Winter is here, but the massive collection of sexually explicit movies on HBO Max is going to prevent things from getting too cold in the frigid months. Though the days of watching Real Sex and Cathouse: The Series with an HBO Max subscription are long gone, the popular streaming service is home to its fair share of racy movies.
If you’re in the mood for some of the most sexually explicit movies on HBO Max, you’ve come to the right place. From splashy, star-studded dramas to steamy erotic thrillers to some truly depraved additions to cinema, and so much more, there’s plenty to choose from.
One Battle After Another (2025)
The Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
The Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn
Based On: Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
What It’s About: Years after starting over, a washed-up former revolutionary is thrust back into a life of chaos when he learns that an old enemy is trying to capture and kill his teenage daughter.
What To Expect: Winner of four Golden Globes, Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic action-thriller is funny, dramatic, and sexy as all hell from start to finish. It’s honestly one of the craziest movies that’s come out this decade, which is saying something.
Moonlight (2016)
The Director: Barry Jenkins
The Cast: Trevante Rhodes, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris
What It’s About: Told over the course of three decades, a young man attempts to come to terms with the world around him and his own sexuality.
What To Expect: Famously part of the 2017 Oscars mishap where the wrong Best Picture winner was announced, Moonlight is an emotional, thought-provoking, and triumphant exploration of sexuality, identity, and humanity.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
The Director: Halina Reijn
The Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Pete Davidson
What It’s About: A group of friends get together for a hurricane party where they play an old murder-mystery game. When things take a turn during this drug-fuelled romp, the game becomes all too real.
What To Expect: With a cast of up-and-comers, an inventive take on the whodunit concept, and some outrageous party scenes, Bodies Bodies Bodies will leave you guessing what’s coming next while having the time of your life.
Ex Machina (2015)
The Director: Alex Garland
The Cast: Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson
What It’s About: A web developer gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is invited to spend a weekend at his CEO’s remote estate and administer a Turing test to his latest creation, a hyper-intelligent robot.
What To Expect: Ex Machina is one of the unique, unsettling, and exhilarating sci-fi movies that’ve come out in the 21st century. With a mystery that becomes more entrancing as it unfolds, dynamic performances by its cast, and some oddly sexy moments, there’s a lot to unpack.
The Devil’s Rejects (2005)
The Director: Rob Zombie
The Cast: Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie
What It’s About: On the run from a vengeful sheriff and his large posse, a family of sadistic killers goes on the run. Keeping a low-profile isn’t in the cards, as this murderous bunch continues killing folks in sickening ways at every turn.
What To Expect: Much like A House of 1,000 Corpses, this 2005 sequel is full of violence, cussing, and more nudity than we know what to do with. It’s sickening (I watched multiple people leave a screening when I saw it years ago), depraved, and completely over-the-top.
Atomic Blonde (2017)
The Director: David Leitch
The Cast: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman
Based On: The Coldest City by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart
What It’s About: Just as the Berlin Wall is about to fall, a spy is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of covert agents before it’s too late.
What To Expect: One of the best action movies of the past decade, Atomic Blonde is full of big set pieces, twists, turns, more shootouts, and a whole lot of sex appeal.
Girls Trip (2017)
The Director: Malcolm D. Lee
The Cast: Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish
What It’s About: Years after their once-tight friendship began to fall apart, four women travel to New Orleans to attend a music festival where anything and everything can happen.
What To Expect: An over-the-top comedy set in the “Big Easy,” this one was bound to be off the rails. Girls Trip doesn’t hold back in any capacity, making it one of the wildest comedies in some time.
Wedding Crashers (2005)
The Director: David Dobkin
The Cast: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Bradley Cooper
What It’s About: Two bachelors specializing in crashing weddings find themselves in quite a situation after one of them falls in love with the daughter of a high-ranking government official.
What To Expect: Released at the height of the “Frat Pack” era of Hollywood, Wedding Crashers is a rude, crude, and utterly hilarious comedy about two serial bachelors who push things too far.
Shame (2011)
The Director: Steve McQueen
The Cast: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Bade Sullivan
What It’s About: After keeping up the facade of normalcy for years, a sex addict begins to lose touch with the world after being forced to confront his demons and identity.
What To Expect: Steve McQueen’s Shame is one of the most unflinching and gruelling movies about addiction ever made. Michael Fassbender, in a career-defining performance, shows just how far one man will go on his lustful fall from grace. It won’t take long to see why this was given an NC-17 rating.
Enemy (2013)
The Director: Denis Villeneuve
The Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Isabella Rossellini
Based on: The Double by José Saramago
What It’s About: A disinterested and disassociated college professor finds his life turned upside down after learning he has an identical twin who couldn’t be any more different.
What To Expect: One of Denis Villeneuve’s best movies, Enemy is an intense, frightening, and exhilarating exploration of identity. Like its characters, this 2013 drama will push the audience to its breaking point.
The Lighthouse (2019)
The Director: Robert Eggers
The Cast: Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Valeriia Karaman
What It’s About: Two lighthouse keepers in 19th-century New England begin to lose their patience with one another after becoming stranded on an island during a seemingly never-ending storm.
What To Expect: Like most of Robert Eggers’ movies, The Lighthouse is an experience like no other, one that continues to confound audiences six years after its release.
Eating Raoul (1982)
The Director: Paul Bartel
The Cast: Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, Robert Beltran
What It’s About: In an attempt to raise money to make their dream of owning a restaurant come true, a married couple starts robbing and killing members of a wealthy swingers club.
What To Expect: Eating Raoul is a sinister film about people taking extreme lengths to get what they want, but it’s also an incredibly funny, albeit dark, character study that pushes things a little too far.
The Substance (2024)
The Director: Coralie Fargeat
The Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid
What It’s About: After being fired from her aerobics show (by her disgusting monster of a boss), an aging actress turns to a revolutionary service to be younger, fitter, and more appealing to the masses. But there are some drawbacks…
What To Expect: Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance is not only one of the best body horror movies in recent memory, but it’s also a biting critique of modern society.
Multiple Maniacs (1970)
The Director: John Waters
The Cast: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Pearce
What It’s About: A traveling freak show known as The Cavalcade of Perversion travels from town to town robbing and later killing its patrons before things really get out of hand. We mean severely out of hand.
What To Expect: Those familiar with John Waters’ body of work know what they’re getting into here. However, those decent folks out there should note that Multiple Maniacs is a sick and depraved comedy that really has to be seen to be believed.
Emmanuelle (2024)
The Director: Audrey Diwan
The Cast: Noemie Merlant, Will Sharpe, Naomi Watts
Based On: Emmanuelle by Emanuelle Arsan
What It’s About: After being sent to evaluate a luxury hotel in Hong Kong, a woman finds herself on a journey of self-discovery, sensuality, and pleasure through a series of sexual encounters.
What To Expect: If you’ve come looking for a movie that explores eroticism, sensuality, and matters of the heart in exotic locations, this is it.
There Is No ‘I’ In Threesome (2021)
The Director: Jan Oliver Lucas
What It’s About: A documentarian and his fiancée attempt to have an open relationship, but things don’t go according to plan.
What To Expect: There is No “I” in Threesome is at times a hilarious documentary about a couple attempting to step out of their comfort zones, but also an emotional exploration of jealousy, bitterness, and heartbreak. It’s not for the weak of heart.
Sinners (2025)
The Director: Ryan Coogler
The Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell
What It’s About: Returning home from Chicago, a pair of twins opens a juke joint in the Mississippi Delta, only to have their opening night crashed by a vicious vampire and his followers.
What To Expect: Easily one of the best horror movies of the year, Sinners is an achievement in filmmaking.
Mickey 17 (2025)
The Director: Bong Joon Ho
The Cast: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun
Based On: Edward Ashton’s Mickey7
What It’s About: In an attempt to escape a ruthless loan shark on Earth, a man joins the crew of a spaceship headed to a colony deep in space. However, in his haste, the man fails to realize that he has signed up to be an “expendable,” a worker cloned every time he is killed (which happens often).
What To Expect: As is the case with many of Bong Joon Ho’s movies, Mickey 17 is clever, it’s humorous, and it’s bleak as all hell.
Fallen Angels (1995)
The Director: Wong Kar-wai
The Cast: Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, Takeshi Kaneshiro
What It’s About: Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels contains two intertwined storylines: one follows a reluctant hitman wishing to leave his life of crime behind as he gets caught between two lovers, and a second about a man on the run from police in Hong Kong.
What To Expect: Featuring some of the most iconic shots of ‘90s Hong Kong cinema, a gripping narrative filled with complex characters and devastating decisions, and some steamy romance, this is one enchanting crime saga.
Stream Fallen Angels on HBO Max.
Parthenope (2025)
The Director: Paolo Sorrentino
The Cast: Celeste Dalla Porta, Stefania Sandrelli, Gary Oldman
What It’s About: Told through a series of vignettes, Parthenope tells the story of an Italian woman whose hunger for knowledge, experiences, and life in general takes her to wild and unimaginable places.
What To Expect: Centering on a beautiful and charismatic woman (played by Celeste Dalla Porta), Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope is an exploration of love, loss, lust, and self-discovery.
The Brutalist (2024)
The Director: Brady Corbet
The Cast: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce
What It’s About: A holocaust survivor and world-renowned architect immigrates to the United States after World War II in search of the American Dream, kicking off an ambitious, decades-long project in the process.
What To Expect: Though you won’t see The Brutalist’s 15-minute intermission on HBO Max, nothing else has been cut from Brady Corbet’s Oscar-winning epic. The agony and ecstasy of art, the deconstruction of the American Dream, and some intense sex scenes are found throughout this three-hour drama.
Babygirl (2024)
The Director: Halina Reijn
The Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde
What It’s About: A successful CEO (played by Nicole Kidman) finds her life at the office and at her home becomes increasingly more complicated after starting an affair with a much younger intern (played by Harris Dickinson)
What To Expect: A movie that took the world by storm, Babygirl isn’t for the faint of heart. With its fair share of sexually explicit moments throughout and electric chemistry between the leads, this risque drama is worth watching.
Queer (2024)
The Director: Luca Guadagnino
The Cast: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman
Based On: William S. Burroughs’ Queer
What It’s About: An American expatriate (played by Daniel Craig) spends his days wasting away in the sun and his nights looking for young lovers in Mexico City until he meets and falls for a young American GI (played by Drew Starkey).
What To Expect: Considering this is a Luca Guadagnino movie based on a William S. Burroughs novella, it takes no stretch of the imagination to see Queer as an intense, unrelenting, and unforgettable tale of love, loss, and lust.
A Different Man (2024)
The Director: Aaron Schimberg
The Cast: Adam Pearson, Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve
What It’s About: An actor (played by Sebastian Stan) with neurofibromatosis and crippling social anxiety undergoes a revolutionary procedure to change his appearance, only to discover that it doesn’t fix everything he doesn’t like about himself.
What To Expect: Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man is a bizarre, heartfelt, and unforgettable dark comedy about identity, image, and self-esteem in society. With a great story and outstanding performances (Adam Pearson and Sebastian Stan in particular), the movie has a truly graphic sex scene.
We Live In Time (2024)
The Director: John Crowley
The Cast: Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield
What It’s About: Presented in a non-linear narrative format, John Crowley’s We Live in Time tells the story of a young couple as they meet, fall in love, have a kid, and then come to terms with a serious illness that could upend everything they’ve built.
What To Expect: Though a movie about illness and loss, We Live in Time is very much a story of romance and passion.
Belle De Jour (1967)
The Director: Luis Buñuel
The Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Pierre Clementi
What It’s About: Growing bored with life at home, the wife of a wealthy doctor decides to take a new path in life by spending her afternoons as a call girl at a Paris brothel.
What To Expect: Combining elements of surrealist erotica and psychological drama, Luis Buñuel’s 1967 film, Belle de Jour, is a cool and moody French film that explores everything from existential crises to sexual awakenings and finding meaning in a mad world.
Demonlover (2002)
The Director: Olivier Assayas
The Cast: Connie Nielsen, Chloe Sevigny, Gina Gershon
What It’s About: An ambitious and cutthroat media executive goes to great lengths to acquire a Japanese animation house to give her company the upper hand.
What To Expect: Probably one of the most notorious examples of the New French Extremity movement, Demonlover combines elements of erotic thrillers with corporate espionage.
Working Girls (1986)
The Director: Lizzie Borden
The Cast: Louise Smith, Amanda Goodwin, Marusia Zach
What It’s About: A day in the lives of a group of sex workers as they are visited by multiple clients at a New York City brothel in a single day.
What To Expect: The movie is full of nudity, sex scenes, and all kinds of risque behavior that push the envelope and the boundaries as to what’s acceptable on the big screen.
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down (1990)
The Director: Pedro Almodóvar
The Cast: Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril, Loles León
What It’s About: A recently released psychiatric patient tries to find a former adult film star and convince her to fall in love with him, though how he goes about this is far from romantic.
What To Expect: One of Antonio Banderas’ best movies, Tie Me Up!, Tie Me Down! leaves little to the imagination and displays exactly why the MPAA initially gave it an X rating.
Gia (1998)
The Director: Michael Cristofer
The Cast: Angelina Jolie, Elizabeth Mitchell, Faye Dunaway
What It’s About: The life and times of supermodel Gia Carangi (Jolie) are explored in great detail, as are her various romantic relationships.
What To Expect: The biographical drama doesn’t hold back when it comes to the depictions of the model’s personal struggles, and can be too much for some viewers. Nothing is left on the table…
Behind The Candelabra (2013)
The Director: Steven Soderbergh
The Cast: Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Rob Lowe
What It’s About: An exploration of legendary Las Vegas pianist Liberace and his intense relationship with a lover in the final years of his life.
What To Expect: The 2013 HBO original movie, which doesn’t hold back on the excess that fueled Liberace’s life off-stage, as well as his attempts to preserve his public image, has more than a few explicit sex scenes.
With titles coming and going from the HBO Max library all the time, the lineup of sexually explicit movies will keep on changing. That said, make sure to check back next month for even more enticing films worth watching…
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