With Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction about to hit the cinemas I thought it an apt time to discuss Basic Instinct and to look in depth at the film and what it gave us.
Paul Verhoeven a legend in the Netherlands had become a worldwide legend after two highly successful Hollywood blockbusters. ... Read review
Michael Douglas is Nick Curran, a hardboiled detective with a weakness for beautiful women ... more
and dangerous relationships. Sharon Stone is Catherine Tramell, a Stunning, enigmatic novelist with a talent for seduction and a History of relationships that end in death. As The only suspect in a controversial murder case that the detective is investigating, Catherine ignites Nick's suspicion and his passion, and he soon becomes involved in his most dangerous liaison yet. The chemistry between Douglas and Stone set the screen alight as the body count mounts and the stakes grown higher. Boasting One Of The Most Talked About Scenes In Film History, Basic Instinct Is At Once A Study In Sexual Obsession And A Ground-Breaking Thriller.
Michael Douglas is Nick Curran, a hardboiled detective with a weakness for beautiful women ... more
and dangerous relationships. Sharon Stone is Catherine Tramell, a Stunning, enigmatic novelist with a talent for seduction and a History of relationships that end in death. As The only suspect in a controversial murder case that the detective is investigating, Catherine ignites Nick's suspicion and his passion, and he soon becomes involved in his most dangerous liaison yet. The chemistry between Douglas and Stone set the screen alight as the body count mounts and the stakes grown higher. Boasting One Of The Most Talked About Scenes In Film History, Basic Instinct Is At Once A Study In Sexual Obsession And A Ground-Breaking Thriller.
Everything interesting begins in the mind. Dr. Michael Glass (Morrissey) a respected ... more
London criminal psychiatrist is brought in by Scotland Yard detective Roy Washburn (Thewlis) to perform a psychiatric profile and evaluation of novelist Catherine Tramell (Stone) following the mysterious death of a top sports star. Physically drawn to Tramell and mentally intrigued by her Glass is quickly sucked into her web of lies and seduction. The professional boundaries between Glass and Tramell are obliterated when she uncovers his basic instincts...
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The Screen's Deadliest Femme Fatale Returns!London psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass ... more
(Morrissey) is charismatic, highly respected and at the top of his game. When Detective Superintendent Washburn (Thewlis) asks Glass to analyse a beautiful woman who has been linked to the mysterious death of a famous sports star, his entire world is turned upside down. The woman in question is Catherine Tramell (Stone), best-selling American crime novelist whose fiction has a habit of turning into reality. The magnetism between the two is immediate and Glass is intrigued by Catherine both mentally and physically. Quickly sucked into her web of lies and seduction, Glass' own basic instincts are uncovered as professional boundaries are blurred. As people around him are mysteriously murdered, a deadly battle of wits ensues between Glass and Tramell, leading to a startling climax in which he must make a choice that will change both their lives forever.
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Advantages: A magnificent blockbuster movie Disadvantages: Too many people complain about it
With Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction about to hit the cinemas I thought it an apt time to discuss Basic Instinct and to look in depth at the film and what it gave us.
Paul Verhoeven a legend in the Netherlands had become a worldwide legend after two highly successful Hollywood blockbusters. First he bought us Robocop, which is a movie that looks as good now as it did nearly 20 years ago. For his second US movie he gave us Total Recall, ... ...hour. Lots of people knock Basic Instinct, some call it cheap and tacky, and others state it's made in a very B movie style. But I have to argue that this is not the case. The production values of the film are some of the best I have ever seen, if you had no background knowledge of when the film was made it could have been made anytime since the mid eighties to this very day. The actors wardrobe is very cleverly designed, in one scene in a Nightclub ... more
With Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction about to hit the cinemas I thought it an apt time to discuss Basic Instinct and to look in depth at the film and what it gave us.
Paul Verhoeven a legend in the Netherlands had become a worldwide legend after two highly successful Hollywood blockbusters. First he bought us Robocop, which is a movie that looks as good now as it did nearly 20 years ago. For his second US movie he gave us Total Recall, a bit of futuristic action mumbo jumbo. In 1990 Straight of the back of Total Recall Verhoeven decided that his next most adventurous journey would be a stylish cop thriller, his aim was to create something that would look good now and in 40 years time, it took two years to complete I personally think he succeeded.
A rock star is found dead in his California mansion, Detective Nick Curran is assigned to investigate the case. He immediately realises that this is no cut and dry murder case and takes no time laying out the complexities of it. No stranger to a complex life Nick has his own little issues to deal with; a mystery surrounds him about a death, drug abuse, chain smoking, and alcohol. The police quickly bring in Catherine Trammell, a murder mystery novelist and on off lover of the murdered rocker. More incriminating is the fact that the recently departed rocker just happens to have been murdered the same way as a victim in Catherine's most recent novel. To add a little more fuel to this fire Catherine treats Nick like she knows him, they play a strange cat and mouse game during the initial interview with her. And when she brings up drug addiction and knows of Nick's involvement with drugs this cements Nick's colleagues thoughts that there is a connection between the two.
Pleading no knowledge of Catherine, Nick visits his psychiatrist, Beth Garner. Nick has rather inappropriately entered into a sexual relationship with Beth. And a strange relationship it is too, while she goes out of her way to love him, he does his best to abuse and humiliate her. When one night an argument about Nick's past erupts, bought to light by his superior officer Nick violently lashes out. Why should he have his personal life broadcast in a public place? Beth hurries Nick home where he again treats her in a most despicable manner.
When the superior officer Nick argued with turns up dead, the investigation quickly moves from Catherine to Nick. The only way for Nick to get out of this situation is to get close to Catherine and see what she can teach him. The most deadly game has begun.
For me with the exception of Disclosure this has to be Michael Douglas's finest hour. Lots of people knock Basic Instinct, some call it cheap and tacky, and others state it's made in a very B movie style. But I have to argue that this is not the case. The production values of the film are some of the best I have ever seen, if you had no background knowledge of when the film was made it could have been made anytime since the mid eighties to this very day. The actors wardrobe is very cleverly designed, in one scene in a Nightclub Douglas is seen sporting an outfit that only now seems to have come into a popular fashion. None of the cast are ever seen in anything tell tale of the time. The police headquarters are the most stylish I have seen in a movie. And even the cars are cleverly picked to hide the date element. In one scene up the side of hill, they overtake 30 or 40 cars, each one specifically picked out to neutralise the age.
The actor's performances were great, Douglas was known and respected. Sharon Stone was little known, a history of B movies behind her, but so pleased with her performance in Total Recall Verhoeven just had to put her in the principle role. Despite the fact that Douglas clearly looks older than Stone the electricity between them is apparent from the first scene. They bump and grind along playing games with each others hearts and emotions. Beth's character played by the then unknown Jeanne Tripplehorn, a name you'll never forget in a hurry entered the big screen in triumph. From her first scene she was down trodden and continued to be for the first 30 minutes of the film, after which she just disappears off the radar.
I think the reason that Basic Instinct received such a savaging is clear, in a time that Hollywood was trying to step away from explicit sex and sexual violence Basic Instinct hits it head on. If you watch the film carefully you never once are given the impression that anyone involved actually enjoys sex. Sex is met with pain, and violence on every level. One scene in which Sharon Stone allegedly flashes the camera is by far the most talked about, despite the fact that in actual fact it's possibly the scene you see the least in. A scene in which Douglas's character pretty much rapes Tripplehorn is far more explicit. To this day I can't see what the fuss with Stone flashing was all about. Lay the sex out with other films prior to Basic Instinct 9 1/2 weeks, Crimes of Passion, Betty Blue, the accused, and Basic instinct offers the viewer nothing more than they have seen before.
Despite the savaging Basic Instinct received fantastic Box Office and sales on video. While at the cinema the movie drifted in and out of the top ten on numerous occasions, and was the first non child audience movie to go to number one in the UK twice a month apart. Indeed in the summer of 1992 you could not escape Basic Instinct fever. And the following year the video was stuck at number one in the Rental and sales charts for weeks on end, even when Basic Instinct was screened on Sky Television subscriptions at that time increased more than they ever had. In 2003 that sales success was replicated when Basic Instinct hit DVD.
Now onto the DVD
The DVD is chock a block filled with special features, first to mention is the fantastic audio descriptive service. This service turns the film almost into a talking book for the blind, describing the scenes in great detail, few DVD's offer this service and I feel this to be a shame.
Then you have a nice new cleaned up print of the movie, the change marks advising projectionists to change reels have been removed, as was a dead fly in the top of some scenes. Scenes in which Cameras and crewmembers were seen have been digitally removed making this the most perfect print of a film in some time.
An interesting but quite difficult to understand audio commentary is featured with Paul Verhoeven and cinematographer Jan De Bont. And a second audio commentary by Camille Paglia who is totally against sex on screen and anything that she does not like that involves women; regarding herself as a feminist, personally I think she just has a mass hate of the male race.
Blonde Poison is a great documentary about the making of the movie, the problems with time constraints, budgets and adding the shocks are all covered.
A documentary about censorship and Basic Instinct, this shows the vast amount of editing that needed to be done to allow Basic Instinct to be seen on television. And to be allowed cinema screenings in some countries.
The audition reels for both Jeanne Tripplehorn and Sharon Stone.
A variety of Easter Eggs (hidden special features)
Some trailers, photo galleries and storyboard processes are also included to pad out the special features.
Additional languages available are German and Spanish, and subtitles are available in English, German, Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese and Dutch.
You can purchase Basic instinct for £5.99 from www.play.com
Advantages: Sexy, Intellegent, Fun Disadvantages: Bad Direction
...have to rent or buy Basic Instinct to find out won’t you.
Michael Douglas did the right thing by playing with his character’s aggressive side, I liked the way that he instantly could change from good to bad, which made the audience scared of him straight away which established a wonderful uneasiness. I am not always a massive fan of his, but I am starting to like his style more and more. I had the pleasure of seeing him in Wonderboys and thought ... ...In terms of production values Basic Instinct is quite average. There are nice locations and houses and cars, but nothing new or particularly inspiring. Sharon Stone does look stunning all the way through the movie though and some of the club scene’s are effective.
Some people will be put off by the amount of sex and violence involved in Basic Instinct, I can honestly say though that it is pivotal to the plot and not gross or over done. As for the ...
JayHall1991 27.02.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Basic Instinct (DVD)
Advantages: Brilliant performances, excellent storyline Disadvantages: A bit too long
Basic Instinct is an erotic thriller released way back in 1992. The film received a mixed reception upon release, some said it was too farfetched but some thought it was a clever thriller with brilliant twists & turns, I have to admit I agree with the latter. The film was made on an estimated budget of $49,000,000. It runs for approximately 129 minutes. The film was one of the highest grossing films of 1992 grossing a an estimated $353 million worldwide. ... ...& strong language. Basic Instinct is directed by Paul Verhoeven, he’s well known for directing cult hit Robocop, Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s also famous for directing Showgirls which I believe was voted one of the worst films of all times! In total his films have been nominated for 9 Academy Awards. The main star in Basic Instinct is of course Michael Douglas who these days is solely famous for being married to someone half ...
Great_reviewer07 21.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Basic Instinct (DVD)
Advantages: Will appeal to Sharon Stone fans! Disadvantages: Lacks suspense, plot and is too course for this type of movie.
Basic instinct is a tale of sexual obsession. Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone star.
The plot is fairly simple. A woman, using an ice pick is murdering men during intercourse. The murders are similar in style to a fictional character written by Sharon Stone.
Michael Douglas plays a game of cat and mouse with Sharon Stone, trying to figure out if she is the murderer or not. While attempting this, he becomes sexually obsessed with her and lets his ... ...for justice.
The movie attempts to be both raunchy and suspenseful, but fails in both. Sharon Stone, with the famous 'interview' scene, leaves nothing to the imagination as this movie is very raw and not particularly sensual. The plot is very thin, really revolving around the obsession and only touching the surface of suspense.
This movie is more of a soft porn movie in disguise and is very predictable. I was very disappointed with the whole movie, ...
Simoncook1 01.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Basic Instinct (DVD)
Advantages: Catch a glimpse of the footage that made the world stand still Disadvantages: NOT ALOT
Sharon Stone and Micheal Douglas hit the big time with this movie, Sharon managed to stun the whole world in less than one minute.
So many video recorders were getting played like play-rewind-play-rewind, so much so that I swear you could hear it! Sharon is an author who has written a book called ‘Shooter’, she manipulates people and uses them as characters in her novels.
When a gruesome murder is committed, which is played out like ... ...suspect and Michael Douglas is the man to bring her down. She’s then taken down to the nik where she passes a lie detector test and makes the interviewers sweat.
(The murder is really viscous and would’ve given men nightmares for weeks!)
As the clues become more complicated and Micheal becomes more infatuated with Sharon, he neglects to realise that his life and the life of his colleague is now in danger, because of a vengeful, jealous ...
michellej 01.09.2000 (06.03.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Basic Instinct (DVD)
Advantages: Reasonable cast Disadvantages: Poorly acted and does little to attempt to be better than soft porn
Basic Instinct is often crticized for its lack of plot and is one of those films that is most famous for its niche in the Soft Pornography world of Hollywood. However, the plot is not entirely inadequate, although it is probably fair to speculate that this film is not one that is recommended to others for the storyline. Although the plot is adequate, the performances are less than memorable, and the most famous legs crossing/uncrossing scene is a ...
BIGHORSE 04.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Basic Instinct (DVD)
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Advantages: Sharon Stone Disadvantages: Thewlis, Rampling, Collymoore, Williams, Dancy
to the DVD production rather than being the movie and the people who are releasing the DVD printed several thousand discs before they realised and stated "The discs will be released as they are; future prints will be corrected. We feel that the only the most critical eye will notice this error" Well done Columbia Tristar.
BasicInstinct 2 will be released on the 7th August to rent or buy. Retail price is £19.99 but you can purchase the DVD from play.com for £12.99. My advice buy your other half a bottle of plonk and rent it instead. ...
Advantages: The men will like Sharon Stone Disadvantages: Terrible storyline, terrible acting
Best selling crime/erotica author Catherine Trammel (Sharon Stone), originally from San Francisco but now living in London is interrogated by the police after a tragic accident leaves her car in the bottom of the sea with her male passenger dead. Trammel wants to prove her innocence but as a previous murder suspect this isn?t going to be easy.
She is forced to be evaluated by experienced psychiatrist Dr Michael Glass (David Morrissey) however it?s clear right from the start that he?s not going to have an easy task on his hands. With Trammels blatant sex appeal and manipulative ways it?s not long before he finds himself enamoured by her however when people start to die around them Trammel is once again the prime suspect but what does she really want with Michael?
This is the follow up to cult classic BasicInstinct released way ...
Advantages: Sharon Stone, good performances, suspense, screenplay Disadvantages: some may find some scenes explicit
BasicInstinct is a nice entertainer with enough dose of romance, action, suspense and sex (though sex is a bit overdosed). It is really exciting to see Sharon Stone in an interesting role. Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone have a very interesting chemistry between them. The screenplay is very good and it keeps the viewer have two minds about the real murderer till the last scene. Sustaining the suspense till the last scene is very difficult but the director succeeded in doing that. Barring a couple of hiccups, the movie keeps the viewer glued to the seat with interesting plot, scenes, the suspense and of course Sharon Stone.
Plot
Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is an alcoholic detective in San Fransisco. He is in a relation with Beth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn), a psychologist and she works with police department. One day Nick gets ...
Detective Nick Curran investigates the death of a man found axed and tied to a bed. As his investigation gets under way he becomes involved with one of the chief suspects, writer Catherine Tramell.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
MOMENTUM PICTURES; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
Audio Commentary, Making Of Documentary, Cleaning Up Basic Instinct And Comparison Of The TV Version To The Theatrical Version, Featurette, Photo Gallery, Storyboard Comparisons, Theatrical Trailer, Theatrical Teaser
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Surround
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 English DTS 5.1 English German Dolby Surround Spanish
Professional reviews
Review
"...Visually, it's edgy and impressive..." (Entertainment Weekly, p.50-2, 20/03/1992)
"...[A] red-hot, dangerously modern romance [that] will never be accused of not knowing how to get an audience's attention....[Stone is] chilling..." (New York Times, p.C8, 20/03/1992)
This steamy thriller to end all steamy thrillers stars Michael Douglas as Nick, a boozy San Francisco police detective who finds himself drawn to the prime suspect in a murder case--manipulative, sexually uninhibited novelist Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone). Catherine's latest book features a murder uncannily similar to the one Nick is investigating, and as the pair engage in a mating dance of dangerous one-upmanship, more murders occur, all described in her current work, about a boozy cop in love with a killer. Nick's psychiatrist (Jeanne Tripplehorn), and cop partner (George Dzundza) are both worried about him, and Catherine's jealous lesbian lover (Leilani Sarelle) may be trying to kill him, but Nick is just too turned on to care. Director Paul Verhoeven shows an admirable lack of restraint in this ludicrously enjoyable thriller, a sort of postmodern noir with Joe Eszterhas's script coming off like Mamet by way of Penthouse. Stone and Douglas exhibit fine chemistry (and most of their bodies), and there's some lovely Bay Area scenery courtesy of cinematographer Jan de Bont (who went on to direct films such as SPEED and TWISTER). Wayne Knight (Newman from SEINFELD) and Mitch Pileggi (Skinner from THE X-FILES) are precinct heads who question Catherine in the infamous leg-crossing scene.
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