Verhoeven (1992-1995)

1992 - Basic Instinct - Verhoeven channels Hitchcock through his own, particular filter of violence and wild sex. As in Flesh + Blood, Verhoeven presents us with characters who are flawed and gray-shaded. Sharon Stone does a damned fine job as Catherine and appears to lose herself in the roll. The thrice-repeated jumps at the end, where Catherine looks as though she's going to stab Nick, threatened to take the film into bad horror movie territory. For the most part, a well-constructed and satisfying movie.

1995 - Showgirls - Very nearly, but not quite, in the "so bad it's good" category. Chop out 30 minutes of the movie so that it's an easy-to-digest 90 minutes long and this would be gold on the midnight movie circuit. Despite it's Razzie-winning reputation, I had fun with this film. I enjoyed the campiness, the bright colors, the bizarre lines ("At least people aren't cumming on you anymore."), the cat fighting and the strange fascination with fingernails and potato chips. Hell, even the 5.1 mix sounded great for songs.

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