony Scott's movie is all glossy, gauzy style and set design—but the chemistry (and sex) between Miriam and Sarah is delicious.StreamThe Hungeron Tubior rent it from Prime Video.
Def by Temptation(1990)
K (Kadeem Harrison) and Joel (James Bond III, who also wrote and directed) have been best friends since childhood—but while Joel has become a minister, K has put his similarly religious upbringing aside to move to New York and become an actor. Still, it's Joel who becomes enamored of the mysterious woman that they meet during a night out in NYC. She's known only as Temptress (novelist Cynthia Bond), and she's been seducing and murdering men in seedy NYC bars for some time, what with being a succubus and all. It's a smart, stylish, and erotic bit of early 1990s horror that comes with more than its share of sex and nudity.StreamDef by Temptationon Prime Video, AMC+, Shudder, and Tubi.
Hellraiser(1987)
She did it all for love, you see. Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins) will do whatever it takes to bring back her lost lover (who happens to be her husband's brother). He died while occupied with freaky cult stuff involving a particularly memorable puzzle box, and Julia's "whatever it takes" involves hooking up with guys in bars, bringing them back to her place, and killing them so her man can soak up the blood and gradually reconstitute his body. As anyone would. In the process, though, she invokes the Cenobites, who are hells kinkiest priests—a goth group inspired by writer-director Clive Barker's obsession with BDSM. Judge Julia if you will, but only if you've never made questionable choices to get laid.StreamHellraiseron Prime Videoand Tubi.
Species(1995)
There's an alien on the loose—and she must mate! The setup here isvery1950s monster movie, and that's what makes it fun. Scientists at SETI receive an alien genome from space and, believing the senders to be benevolent, go right ahead and splice it with human DNA. As you do. The result is SIl (Natasha Henstridge), a hybrid who grows to adulthood in just months, and who the scientists quickly realize is impossible to control. Fearing that she'll mate with humans (will she ever!) and eventually wipe out our gene pool, they try to kill her before she escapes and, as predicted, starts looking for humans to fuck. It might not be high art, but the movie's soft-core thrills inspired several sequels and even a couple of novels.StreamSpecieson Tubior rent it from Prime Video.
Cat People(1982)
A loose remake of 1942's similarly sensual, if far less overt, original,Cat Peoplestars Nastassja Kinski as Irena, who reconnects with her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell) in New Orleans while learning some old family history. It turns out, you see, that they come from a long line of werepanthers (not as silly as it sounds, at least in the context of the movie), and the transformation tends to happen in moments of maximum passion. Sex transforms them, and only killing a human can turn them back. This complicates her crush on zookeeper Oliver (John Heard), and introduces a weird tension with Paul, who informs her that their kind are typically incestuous. The result is an erotic fever dream of a movie, with an absolutely wild ending.RentCat Peoplefrom Prime Video.
Bram Stoker's Dracula(1992)
Not unlike Tod Browning's 1931 adaptation of Dracula, this Francis Ford Coppola take is an often unwieldy assortment of stunning imagery and more forgettable moments. Like that earlier movie, though, what works here works impeccably, and remains as haunting as it is hot. Gary Oldman's performance here is a campy career best, his entire motivation coming down to love (i.e. erotic obsession) for/with Winona Ryder's Mina Harker, who he believes to be the reincarnation of his beloved wife, Elisabeta (and why shouldn't he, given that they're played by the same actress). Come for the blood drinking, wolf-man sex, and passionate longing, stay for the horny and half-naked vampire thralls who populate Dracula's Castle and who can't keep their hands off of Keanu Reeves' Jonathan Harker.StreamBram Stoker's Draculaon Netflixor rent it from Prime Video.
Knock Knock(2015)
Since we're talking about Keanu Reeves, we'll just forward to this 2015 sexy home invasion (-ish) horror movie from writer/director Eli Roth (Hostel,Thanksgiving). Family man Evan (Reeves) is left home alone when two very wet young women (Ana de Armas and Lorenza Izzo, who've been caught in a storm, you see) come to the door and quickly get flirty with the middle-aged dad. The three of them have fairly aggressive sex, which winds up being an understandable but extremely bad decision on poor Evan's part. It's a sexier and slightly more satirical take on more serious torture thrillers likeFunny Games, and a solid reminder that you're absolutely correct to never answer your doorbell.RentKnock Knockfrom Prime Video.
Stranger by the Lake(2013)
This slasher/horror movie also echoes the erotic thrillers of the good old days. Here, Pierre Deladonchamps plays Franck, a regular visitor to a nude beach and the surrounding woods, both popular cruising spots. Franck begins a passionate relationship (meaning: lots of pretty explicit sex in the woods) with Michel (Christophe Paou), who Franck later spots drowning someone in the lake. As the investigation into that event heats up, Franck finds himself struggling to give up a good thing, even in the face of murder.RentStranger by the Lakefrom Prime Video.
Daughters of Darkness(1971)
Ah, yes: the erotic bisexual vampire genre, which definitely had a moment in the 1970s.Daughters of Darknessis better than most, and certainly more genuinely sexy. Eschewing the hot-lesbians-for-straight-guys vibe of other movies,Daughtershas a look and feel that borders on arthouse, with a grand and elegant style, as well as a willingness to go deeper. Delphine Seyrig plays Countess Elizabeth Báthory, who happens upon a newlywed couple honeymooning in a remote region, and immediately sets about seducing the wife away from her boring human sexual and moral conformity.StreamDaughters of Darknesson Tubiand Shudder or rent it from Prime Video.
Daniel Isn't Real(2019)
After witnessing a mass shooting as a child, Luke (Miles Robbins) develops an imaginary friend, the title's Daniel (played byWhite Lotus' Patrick Schwarzenegger). Perfectly reasonable response, until Daniel tells Luke to poison his mother. Years later, Luke's a shy college student struggling with his mental health and whaddaya know? Daniel is back. At first, he's helpful, encouraging Luke in his schoolwork and toward a relationship with an artist; before long, though, he's asserting his own will and taking over fully to engage in behavior that's increasingly erratic and sometimes violent. Daniel is also perfectly content endanger Luke's new relationship by having sex with other women, and not entirely on the sly. Or maybe this is all just Luke's subconscious acting out and...Daniel isn't real?StreamDaniel Isn't Realon Prime Videoand Tubi.
Interview With the Vampire(1994)
The recent AMC series adaptation is great, and dispenses with any subtext where Lestat and Louis (and Armand!) are concerned. Subtext is way overrated when it comes to queer themes, but this 1994 adaptation walks impressively close to that edge, and seeing a couple of big-name male stars set up house and raise their surly vampire daughter while sucking each other's blood was thrilling back in the day. As threeways go, you could have done a helluva lot worse in the mid-1990s than to assemble Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Antonio Banderas. The movie remains a thoroughly entertaining, and very, very sweaty, story of housekeeping and murder in New Orleans.RentInterview with the Vampirefrom Prime Video.
Titane(2021)
Just another movie about a gender-fluid erotic dancer and serial killer (Alexia/Adrien, played by Agathe Rousselle) who fucks a car, gets pregnant as a result, and is then taken in by a man (Vincent Lindon) who believes that, in Alexia (soon to identify as Adrien), he's 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 eroticism aren't entirely conventional (unlessCrash-style car sex is your thing), but the movie definitely has an undeniable, and undeniably weird, sensuality.StreamTitaneon Tubi.
Shivers(1975)
What looks like an STI outbreak at a luxury apartment tower is something quite a bit more gruesome, which would have been immediately obvious had I mentioned that we're in a David Cronenberg film (one of his earliest body horror classics). A weird science experiment has created a parasite that spreads via sexual contact and, helpfully enough, turns its victims into endlessly horny nymphomaniacs (the alternate title,They Came from Within, feels more apt). The veil of upper-middle-class respectability falls away entirely as the residents of Starliner Towers give in to an endless and increasingly violent orgy.StreamShiverson Prime Videoand Tubi.
Lair of the White Worm(1988)
The fact that it's a loose (very) adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel of the same name offers this one some plausible deniability when it comes to the nature of the titular white worm—but just barely, given that the plot turns first on Amanda Donohoe's typically nude priestess, and later on some weaponized dildos. FutureDoctor WhoPeter Capaldi plays an archaeology student investigating the skull of a rather alarmingly large snake in the East Midlands, and Hugh Grant is the local lord on whose land all of this horny folderol is unfolding.StreamLair of the White Wormon Prime Videoand Tubi.
Birder(2024)
Lots of movies beat around the bush (ahem) before delivering sexy scares, but Nate Dushku's indie horror gemBirderbuilds its premise aroundgiving the people what they want. It's set at a clothing-very-optional campground, so most everyone is immediately naked. Michael Emery plays Kristian Brooks, a bird enthusiast who's sweet, charming, and conventionally hot in a way that draws attention from the camp's regulars, who soon discover that he's also phenomenal in the sack (or on a towel, more typically). Which is all well and good, until Kristian's body count becomes more literal. There are underlying themes about the horror inherent in the violation of a positive, queer-friendly space but, for our purposes, feel free to focus on the serial killer running amok among naked people.RentBirderfrom Prime Video.
Hatchet II(2010)
Adam Green's slasher series was created as an explicit tribute to the trashy slashers of yore, with roles and appearances from actors better known forA Nightmare on Elm Street,Friday the 13th,Candyman,Halloween, etc. That means not only lots of gruesome practical effects, but also plenty of nudity (i.e. boobs) and sex. The second movie in the series, which finds the first movie's Final Girl Marybeth (Danielle Harris) returning to the swamp with plans to take revenge on murderous Victor Crowley (Kane Holder), goes further than the others in its (non-male) nudity and sex. Try to beat the sex scene involving the corpse that won't stop thrusting for intentional tastelessness.StreamHatchet IIon Prime Videoand Tubi.
