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Listen, there’s no shame in seeking out a sexy movie—really, they’re having a bit of a comeback. This year alone, the likes of Wuthering Heights, The Invite, and I Want Your Sex are part of the revival of erotic thrillers, dramas, and comedies that we’ve seen over the past few years.
Fortunately, you don’t have to trek to the cinema to see some of the best ones: Through Prime Video and some of the brilliant add-ons you can find such as HBO Max, Paramount+, and Apple TV, you can truly find all kinds. Whether it’s an erotic thriller, or just a straight-up raunchy comedy you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered. Here’s our pick of the 20 sexiest movies you can stream on Prime Video right now.
Saltburn (2023)
Emerald Fennell’s steamy The Talented Mr. Ripley–esque thriller, Saltburn, follows a young student at Oxford University who becomes infatuated (read: dangerously obsessed) with one of his aristocratic classmates, who invites him to his family’s grand estate. It’s a darkly funny and wildly intense ride.
Stranger by the Lake (2013)
L’inconnu du lac (known as Stranger by the Lake) is one of the most acclaimed erotic thrillers of the 21st century, picking up Best Director and the Queer Palm awards in the year it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In Stranger by the Lake, Franck, a man in his 30s, meets Michel by a lake where gay men often bathe and immediately falls for him. What he doesn’t know, however, is that Michel is a psychopathic murderer. Stranger by the Lake is as smart as it is sexy, and it will truly keep you on your toes.
Secretary (2002)
Who said rom-coms can’t be sexy too? Secretary charts the dominant-submissive relationship that blossoms between a lawyer and his secretary. It’s certainly on the crazier side and may not be for everyone, but Secretary is a brilliantly acted film that feels quite far ahead of its time for such a mainstream movie in its original take on a romantic BDSM relationship.
Carol (2015)
Carol does something a little different: It’s a slow-burning romance with sensuality bubbling beneath the surface. It follows a department-store worker and aspiring photographer whose life takes an unexpected turn when she falls in love with a mysterious, beautiful older woman going through a difficult divorce. Todd Haynes’s Oscar-nominated period romance is a masterpiece of modern queer cinema, with career-defining performances from Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. Hugely romantic and remarkably executed, Carol is a special film that’ll certainly stick with you.
Sirens (1994)
Alongside Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sirens was one of the films that brought generational British heartthrob Hugh Grant to American audiences. Grant plays a progressive reverend who, with his wife, pays a visit to an eccentric artist whose work is viewed as blasphemous. His wife soon finds herself drawn to the three models working with the painter, and what ensues is a clever breakdown of 1930s sexual repression.
Weekend (2011)
Everyone loves a meet-cute, and Weekend’s is as brilliant as they come. Russell thinks he’s signed up for a one-night stand with Glen, a man he meets in a club, but over the course of a single weekend, a deeper relationship quickly grows between the two. Touching, oddly realistic, and distinctly British in its sense of humor, Weekend is sexy, funny, and grounded in a way that few romantic comedy-dramas manage.
Eternity (2025)
In Eternity, Elizabeth Olsen plays a woman who, upon reaching the afterlife, is forced to choose between two people to spend eternity with: her first husband, who died young, and her second husband of 65 years. Eternity is infectiously sweet, a little sexy, and an essential modern comedy.
Bones and All (2022)
It might be a stretch to call this one “sexy,” per se, but you won’t find a romantic drama quite like this one—and you definitely won’t find one that’s more intense. Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All is a road-trip drama that follows a young woman who develops feelings for a disillusioned young drifter on a 3,000-mile journey across America. Oh, and they’re both cannibals.
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Wong Kar-wai’s romantic masterpiece proves that a film can be truly romantic, sensual, and intense while still holding solidly on to a PG rating. In the Mood for Love follows a man and a woman who discover that their spouses are having an affair with one another, but as they bond, they begin to develop their own connection. This is one for the yearners.
Wuthering Heights (2026)
Love her or hate her, Emerald Fennell can make a steamy movie. Wuthering Heights is a little more of a reimagining than an adaptation, taking quite a few liberties with the text, but it puts the romantic and sexual dynamics right at the forefront of the story. And there’s no beating Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as the leads.
Caligula (1979)
Sexy films are by no means a new phenomenon, and Caligula is one of the originals. Though the original was pretty poorly received, the film recently received a restoration and rerelease that reconstructed the film entirely from footage that didn’t make the final cut.
Challengers (2024)
Love triangles don’t get much more complicated than this, and sports dramas don’t get much sexier. Challengers follows two friends who fall in love with the same young tennis prodigy and the complicated chaos that ensues when their relationships get messy. Tennis has never looked so thrilling.
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Set in the dreamy Italian countryside, Call Me by Your Name remains the film that introduced Timothée Chalamet to the masses as a future leading man (and got him his first Oscar nomination). Here he plays a teenager who falls in love with his father’s assistant and comes to terms with his sexuality. The film is sad, symbolic, and deeply romantic.
Ghost (1990)
The legendary leading duo of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore speaks for itself. Ghost is maybe a little more on the sentimental side than some of the other “sexy films” in Prime Video’s lineup, but it’s a deeply moving one worth your time.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire was an immediate hit with critics and audiences when it was released in 2019. The film follows an artist commissioned to paint an aristocratic heiress, but things become more complicated when the two fall in love. Romantic films don’t get more French than this one, which is also loosely based on the timeless tale of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Babygirl (2024)
Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson are an absolutely electrifying onscreen pair in this erotic thriller that sees a CEO begin an affair with her power-hungry intern, putting the stability of her family life and career on the line. Kidman picked up the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her role, and it’s been called one of her most ambitious performances to date.
Before Sunrise (1995)
Can anything capture your heart like a meet-cute romance? American traveler Jesse and French student Céline unceremoniously meet on a train from Budapest to Vienna, deciding on a whim to spend his last hours on the continent together. It’s the first in Richard Linklater’s acclaimed Before trilogy, and it sets you up for a brilliant slow burn.
Pillion (2025)
If a Skarsgård signed up for it, I’m interested. He’s about to play a love interest made out of wicker, but last year Alexander Skarsgård played the mysteriously sexy biker-gang leader Ray in Pillion. The romantic black comedy tells the story of a shy man who begins a dominant-submissive relationship with the aforementioned biker, and it traces his personal growth as he navigates their dynamic. Pillion is sexy, crazy, and downright hilarious. It’s British black comedy at its finest.
Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)
Starring the king of crazy, surprisingly sexy indie movies, James Spader himself, Sex, Lies and Videotape is a true cult classic. The film revolves around a married couple with intimacy problems whose lives are changed when a mysterious drifter with a peculiar interest comes to stay with them.
Crash (1996)
David Cronenberg’s notorious erotic thriller is perhaps the most transgressive entry on this list, following a group of people who become sexually fixated on car crashes. Adapted from J.G. Ballard’s novel and starring James Spader, Holly Hunter, and Deborah Kara Unger, Crash is disturbing, provocative, and about as daring as erotic cinema gets.
