Basic Instinct

A former rockstar Johnny Boz is brutally killed during sex , and the case is assigned to the Detective Nick Curran of the SFPD . During the investigation , Nick meets Catherine Tramell , a crime novelist who was Boz's girlfriend when he died . Catherine proves to be a very clever and manipulative woman , and though Nick is more or less convinced that she murdered Boz , he is unable to find any evidence . Later , when Nilsen , Nick's rival in the police is killed , Nick suspects of Catherine's involvement in it . He then starts to play a dangerous lust-filled mind game with Catherine to nail her , but as their relationship progresses , the body count rises and contradicting evidences force Nick to start questioning his own suspicions about Catherine's guilt .
Written by Soumitra




Former rock star and San Francisco nightclub owner Johnny Boz is found murdered in his bed. Detective Nick Curran is assigned to the case; he has a history of alcoholism and drug abuse although he is clean now. The prime suspect is Catherine Tramell, an attractive and manipulative novelist who had been seeing Boz for a while. Police psychiatrist Beth Gardner (who happens to be Nick's ex-girlfriend) is brought in on the case when it is discovered that Boz's murder was copied directly from one of Catherine's novels. Nick starts to get too involved and everyone seems to be a suspect.
Written by Col Needham {col@imdb.com}




Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is in charge of the brutal murder of a rock star, who has been killed using an ice pick. All the evidence points to a beautiful woman, Catherine (Sharon Stone), as the main suspect of the crime. Catherine is a psychologist and she's written one crime novel, a story in which a similar crime is described. Curran goes to Catherine's house to interrogate her about the victim and what happened that night. Apparently, Catherine was a formal lover of the musician and she even spent that night with him, but she claims haven't killed him. Nick feels attracted immediately to Catherine, but she's a quite intelligent woman who manages to avoid his questions cleverly, using her physical attributes and seductive personality. Catherine has a romantic relationship with another woman, but that won't be an obstacle for Nick, who everyday seems to be much more interested in her. But Nick's been checked by a psychologist, Breth (Jeanne Tripplehorn), who was his girlfriend in the past, because the detective had an alcohol problem. But the sexual attraction that Nick feels for Catherine, seems to provoke the problem reappears again. Nick becomes Catherine's lover, fact that threatens to hindered the investigation and puts in danger his life, discovering a wild sexuality never experimented before. Nick's convinced that Catherine is innocent, but maybe love and sex are blinding him in his way of unfolding the truth.
Written by Alejandro Frias




SYNOPSIS

Down-and-out detective Nick Curran, who is involved in a turbulent relationship with Beth Garner, a psychiatrist working for the San Francisco Police Department. Curran is investigating the case of the murder of the wealthy, former rock star, Johnny Boz who was brutally stabbed to death with an ice pick while having sex with a blonde woman. The only lead they have is Catherine Tramell, a successful and extremly wealthy crime writer last seen with Boz the night he died. Curran and fellow detective, Gus Moran (George travel to Tramell's Pacific Heights mansion, but they find only Roxy, Tramell's lesbian lover, is home. Roxy tells them Tramell is at her Stinson Beach beach house, and mentions that "she didn't do it, kill Johnny Boz". Curran and Moran go to the beach house to question Tramell, and find her on a deckchair by the ocean. The two policemen introduce themselves, and Tramell says to Curran "I know who you are". They ask her questions about her relationship with Boz, and, after specifying that they didn't date ("I wasn't dating him, I was fucking him") she shows very little remorse at hearing he is dead, rather displaying sadness over missing their sexual encounters than his presence.

Both Morran and Gus, along with their superiors, suspect Catherine is responsible for the murder of Boz when they discover that she has written a novel about a former rock star who was killed in the exact same way - tied to the bed with a white scarf and murdered with an ice-pick. After another confrontation with the detectives, Tramell agrees to go to police headquarters to be interviewed about the murder. During this interview, in the famous scene, she uncrosses her legs, revealing she is not wearing any underwear and exposing her genitalia, bringing discomfort and shock to the interrogators in the room, especially Curran, whom she continuously addresses by his first name, Nick. Later that night, Curran goes to a bar with several of his co-workers, and gets into a heated argument with Officer Nielsen, an Internal Affairs officer who has been a major source of problems for Nick throughout his career. Beth Garner then arrives, and she and Nick leave together. After they arrive at Beth's apartment, the two engage in extremly violent sex. Afterwards Nick decides to start smoking again, Beth tells him where some cigarettes are before curtly and angrily telling Nick to leave her apartment. In another suspicious development, Curran learns that Tramell's parents were both killed in an explosion on their boat when Tramell was an adolescent. Curran also learns that Tramell makes a habit out of befriending vicious murderers such as a woman who stabbed her husband and children to death. Curran finds out during a visit to Tramell's house that she knows things about him that are confidential. When Curran confronts Garner about this (the only person with access to that private information), she reluctantly tells Curran that, because Nielsen perceived Garner to be biased towards Curran, she gave Nielsen his file in order for Nielsen and other IA investigators to evaluate Curran directly (IA was seriously considering discharging Curran from the police force). Because of this, Curran assaults Nielsen in his office, accusing him of having sold his psychological profile to Tramell. Nielsen screams back "You're through!".

Later, Officer Nielsen is found in his car with a single gunshot from a .38 to the head, and Curran is perceived by many to be the prime suspect, due to their recent altercation. A torrid sexual affair then begins between Curran and Tramell, with an initial air of a cat-and-mouse game. Roxy, Catherine's lover attempts to kill Nick by running him over with Catherine's car but she ends up being killed herself. Curran, though on leave, continues to investigate on his own and discovers several facts which make Tramell seem more and more like the killer. However, he also uncovers facts about Dr. Garner which slowly throw suspicion on her. For instance, it turns out that Tramell and Garner had an affair while in college and each accuses the other of being obsessed with her. In addition, Curran learns that a psychology professor was murdered with an ice pick while both of the women were attending college and majoring in psychology. Curran's partner is lured to a building and murdered in the same way described in Tramell's new book. Curran, who was left waiting in the car, figures out there is trouble brewing but arrives too late to help his partner. However, Curran finds Beth at the scene and believing she murdered his partner and is going to shoot him, he shoots and kills her. It turns out she had only her keys in her hand and as she dies, she tells Curran she loves him. However, a subsequent examination of Beth's apartment supplies the incriminating evidence needed to brand her as the killer of both Boz and Gus (a .38 revolver, photos of the victims and of Tramell, an icepick, etc.). In the final scene of the film, Tramell and Curran make love, and afterwards when Nick's back is turned to her, Catherine slowly reaches under the bed. However, she then changes her mind and decides to instead make passionate love to Nick again. As the camera slowly pans down to show the underside of the bed, an ice-pick can be clearly seen lying on the floor.