Over/Under Movies Episode 24: Basic Instinct & Crash (1996)

Over/Under Movies

It gets hot and steamy in the podcast room as Erik, Ryan, and Oktay discuss two erotic thrillers from the 90s. First, we buy an icepick from K-Mart and crack into Basic Instinct, the 1992 mega hit that kickstarted the erotic thriller craze, which dominated a good chunk of that decade. Did Paul Verhoeven's tongue-in-cheek direction come close to saving Joe Eszterhas' terrible screenplay? Next, we move onto more level-headed and less juvenile territory as we dig into Crash, David Cronenberg's deft and fascinating study of a unique and dangerous fetish. No, we're not talking about Paul Haggis' simple-minded take on race relations in L.A., which is perhaps the worst Best Picture Oscar winner so far. As usual, thank you for listening, please send us your comments so we can improve the show and look forward to new episodes when our insightful Portland-based film critics will discuss one overrated and one underrated film within the same genre or style. You can also find us on iTunes if you search for Over/Under Movies and on Twitter @overundermovies. Erik McClanahan is the lead film critic at Oregon Arts Watch, co-host of the Adjust Your Tracking podcast (Also available on iTunes) and a contributor at The Playlist. Ryan Oliver is a film critic for Gotcha Movies and the host of the Gotcha Movies Podcast. Oktay Ege Kozak is a film critic for The Oregon Herald, Beyazperde, DVD Talk and is also a contributor and film critic at The Playlist. A special thank you to Drew Wallner, who designed our new logo.