It’s time to get up, close and personal with another classic 90s movie: Paul Verhoeven’s 1992 erotic thriller, BASIC INSTINCT, starring Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas. Sharpen your ice pick and tighten your silk scarf, we’re driving down to the scene of the crime.

Molly and Chloe are joined by special guest, Amy Glass, an actor and intimacy coordinator, to uncover the film’s infamous scenes of sex, nudity and voyeurism from a 21st century perspective. What’s changed on modern film sets when it comes to actors and consent? How empowered is Sharon Stone’s ice-queen femme fatale – and what does the film say about queer women?

Plus we shine a blacklight over the movie’s best and most dated details, and lay out some recommendations for further neo-noir thrillers featuring dangerous dames and scenes of a sexual nature.

The quote at the start is from Peter Travers’ 1992 review for Rolling Stone.

Sharon Stone’s memoir covered the story of making Basic Instinct, an abridged excerpt can be read on Vanity Fair. Also check out Newsweek’s piece on Stone and Verhoeven’s differing recollections of filming the interrogation scene here, and watch Stone address it onstage at the GQ Germany awards.

Read Scott Tobias’ retrospective on 30 years of Basic Instinct for the Guardian.

Sharon Stone’s screen test can be seen here.

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We’re feeding you some more delicious 90s movie nostalgia and rewatching Danny DeVito’s magical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s MATILDA. Crack open your favourite book and dish up an entire chocolate cake, lessons have started.

Molly and Chloe page back to 1996, the era of TV dinners and catalogue shopping. We discuss DeVito’s madcap filmmaking and how it puts the child at the heart of the story, why reading is a superpower, and whether Mara Wilson is playing a pint-sized telekinetic vigilante. And we brace ourselves for Pam Ferris’s marvellously malevolent turn as the terrifying Miss Trunchbull, doling out dastardly discipline and disdainful drollery at every swing of a pigtailed child.

Plus we award merits to the best and most 90s moments, plus magic up some child-friendly recommendations for further viewing (on VHS or otherwise).

The opening quote is by Bob Strauss of the Los Angeles Daily News review of Matilda from 1996

Here’s a behind-the-scenes clip of the pigtail throwing scene being filmed.

And a making-of doc with Danny DeVito on how the stunts were performed. Clarification: while the playing cards flying around were CGI, many of the objects in the film were hung from wires or attached to poles.

Watch the video for ‘Send Me On My Way’ by Rusted Root here

Follow us on Instagram: @total90srecall

Check out the other films we recommended on Letterboxd

Got an episode suggestion? Email us: total90srecall@gmail.com

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In ancient times, one cunning man embarked on a multi-decade odyssey to find his rightful place… as Hollywood’s most legendary blockbuster director. That’s right: this episode, we’re journeying back to the antique era of 1998, to rewatch Christopher Nolan’s very first feature film, FOLLOWING.

Molly and Chloe snap back to unreality as we muse on non-linear storytelling, puzzle box noir plots and wonder over the inventiveness of Nolan’s shoe-string budget filmmaking. Along the way, we discuss femme fatales, fantasy and dreams, unreliable narrators, Marilyn Monroe, dinner party music, Inception, Memento, Batman and much more. Plus we note a fateful detail lurking in the background…

Then we cut to the chase with our most 90s moments and made-up awards, before selecting the classic noirs and dark crime tales you need to watch next.

The opening quote from Peter Broderick is taken from this 1999 Guardian article, ‘A Cult Following’.

Watch the Vice documentary with Nolan here.

The quote from critic Tony Rayns is from this 2011 Time Out review.

The quote from Scott Foundas is from his essay ‘Nolan Begins’ for Criterion Collection.

The quote from Jeremy Theobold about the Batman logo comes from Film Detail’s blog post, quoting an Empire interview.

And, er, here’s Simply Red’s biggest hit: ‘Stars’ from 1991. It was another time, I hope you comprehend…

Follow us on Instagram: @total90srecall

Check out the other films we recommended on Letterboxd

Got an episode suggestion? Email us: total90srecall@gmail.com

Find all our links here!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.