Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct

USA | 1992 | 127 min. | Paul Verhoeven

September 19, 2022

A violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.


Related Event | SIFF Film Talks

Paul Verhoeven: Kinky Murder

Explore the sensational and sometimes controversial films of Verhoven’s oeuvre, Total Recall (1990) and Basic Instinct (1992).

September 21, 2022 @ SIFF Film Center & Zoom Webinar


In one of Verhoeven's most provacative films, Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) becomes ensnared in a web of sex, lies, and violence, all leading back to Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a seductive, mysterious crime novelist. As the bodies pile up and hidden obsessions are revealed, Curran begins to doubt his investigatory instincts and give in to his baser ones.

  • Director: Paul Verhoeven
  • Principal Cast: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza
  • Country: USA
  • Year: 1992
  • Running Time: 127 min.
  • Producer: Alan Marshall
  • Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas
  • Cinematographers: Jan de Bont
  • Music: Jerry Goldsmith
  • US Distributor: Rialto Pictures