
In Basic Instinct, Michael Douglas (Wall Street, Romancing The Stone) plays a cop who is drawn into the world of author Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone - Total Recall, Sliver) who may or may not have murdered a boyfriend in a manor that mirrored a scene from one of her books.
It's hard to believe that this in Verhoeven's only attempt at an erotic thriller, so synonymous is he with the genre. Of his Hollywood movies, only this and Showgirls weren't Sci-Fi movies, and Showgirls isn't as much a thriller as it is an erotic drama. Although his early Dutch movies have plenty of eroticism and nudity in them, they too are mostly dramas. The nearest he came to the erotic thriller was The 4th Man, yet despite being both erotic and a thriller, I still wouldn't describe as it as such as the sex scenes are quite minimal and there are supernatural elements to it. Verhoeven himself, however, does consider it as a sister piece to Basic Instinct.

Having written such successful films as Flashdance and Jagged Edge, Eszterhas was hot property in Hollywood, and it was that heat which allowed him to charge a cool $3 Million for the Basic Instinct script, at the time making it the most expensive film script in Hollywood history. Despite this films success, he quickly followed it with the likes of forgettable misfires, Sliver and Jade, both of which helped his career stall. His other big post-Instinct film was another team up with Verhoeven, but unfortunately, that turned out to be Showgirls.
As both Jade and Sliver proved, it takes some clever directing skills to turn a Joe Eszterhas script into an intelligent and exciting movie going experience, so it was fortunate that Basic Instinct had Verhoeven behind the camera. In a lesser director's hands, the twists and turns of the plot could have come across as contrived and ridiculous, and the sex scenes could have come across as embarrassing, but Verhoeven always keeps you guessing and second guessing whether or not Sharon Stone is a cold blooded killer.
When directing this film, Verhoeven stated that he was heavily influenced by Hitchcock's Vertigo, and you can see that influence, not just in the San Francisco setting, but throughout the film in the camera angles and cinematography. There is a great car chase scene in the film that invokes vertigo and fear in the viewer, as Michael Douglas follows Sharon Stone, attempting to overtake on blind corners while driving along high cliffs and hills, leaving you feeling more than a little giddy.

Basic Instinct is a great film when you are watching it, but memory tricks you into thinking it is something lesser than it is. Maybe this is the reason IMDB currently gives it 6.9, but I'd give it a slightly higher 7.5
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