Many academically minded types have written at great length and with fascinating eloquence on the connection between sex and death in horror movies. We’ll cut right to the chase, offering up some of the best and most potent examples of sexuality in the horror-movie genre.

But first, a disclaimer: These are horror movies, spanning decades, and, thus, don’t always, or often, offer up the healthiest representations of human sexuality. Whether it’s vampire eroticism or horny teen campers, sex in movies is complicated, and not always sex-positive, even as we’re being invited to be aroused.

Some of these movies have deep and complex, if often uncomfortable, things to say about the links between sex and death; others are pure titillation—movies that throw in some nude bodies and sweaty, writhing flesh in order to get more butts in seats. We’re not here to make a distinction between high-minded horniness and baser sexual impulses—if it’s sexy, it’s under consideration…

• Don’t Look Now (1973)
• Knife + Heart (2018)
• Mulholland Drive (2001)
• The Hunger (1983)
• Def by Temptation (1990)
• Species (1995)
• Society (1989)
• Cat People (1982)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
• Knock Knock (2015)
• Stranger by the Lake (2013)
• Daughters of Darkness (1971)
• Interview With the Vampire (1994)
• Titane (2021)
• Hatchet II (2010)
• Nadja (1994)
• Swallowed (2022)
• Thirst (2009)
• Possession (1981)
• An American Werewolf in London (1981)
• Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort (2014)