Top 10 Horror Movies Where Sex Plays a Leading Role

Andrzej Żuławski's psychological nightmare may be the ultimate film about destructive passion. When a man (Sam Neill) discovers his wife (Isabelle Adjani) is having an affair, he's dragged into a horrifying spiral of violence, hysteria and a mysterious, tentacled lover. Adjani's famous breakdown scene in a subway tunnel is pure horror, and the whole film feels like a hallucinatory fever dream full of sexual symbolism.

In this unique, oppressive horror film, sex literally becomes a deadly contagion. After a seemingly innocent encounter, Jay discovers she's being followed by an entity that will kill her unless she passes it on to someone else. It Follows cleverly uses sex as a metaphor for guilt, anxiety and the inevitability of death.

This stylish, erotic vampire film centers on a mysterious couple (Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie) who seduce young lovers and drain their life force. When Deneuve's character begins an affair with a young doctor (Susan Sarandon), things get complicated. With hypnotic imagery and a melancholic mood, it's one of the most elegant erotic horror films ever made.

David Cronenberg is known for his disturbing mix of sexuality and bodily transformation, and Crash is one of his boldest, most uncomfortable films. It follows a group of people who become sexually aroused by car accidents. It's not conventional horror, but its cold, clinical atmosphere and obsessive drives leave you deeply unsettled.

This remake of the 1942 classic follows a young woman (Nastassja Kinski) who discovers she belongs to an ancient race of panther people who transform when aroused. With intense erotic tension, gorgeous cinematography and David Bowie's iconic theme song, it's a mix of eroticism, horror and tragic romance.

Lars von Trier's film follows a sadistic serial killer (Matt Dillon) who blends violence and 'art'. It contains excessively gruesome murders, and von Trier's obsession with shocking his audience reaches a chilling low point in a film as fascinating as it is repulsive.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser introduced the sadomasochistic world of the Cenobites, beings who make no distinction between pain and pleasure. When a man opens a mysterious puzzle box, he's dragged into a dimension where pleasure and torture are inseparable, and his lover tries to bring him back by luring and sacrificing men. The ultimate film about the dark side of desire.

Claire Denis' French horror film is brutal, sensual and suffocatingly intense, following a woman whose desire turns into a deadly, cannibalistic hunger. Its mix of atmospheric arthouse cinematography, explicit violence and simmering erotic tension makes it a fascinating and uncomfortable watch.

Nicolas Winding Refn's hypnotic, visually stunning horror film is about the obsession with beauty and youth. Elle Fanning plays an aspiring model in Los Angeles whose innocence and beauty drive others to madness. It contains one of the most shocking scenes in modern horror, combining horror and sexuality in a way that's both aesthetically dazzling and nauseating.

Another David Cronenberg classic in which sex and horror are hard to separate. A TV producer discovers an illegal broadcast full of torture and sex that has a deadly effect on its viewers. With body horror, hallucinations and scenes where flesh and technology merge, Cronenberg asks what happens when we let ourselves be swept away by extreme images.