Stalker

This cold, stylish erotic-thriller grossed over $100 million at the box-office despite vigorous protests at its depiction of gays and women. The shocking opening sequence features a graphic sexual encounter involving a rock-star bound with a white Hermes scarf by an unidentified blond woman. Despite the fact that the scene ends with a bloody icepick murder (horrifyingly realized by makeup artist Rob Bottin), Hermes scarves quickly sold out at stores nationwide. This seeming paradox is at the heart of the film's appeal, as it mixes perverse sexuality and erotic bloodshed in a manner common to European thrillers (director Paul Verhoeven had done it himself in 1979's marvelous De Vierde Man) but mostly taboo in America. The plot concerns Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a successful bisexual mystery writer who may also be a ruthless murderer. Everyone close to Catherine dies, and troubled policeman Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) must find out why. In the process, Nick becomes sexually involved with both Catherine and police psychiatrist Beth Gardner (Jeanne Tripplehorn), while the bodies begin piling up and Catherine turns the cat-and-mouse game around on Nick. Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas -- who was paid $3 million for the script -- keep the tension ratcheted up throughout, even during the frequent sex scenes, which carry a violent edge reminiscent of the Italian thrillers of Dario Argento. The film's most notorious scene, a police interrogation in which Catherine makes drooling idiots out of her captors by revealing that she is not wearing underwear, became a cultural touchstone and was widely imitated and parodied. Sharon Stone, meanwhile, was embarrassed to the point that she claimed Verhoeven had aimed lights on strategic locations without her knowledge. George Dzundza and Dorothy Malone co-star. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

The always challenging transition from adorable child performer to sexy adult star was achieved flamboyantly by actress Drew Barrymore with this erotic drama that unfolds like a paranoia-drenched Lolita (1962). Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) is a misanthropic student at a private high school for children of the privileged. While calling in a phony bomb threat to the TV station where her father, Darryl (Tom Skerritt) is a producer, Sylvia attracts the attention of Ivy (Drew Barrymore). Ivy is an orphan from a poor family, attending the school on a scholarship. She and Sylvia quickly become best friends, and Ivy eventually moves out of her aunt's home and into the Cooper household. Ivy covets the Coopers' lavish lifestyle and luxuries, so she begins plotting to kill Sylvie's ailing mother Georgie (Cheryl Ladd), then seduce the alcoholic Darryl and frame Sylvie for the crime, thus taking over the Cooper house. Director Katt Shea Ruben and her co-writer husband Andy Ruben were veterans of the Roger Corman school of filmmaking. The success of Poison Ivy (1992) on video and cable television inspired a pair of sequels, Poison Ivy 2: Lily (1996) and Poison Ivy: The New Seduction (1997). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

In this Cold War spy classic, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a third-rate American pulp novelist, arrives in postwar Vienna, where he has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival, Martins discovers that Lime has been killed in a traffic accident, and that his funeral is taking place immediately. At the graveside, Martins meets outwardly affable Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and actress Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), who is weeping copiously. When Calloway tells Martins that the late Harry Lime was a thief and murderer, the loyal Martins is at first outraged. Gradually, he discovers not only that Calloway was right but also that the man lying in the coffin in the film's early scenes was not Harry Lime at all--and that Lime is still very much alive (he was the mysterious "third man" at the scene of the fatal accident). Thus the stage is set for the movie's famous climactic confrontation in the sewers of Vienna--and the even more famous final shot, in which Martins pays emotionally for doing "the right thing." Written by Graham Greene, The Third Man is an essential classic, made even more so by the insistent zither music of Anton Karas. The film is currently available in both an American and British release version; the American print, with an introduction by Joseph Cotten, is slightly shorter than the British version, which is narrated by director Carol Reed. Nominated for several Academy Awards, The Third Man won Best Cinematography for Robert Krasker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mark Wahlberg stars in one of his first features as a hoodlum drug dealer from the wrong side of the trackswho falls in love with Nicole Walker, an upper-middle-class high school girl (Reese Witherspoon). In this psycho-drama (with the emphasis on psycho), Nicole happily loses her virginity to her first love, but, when she begins to doubt the relationship, his tenderness turns to violence, as he stalks and terrorizes her and her friends and family. The girl's father never trusted him in the first place, but his reservations about his daughter's first serious boyfriend are interpreted as Oedipal paranoia, until the boy and his drug-dealing, date-raping buddies besiege the overly fortified house in a twisted attempt to win back Nicole's love. The Seattle setting juxtaposes a grunge rock underworld with an over-privileged suburban household, and includes a very sexual ride on a roller-coaster. And yes, former underwear model Wahlberg appears shirtless several times. ~ Laura Abraham, Rovi

Jonathan Darby made his directorial debut with this thriller, set in Kentucky (but filmed in Orange County, VA). Jackson Baring (Johnathon Schaech) wants his girlfriend, Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow), to meet his mother, Martha (Jessica Lange), so he brings her home for Christmas to Kilronan, their sumptuous Kentucky estate and horse farm. Later, after Helen gets pregnant, they marry and return to Kilronan to have the baby, but Martha aggressively intrudes and manipulates, telling obstetrician Dr. Hill (Hal Holbrook) how to deal with the birth and forbidding Helen from seeing Jackson's invalid granny, Alice (Nina Foch). After learning some of Martha's past history from Alice, Helen soon decides she must make an escape from her demented mother-in-law. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Funnyman Robin Williams steps out of character in this tense, low-key thriller that marked the feature-film directorial debut of music video veteran Mark Romanek. Semour "Sy" Parrish (Williams) runs the photo processing department at a large discount store; Sy is dedicated to his job, and takes great pride in his work. Sy's favorite customers are Nina and Will Yorkin (Connie Nielsen and Michael Vartan), an attractive and cheerful young couple with a nine-year-old boy, Jake (Dylan Smith). Sy dotes on the Yorkins and their son whenever they drop off film to be processed -- something they've been doing quite often ever since Jake was born -- and Nina and Will are indulgent of Sy's attentions, regarding his as a harmless eccentric. What the Yorkins don't know is Sy is a desperately lonely man with no real life of his own, and he's been obsessively making copies of their photos, for years, imagining himself to be "Uncle Sy," a member of the family. Sy's tenuous hold on reality begins to collapse when he develops a roll of film brought in by a new customer that suggests Will has been unfaithful to Nina; the notion that his ideal family may be falling apart is troubling enough for Sy, and when he loses his job, Sy reaches the breaking point. One Hour Photo was screened in competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

When the mysterious death of a major athlete prompts Scotland Yard detective Roy Washburn (David Thewlis) to order the investigation of best-selling crime novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), criminal psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey) is slowly drawn into Tramell's seductive world of lies and sexual intrigue in director Michael Caton-Jones belated sequel to Paul Verhoeven's 1992 erotic thriller. Upon relocating from San Francisco to London, alluring crime novelist Tramell once again finds herself pursued by authorities when all clues point to her being somehow involved in the death of a popular sports superstar. Intellectually intrigued by his new subject and undeniably drawn to her physically, Dr. Glass finds it increasingly difficult to resist the cunning black widow's devious web of deception and physical temptation. When the professional boundaries between Glass and Trammel come shattering down in a shower of unbridled lust, Dr. Glass is forced to make a difficult decision that could mean the end of both his professional career, and his life. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An untrusting wife attempts to prove that her husband is cheating by hiring an escort to seduce him, inadvertently endangering her entire family in the process. Catherine (Julianne Moore) is a respected doctor, and her husband, David (Liam Neeson), is a dedicated music professor. They've been married for years and have a teenage son together, but lately the passion has faded from their romance. The morning after David misses his flight home -- and the elaborate surprise birthday party Catherine had planned to celebrate his return -- Catherine finds a text message on his phone that leads her to believe her husband is sleeping with a female student. Her suspicions grow over the following weeks, and when Catherine has a run-in with an escort named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried), she hires the ravishing blonde to test her husband's fidelity. After each encounter with David, Chloe reports back to Catherine with all the sordid details. But the further the experiment goes, the less clear Chloe's motivations for taking part in it become, and the more the untrusting wife begins to fear that the situation has spiraled out of control. Directed by Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Ararat), this erotic thriller is a remake of Anne Fontaine's French film Nathalie..., and was adapted by Erin Cressida Wilson. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi