Wild Things

No one does sweat quite like the state of Florida. Reveling in beautiful trash like a dog in heat, Wild Things drags us through a steamy swamp of money, murder, lust, and revenge when two high school students’ sexual assault accusation against their guidance counselor sets off a chain reaction of expertly crafted plot twists. Roger Ebert described the film as a “three-way collision between a softcore sex film, a soap opera, and a B-grade noir,” no doubt referring to the infamous motel pool scene that triggered a taboo tidal wave of teen sexual awakening. More than just playing on viewers’ darkest fantasies, Wild Things is also a nasty little commentary on class and privilege that still very much applies to an America fixated on violence and power.