| | | "Blu-Ray Disc, Beyond High Definition."
Features: Widescreen, Unrated, English, Spanish, Subtitled, Dolby Digital (5.1)
Michael Douglas stars as Nick Curran, a tough but vulnerable detective. Sharon Stone co-stars as Catherine Tramell, a cold, calculating and beautiful novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite. Catherine becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered - a crime described in her latest novel. Obsessed with cracking the case, Nick descends into San Francisco's forbidden underground where suspicions mount, bodies fall and he finds within himself an instinct more basic than survival.
"This is one of those movies everything you heard about is true." Joel Siegel, Good Morning America
"In-your-face sex thriller...Audacious, erotic and larger-than-life..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"...one charged-up erotic thriller--gory, lurid, brutally funny and without a politically correct thought..." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"A darkly phobic lust story..." Rita Kempley, The Washington Post
"Grade-A pulp fiction...[an] erotically charged thriller...which is as weirdly implausible as it is intensely visceral." Variety
Editor's Note
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.
Plot Summary
While investigating a mysterious death, San Francisco cop Nick Curran finds himself in a deadly triangle with three beautiful but dangerous women. One of these women, Catherine Trammel, a murder mystery writer who seduces prototypes for her characters, is high on the list of suspects--and her next story is about a cop who falls for the wrong woman.
| Features | Blonde Poison: Documentary On The Making Of The Film | | Cleaning Up Basic Instinct: A Montage Comparing The TV Version To The Theatrical Version | | Audio Commentary With Director Paul Verhoeven & Director Of Photography Jan De Bont | | Audio Commentary With Feminist Critic & Noted Author Camille Paglia | | Audio: English DTS HD 5.1 Surround Sound, DD-EX 5.1 Surround Sound | | Interactive Menus | | Original Screen Tests | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection | | Storyboard Comparisons | | Subtitles: English, Spanish | | This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Lions Gate |
| Release Date: 1/8/2009 |
| Running Time: 128 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1992 | | Catalog ID: 19159 | | UPC: 00012236191599 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Available Subtitles: Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (1993) | | | Golden Globe, Sharon Stone, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama | | | Golden Globe, Jerry Goldsmith, Best Original Score - Motion Picture | |
Winner (1993) | | | MTV Award, Sharon Stone, Best Female Performance | | | MTV Award, Sharon Stone, Most Desirable Female | |
Nominee (1993) | | | MTV Award, Michael Douglas, Best Male Performance | | | MTV Award, Basic Instinct, Best Movie | | | MTV Award, Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Best On-Screen Duo | | | Oscar, Frank J. Urioste, Best Film Editing | | | Oscar, Jerry Goldsmith, Best Music, Original Score | |
Nominee (1992) | | | Cannes Film Festival, Jerry Goldsmith, Golden Palm Award |
| Memorable Quotes| "Were you ever engaged in any sadomasochistic activity?"----John Correli (Wayne Knight) to Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) during interrogation|"Exactly what did you have in mind, Mr. Correli?"----Catherine | | "There's no smoking in this building, Ms. Tramell."----Correli|"What're you going do? Charge me with smoking?"----Catherine |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"...One charged-up erotic thriller - gory, lurid, brutally funny..." 04/16/1992 p.89-90New York Times
"...[A] red-hot, dangerously modern romance [that] will never be accused of not knowing how to get an audience's attention....[Stone is] chilling..." 03/20/1992 p.C8 Entertainment Weekly
"...Visually, it's edgy and impressive..." 03/20/1992 p.50-2 The Washington Post 8 of 10
If you're unfamiliar with the genitalia of either gender, "Basic Instinct" is the movie that will clear things up. It's nothing if not steamy. And if you're an aspiring serial killer, this thriller has some excellent pointers on multiple stabbings...Director Paul Verhoeven, a man who never met a scene he couldn't overblow, gives this thrill show everything he's got. But he's stylistically inept. He just blunders ahead with rudimentary suspense tactics. He fared better with robots ("RoboCop") and Austrian bodybuilders ("Total Recall")...Principals Douglas and Stone give you little to really care about. They trade quips and play sexual cat and mouse, but there's nothing below the surface. It's only Douglas's big-name presence that puts any oomph into his character. It's only Stone's nudity that puts anything into hers. She's supposed to be an author, but when she finds time to type a single word -- between all these encounters with Douglas and emotionally hotheaded lover Leilani Sarelle -- is anyone's guess. Unfortunately, Eszterhas did find that kind of time. - Desson Howe
Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
In their protests against Paul Verhoeven's "Basic Instinct," gay activists have been giving away the ending of the movie. With some thrillers, that would be a damaging blow. But the ending of "Basic Instinct" is so arbitrary that it hardly matters. This is not a movie where the outcome depends upon the personality or behavior of the characters. It's just a wind-up machine to jerk us around...Since most people will be attending "Basic Instinct" in less than a Politically Correct frame of mind, however, does the movie deliver? In a way, it does. It kept me interested, and guessing, right up until that final shot, which revealed that all of my efforts were pointless since the guilt or innocence of the characters was a flip of the coin, based on evidence that could be read both ways. The film is like a crossword puzzle. It keeps your interest until you solve it. Then it's just a worthless scrap with the spaces filled in. - Roger Ebert
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