8 Movies Like Addicted
This 2014 high-octane erotic thriller is, without a doubt, a contemporary classic. Addicted introduced a contemporary audience to the world of the erotic thriller, a genre that, while effective, had a lot more traction in the last century. This is a movie where the main character, a beautiful wife in a flourishing career, starts to find her personal and professional life falling apart as she slowly loses control after an unexpected fling.
If you and your friends loved the thrills of Addicted, you probably want other similar movies to ride that wave.
This article will walk you through some of the best movies like Addicted that we’ve found on the BOB App. Check out some of these for your next movie night.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Basic instinct takes everything you love about Addicted and puts it in the setting of a neo-noir crime thriller.
The plot revolves around the death of a famous rockstar which allows the film to explore themes such as addiction, thrills, and desire. Michael Douglas plays a detective investigating the death, who finds himself entangled in a love affair with one of the suspects, an intense and mysterious woman famously played by Sharon Stone. This movie explores the darker, violent side of human nature and has a famous ‘is she, isn’t she guilty’ finish. As well as taking the term ‘cross examination’ to a whole new level.
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut is a classic in the erotic thriller genre. It was made by legendary director Stanley Kubrick (who also created one of our art house movies that shook film culture) so don’t expect something as straightforward as Addicted.
The film features a young couple exploring their sexual fantasies and realising that the strongest ones aren’t about each other. It’s a stunning and frank look at the world of desire, similar to Addicted.
However, unlike Addicted, Eyes Wide Shut blurs the line between reality and fantasy, leading to an ambiguous ending. Directed by a master of his craft, if you’re looking to challenge yourself on your next movie night, we highly recommend going for this classic.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Nymphomaniac (2014)
Nymphomaniac drops the erotic thriller aspect of Addicted and focuses on a sometimes-titillating, sometimes-tragic, ultimately empty account of carnal addiction.
One of the key elements of Addicted is the psychological aspect — many scenes even take place in the office of a psychologist. Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac is similar as it dives deep into the psychology of addiction. It explores the impacts it has on the brain and home/family life and asks questions about the root cause of addictions.
If you’re looking for a more high-brow look into the mind of addicts, Nymphomaniac is the movie for you.
Director: Lars Von Trier
Crash (1996)
Moving back into the world of the erotic thriller is David Cronenberg’s Crash, based on a novel by acclaimed British sci-fi legend J.G. Ballard. The thing that makes the Crash story unique is the focus of the addiction — the characters in the movie become addicted to and get a carnal thrill of watching car crashes.
If that sounds disturbing, frightening, and strangely insightful, Crash is the movie for you. It asks tough questions about our relationship to sexuality and technology in a world where both are becoming parts of our lives more and more.
Director: David Cronenberg
Black Swan (2011)
Black Swan weaves together a tale of the power struggles that exist in the world of dance with the thrill of untapped desires. In Black Swan, Nina a technically talented but sheltered ballerina, is auditioning for the dual role of Odette/Odile in a production of Swan Lake. Whilst she excels in the role of Odette (the white swan) she struggles to embody Odile (the black swan). She is pitted up against another dancer Lily who’s much more sloppy but has the dark magnetism the role of Odile requires.
The movie becomes extra thrilling when our protected ballerina protagonist begins feeling sexual urges towards her competition as her mind slowly unravels. This movie will have you wondering what’s real and what isn’t, all while exploring our desires and motivations.
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Dressed To Kill (1980)
Dressed to Kill is a bit problematic by contemporary standards. However, if you can strip yourself of your contemporary drama genre perspective and look at it from a purely technical standpoint, it’s one of the greatest erotic thrillers of all time.
This movie was made by Brian DePalma, the same master director who turned Carrie and Scarface into masterpieces of cinema. Dressed to kill is a unique look at a desire, and makes use of revolutionary film techniques — just take a look at the 10-minute tracking shot inside of a movie theatre.
Director: Brian De Palma
American Beauty (2000)
If you can get over the fact that Kevin Spacey is in it, American Beauty is the perfect companion piece to Addicted. While it takes a slightly lighter, more comedic, and fantastical tone throughout most of the movie, at its heart it’s still a movie about unhealthy obsessions.
What truly makes American Beauty shine is the way that it breaks apart the suburban dream. Stripping the small-town back to its most sexually repressive elements. We follow a middle-aged couple whose marriage is disintegrating. With Spacey’s character looking reclaim his youth through a friendship and physical attraction to an underaged girl next door youngster. Edgy and by today’s standards, definitely not PC.
Despite its crass and discomforting subject matter (and star), American Beauty delivers an insightful and poignant look at ageing and the human condition.
Director: Sam Mendes
Election (1999)
Election might seem like a strange pick for this list. The first 10 minutes of the movie make it seem like it’s going to be a screwball high school comedy.
However, as the screenplay progresses, it becomes apparent that Election has a lot to say. Though the stakes of the main plot of the movie are small — a high school president election — the obsessions, desires, and toxic behaviours of the main character, Mr McAlister, turn Election into a look at the lie of suburbia just as profound as American Beauty.
If you like Addicted not specifically for its addiction storyline, but for the way it showed how a person’s decisions can collapse their life. Furthermore how they can continue to make bad decisions even when they realise it’s going wrong, then Election is the perfect movie for you.
Director: Alexander Payne
Watch Movies Like Addicted
If you want to watch popular movies with drama and similar themes but without the Addicted cast, check out one of the films above from this genre. Some of them are classics, others are underrated, but they all capture an important aspect of the Addicted experience.
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