If you’re in the mood for a good ol’ fashioned sexy movie, you’ve arrived at the right place—and dare we say, the right year. As moviegoers finally returned to theaters for date nights, 2022’s slate delivered the goods. So much that we’re pretty sure that even superhero fare dared to be horny, right down to The Batman.
Speaking of: many of this year’s sexiest movies carried a sense of danger, and demanded that the viewer leave their comfort zones behind to enter some perilous new activities. Whether it’s normalizing BDSM play, like in Love & Leaches, or committing flat-out murder in films like Deep Water and X, love didn’t come easy as directors tried to break the mold and become one of the sexiest movies of all time. Below, you’ll find our 10 picks for the sexiest films of the year.
Don’t you Shia, Shia! me, bub. Regardless of how you felt about Olivia Wilde’s latest directorial effort and its ensuing boatloads of drama, Don’t Worry Darling was downright sexy, thanks to Harry and Flo’s steamy on-screen relationship. No further questions.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Glass Onion: funny as heck, occasionally tense, and yes—extremely sexy! Seriously. A zillion attractive A-listers convene in Greece and spend half the movie near a pool? Every single Daniel Craig outfit? Were we even watching the same movie? I’m not backing down from this one, people.
Any film bumping Charli XCX’s “Hot Girl” in its trailer is sure to scream sex appeal especially when it’s paired with a scene featuring Pete Davidson saying, “I look like I f*ck.” Though the heart of Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is a whodunnit satire, sex drive motivates its characters just as much as a thirst for blood does. Sure, bringing your Tinder boyfriend along to a trip where someone gets killed doesn’t exactly exude “meet-cute,” but nothing amps up sexual tension quite like fighting for your life.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
A retired teaching waiting in a hotel room for her young mystery lover to arrive might feel like the premise of an… adult film. And, of course, in many ways, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a very adult film–following Emma Thompson’s character as she sets out to have her first orgasm (and many subsequent ones) with young sex worker Leo Grande. But the film is also a beautiful coming-of-middle-age story about sexual awakening, aging, and humanity. Perfect if you’re looking for an out-of-the-box rom-com.
As any hardcore Jane Austen fan will confirm, make no mistake that Pride & Prejudice is a sex movie. And this modern adaptation from Joel Kim-Booster, set in Fire Island, does justice to this erotic tradition. But it also explores how Fire Island’s utopian associations of sexual liberation and unity are so often frayed by discrimination within the gay community.
Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas star in what is probably the most outwardly and intentionally sexy movie of 2022, about an open marriage with disastrous conclusions. Based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith, Deep Water tells the story of a husband who grows jealous of his wife’s extramarital affairs, even though they’ve agreed to the non-traditional arrangement. And when her old boyfriends start mysteriously turning up dead, she starts looking for clues.
A South Korean romantic comedy about workplace power dynamics, Jung Ji-woo enters a “play” contract with her male coworker after discovering his guilty secret: he’s into male-submissive BDSM. Intrigued, she becomes his “master” and bosses him around the office until real feelings surprise them both.
One of the breakout films of this year’s SXSW showcase, X is a rural-set Texas horror about the ’70s porn industry. Shooting a porno-flick called The Farmer’s Daughter, the actors soon find themselves starring in something more akin to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The small-budget indie film, starring Mia Goth and Kid Cudi, pays homage to classic, sexy slasher films while remaining audaciously erotic.
Superhero movies are not usually known for being sexy, but if anyone can do it right it’s the Bat and the Cat. Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz, with their skin-tight costumes and heavy smeared makeup, exude sexual tension as the best on-screen Batman/Catwoman pairing since Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Keaton.
A British romantic period piece set after World War I, Mothering Sunday tells the story of Jane Fairchild, an orphaned maid who enjoys walking through the estate’s library completely nude and running her fingers over their massive book collection. The sex scenes are not only intimate, but intricately choreographed.
Josh Rosenberg
Josh Rosenberg is an entertainment writer living in Brooklyn, keeping a steady diet of one movie a day; his past work can be found at CBR, Spin, Insider, and on his personal blog at Roseandblog.com.
