“Raw” (2016)
“Raw” deserves a spot on this list based on title alone, so even though we might get added to some federal list for advocating for it here, whatever. French newcomer Julia Ducournau knew exactly what she was doing when she made “Raw,” a visceral, meaty tale of sexual awakening at veterinary school. The ultimate film for anyone who’s ever lost a finger in a bikini wax or tried to take a nibble while doing the nasty, the barfworthy cannibalism of “Raw” is inextricable from its eroticism. It’s dirty, disgusting, artful and ambiguous – a rightful addition to the feminist horror canon. Garance Marillier offers a lead performance that is off-the-wall horny: wide-eyed and fierce, her Justine navigates a newfound desire for flesh with all the wanton sloppiness of any young person figuring out what turns them on. It just so happens that Justine feels a bit more bloodlust than lust. –LW
“Rocketman” (2019)
“Rocketman” is everything “Bohemian Rhapsody” should’ve been, in part because it offers a more dignified approach to its protagonist’s sexuality. Although Elton John (Taron Egerton) battles personal demons throughout the film, he still never feels shame for being gay, whereas in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Freddie Mercury’s (Rami Malek) sexuality is more furtive and indecent. In “Rocketman,” John is presented as a flamboyant, out-and-proud musician, which the film supports through moments of sexual intimacy and aesthetic pleasure – perhaps most notably the ones between John and his former manager/partner John Reid (Richard Madden). The scene where they have sex and the moments where they kiss passionately, though underscored by Reid’s eventual deception, are nevertheless shot through with unbridled homosexual euphoria. The opaque charisma expressed by Richard Madden certainly adds to the provocative tone of those scenes – and that accent, my God! The “Rocketman” DVD features an extended version of the “Honky Cat” musical sequence, in which backup dancers wearing nothing but briefs surround Egerton and Madden as they suck face. Frankly, if those bits were shown on the big screen, it may have been too much for some of us to handle. As one “menopausal old hound” declared, this movie is great for a boost in the fanjo. –MS
“Shame” (2011)
Horniness is a clinical affliction in Steve McQueen’s stunning drama that begins by showing audiences Michael Fassbender, completely naked, wandering around his apartment while the shower warms up. This film, a story of two siblings’ unending emotional turmoil does not fuck around – there is certainly a lot of fucking, though, as Brandon, Fassbender’s proxy, struggles with sex addiction and has to navigate a delicate living situation when his unpredictable sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan at her most heartbreaking) comes to stay. The film’s eroticism moves in waves, bubbling just below the surface as Brandon locks eyes with a stranger on the subway, fully exploding in dizzying scenes of a threesome baked in orange light. A lot of the heavy lifting is done by Fassbender’s body language: his pursed, frustrated facial movements and broad and intimidating frame, ready to open his arms for affection or fight back at any moment. But McQueen also directs with a sense of seductive anticipation, slowly building toward a feeling of desire, of rewards – but keeping it entirely controlled until Brandon can’t take it anymore. Addiction is addiction, and Brandon finds his fixes more than once here, whether under turquoise sheets or against the cold of a floor-to-ceiling window pane. –Ella Kemp
“The Shape of Water” (2017)
Guillermo del Toro’s magical old Hollywood romance hidden inside an old Hollywood monster movie certainly had its share of woman-on-fish sex jokes in pop culture after it won the Best Picture Oscar. But let’s not forget how tenderly and passionately del Toro explores the explosive reawakening of a woman’s sexuality, as well as accepts her unconventional love through the condemnation of bigotry brought on by social norms. When we first meet the lonely and introverted Elisa (Sally Hawkins), sexual gratification is yet another mundane morning activity: She rigidly clocks her daily masturbation sessions with an egg timer. But that all changes when she meets the mysterious Amphibian Man (Doug Jones), and her quest to free the creature from the abusive clutches of the U.S. Government gradually gives way to undeniable lust and yearning. This mutual attraction crescendoes into a luscious setpiece wherein Elisa and the Amphibian Man fill Elisa’s bathroom full of water in order to finally make love. There’s a joke here about the obvious symbolism of “wetness” connected to Elisa’s explosion of repressed lust, but let’s just appreciate the beauty of the romance for now. –OEK
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Just FUCK already, Christ. While the neutered, sexless “Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker” was wholly disinterested in the confusing, complicating thirst inherent to ‘The Last Jedi’—why are we so connected, it asks? Why are we so intrinsically tied at the hip?— Rian Johnson’s sophisticated “Star Wars” movie was wise enough to introduce all kinds of tantalizing implications to the magnetic push-and-pull dynamics of Kylo Ren and Rey, horny, arousing, or otherwise. We learn later on in ‘Rise of Skywalker,’ the two are a dyad in the Force—a unique bond between Force sensitive opposites that make them one—but the build up to that in ‘Last Jedi’ is one taut, edging cocktease that has made many Tumblr audiences blow their top with inspired art and fuckable fan fiction. Johnson layers the tension, and even has fun with it, placing a space Facetime call between Kylo and Rey where Darth Vader’s grandson isn’t wearing a shirt and is dressed in strangely sexy neckpants. And Rey, and preteens the world round had never been more uncomfortable in their confusingly overwhelmed sense of carnal desire. An awakening occurred indeed. – RP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loXSTLMeU0A
“Suspiria” (2018)
While Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” examines a strange and sinister dance academy through the perspectives of naive young women, Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” filters its occult world through a more mature, sexually awakened pupil. At the pinnacle of their ballet careers, Guadagnino’s women are confident in their fierce muliebrity. In “Suspiria,” dance symbolizes the motion, emotion, and spiritual act of sex in its most primal form. When Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton) asks Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) what it feels like when she first “gives herself to the dance,” Susie replies, “Like fucking…an animal.” Susie, who came from a religious, sexually-oppressive home, finds her libido at the academy through the bestial, ritualistic movement of dance. But the choreography is spellbindingly controlled by Blanc, thus forcing Susie to face a new form of tyranny. In this way, Susie is representative of the RAF, whose ideals embraced anti-authoritarianism and women’s liberation, and Blanc representative of the adopted, fascistic patriarchal power structure; an internalized German Autumn to match the film’s setting. The troupe’s penultimate “Volk” performance symbolizes the simultaneous discomfort and beauty of a woman losing her virginity, denouncing the sexual oppression of society’s past, and taking back her womanhood from Blanc and the patriarchy. –AA
“Take This Waltz”
Sarah Polley’s messy, uneven, ultimately super-beguiling, and heartbreaking break-up/divorce drama is actually about the perils of Magpie syndrome, the dangers of the grass is always greener, and the self-destructive toxicity of unfulfilled personal unhappiness that doom all relationships. In it, Margot (a luminous Michelle Williams) upends and destroys a perfectly loving relationship with Lou (Seth Rogen), because of Daniel (Luke Kirby), a mysterious fuckboi who awakens her sense of desire (which actually just activates her intrinsic discontent within her own life). In blowing up her life, Margot and Daniel flirt and tease and the sweaty, balmy summer of Toronto feels its been fucked six ways to Sunday by a Wong Kar Wai movie (big ups to the unheralded DP Luc Montpellier for replicating this erotic look; more filmmakers should be knocking on his door). And so, while melancholy in its self-made devastation, the road to self-realization—potentially spending a lifetime going from one relationship to another—is all lubricious and horned up. Whether its full-on shots of Sarah Silverman’s bush in the shower—actually meant to normalize bodies and nudity—to the hot, carnal thirst Margot and Daniel eventually consummate, “Take This Waltz” is rapaciously lusty, hot-blooded and full of desire. – RP
“The To Do List” (2013)
Maggie Carey’s feature debut “The To Do List” was an underperformer per critics, but it certainly did not skimp on horniness. Set one fateful summer in the ’90s as unrepentant nerd Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) strives to have as many sexual experiences as possible before college, “The To Do List” ticks a lot of adolescent boxes. From dry humping to blow jobs, the film lightheartedly depicts one young woman’s quest for gratification, at once refusing to glamourize its bawdy subject or to demonize its insatiable protagonist. The result is a charming, awkward fuckfest as Plaza hooks up with some of the most beloved male comedians of the early 2010s: Donald Glover, Andy Samberg, Adam Pally. It’s also (unfortunately) refreshing to see a young woman on film doggedly pursue her own orgasm. Brandy may approach sex like an advanced placement foreign language course, but she gets results, and she eventually learns to separate her studious carnal pursuits from her budding romantic feelings without compromising either. –LW
“Thor: Ragnarok” (2017)
“Thor: Ragnarok” might just disprove Pedro Almodovar’s notion that Marvel movies aren’t sexy enough. Sure, it might not be on the same erotic level as the famed director’s filmography, but Taika Waititi still makes this the horniest entry in the MCU. It has an obligatory Chris Hemsworth shirtless scene (a franchise tradition), the incredibly muscular Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) going nude in a hot tub, and a rather, ahem, heated conversation between the two. It’s hardly a moment of homoerotic subtext, but seeing two men with muscles on their muscles discuss whose fire is hotter (literally, that’s what they’re discussing) is still enough to give the gays everything they want. The sly, sensual energy shown by the rest of the cast, including Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, and Tom Hiddleston, also constitutes the picture’s amorous nature. From Thompson serving major BDE to Blanchett basically playing Carol with horns, “Ragnarok” is determined to slake any and all thirsts. –MS
“X-Men: First Class” (2011)
The gay rights metaphor known as the X-Men franchise has always been especially horny, but it reached new heights with Matthew Vaughn’s “X Men: First Class.” The first of an otherwise underwhelming prequel series, “First Class” follows young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) through the 1960s, as Charles begins his famed school for mutants and Erik pursues the Nazi who weaponized his superpowers for evil. McAvoy plays Charles as a nerdy über-flirt, drunkenly explaining genetics to beautiful women, while Fassbender’s Erik is sensually mechanical in his murderous pursuits. (In one notable, much-GIF-ed scene, he murders a former Nazi before dramatically sweeping a hand through his hair.) Once Charles and Erik become pseudo-dads to a band of adolescent mutants, the horny hijinks continue: Raven (Jennifer Lawrence, constantly naked and blue) is trying to get with Erik when she should be getting with Beast (Nicholas Hoult), coming out metaphors abound, Zoë Kravitz is there. Mix all of this in with a villainous Kevin Bacon and his hilariously wooden sidekick, January Jones, and you’ve got a Bond-esque, campy homage to one of the horniest decades known to man. –LW
