Top 10 Best Sexiest Movies of All Time

Inspired by another erotic thriller Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, Body Heat (1981) tells the story of an adulterous love affair between an unhappy socialite Matty, played Kathleen Turner, and a lawyer Ned, played by William Hurt.

Set during a Florida heatwave, the aptly named film entertains and teases viewers with double-crosses and hidden agendas as we see Matty manipulate Ned into killing her businessman husband so she can eventually run away with his money leaving him in a complicated mess he never expected to be in.

An erotic horror film, The Hunger (1983) stars French actress Catherine Deneuve as a sexually violent vampire who’s at odds with her two captives played by David Bowie and Susan Sarandon.

An instant cult classic, the film features a controversial (at the time) scene between Deneuve and Sarandon where they make love topless. Although criticized for its flimsy storyline, the film elevates itself into concept art with its set design and the performances of its three leads. The film is also credited for cementing Sarandon’s image as a sex symbol.

Weekend (2011) is a romantic drama film about two gay men who meet one night after clubbing. Finding themselves extremely attracted to each other, they spend the weekend together talking and making love. Their time together is made more punctuated by the fact that one of them is set to leave for another country soon threatening their blossoming romance.

The film received critical acclaim upon its release both in its homeland UK and the United States. A true piece of excellent LGBT+ cinema.

In 9 ½ Weeks (1986), we see Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke heat up the big screen as they play an art gallery owner and Wall Street broker who embark on a tragic yet torrid love affair with each other in the span of the titular 9 and a half weeks.

Although the film is not immune from the same ailments that most erotic films tend to suffer from, it still holds up as a camp classic and one of Rourke’s most iconic roles. The film is made even more interesting by Rourke’s character’s sadistic tendencies which result in their affair having a BDSM nature.

Like Body Heat, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989)’s story happen during a heat wave. Starting to see a pattern here?

Set in New York, the film centers on the racial tension between Blacks and Latinos and ends tragically during one hot summer day. Most of the film’s sultry mood is thanks to Rosie Perez’s character Tina who we see dancing to Public Enemy’s ‘Fight the Power’ during the opening credits of the film.

How could we forget this 60s classic?

Credited for being a genre-defining film, as it was one of the first mainstream films to feature explicit sexual content, Mike Nichols’ The Graduate (1967) surely deserves a spot on our list.

In the film, we see Dustin Hoffman play Ben, the titular graduate, who begins an affair with an older woman and her daughter as he drifts through post-college life aimlessly. Sounds like every man’s dream come true, right? No wonder it endures as one of the most cited and relatable films to date despite being released decades ago.

Moonlight (2016) is not your usual romantic drama film. For one it has a kind of the main character that doesn’t often feature in movies of the genre. Black, broke and gay, we follow Chiron through the many phases of his life as he tries to grapple with his growing masculinity.

The film is even made more erotic by its cinematography which makes its characters almost look ethereal. It’s also praised for its vibrant imagery which perfectly captures the internal turmoils of the lead character.

Compared to the other films on this list, Before Sunrise (1995) doesn’t have much on-screen physical intimacy. In fact, the film feels like it’s meant to be foreplay while the real stuff goes on off-screen. But it makes up for it in its intense sensuality and chemistry between its two leads.

The story goes, a French girl and an American boy meet on a train and spend an entire day together walking and talking in Vienna. Its title pertains to the time of their parting at the end of the film where they go opposite ways with a plan to meet again after some time.

The film is followed by two other sequels which work on the same idea of two people meeting and talking about the entire film.

Not to be confused with The Handmaid’s Tale, The Handmaiden (2016) is a famous South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s adaptation of the British novel Fingersmith.

He takes the book’s story to 1930’s Korea and Japan where we follow the story of an isolated young Japanese woman who hires a Korean woman to act as her handmaiden. Not knowing that her new hire is part of a secret plan to steal her wealth, the Japanese woman develops a sort of sexual tension with her handmaiden which makes the film more intriguing.

Before they created the highly successful The Matrix sci-fi trilogy, the Wachowskis directed Bound (1996), a romantic thriller film about two women who set out to steal a bunch of mob money.

The film stars Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly in the leads as a mobster’s girlfriend and an ex-con respectively. Bound is both a thrilling and tantalizing watch as we follow the two leads set out on a passionate affair and plan an intricate scheme to steal two million dollars from one of their mobster boyfriends.

What do you think of our top 10 list of the sexiest movies of all time? Did you find your favorites on it? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!