Stay Warm this Winter with these HOT Movies

To my grandparents, please don't read this one – I promise, you won't understand.

So we've all seen Heated Rivalry.

And if not, we have heard about what the show is most famous for: the wild sex scenes that take up about 90% of the screen time! In fact one of the lead actors, Hudson Williams discussed on the Tonight Show that he spent most of his time filming "on all fours", if you know what I mean. From vampires, to hockey teams, to Euphoria High, sex sells. Living in the south, we currently have an emergency threat of a catastrophic snowstorm (as the record shows in the state, we don't handle that well, Buford Callaway). So, if you and your friends are snowed in and you all need something to heat up your afternoon, here are my recommendations for some hot and steamy scenes.

Don't Worry Darling

This is not a romance movie, let's be clear. And if I was I writing for The League back in 2022, you all, for certain, would've gotten an article breaking down the nuances of the Sundance Film Festival/Olivia Wilde/Harry Styles/Chris Pine controversy – maybe I should do a flashback report in honor of Kiss All The Time (Harry's New Album). But back to the topic at hand, the sexy stuff.

This film is a psychological thriller in which Harry Styles' character traps his wife Florence Pugh in a simulation world where they can live perfect lives. The most famous scene in the film is the dinner table scene:

Director Olivia Wilde shared with press:

"Female pleasure, the best versions of it that you see nowadays, are in queer films. In hetero sex scenes in film, the focus on men as the recipients of pleasure is almost ubiquitous... I want audiences to realize how rarely they see female hunger and specifically this type of female pleasure."

Anyway, I thought it was just swell. The perfect movie to watch if you're into a little mystery and thriller but also trying to spice up your day.

Bridgerton

Lord what I would do for a yearning British man with money.

Bridgerton is what I like to call 'the world's classiest p*rn.' The show, adapted from the book series, is a glossy Regency-era drama about London high society, where scandal, romance, and power collide as elite families navigate love and reputation under the watchful eye of an anonymous gossip columnist. If you are looking for deep romance and longing, this is the show for you. Every binge-worthy season features salacious scenes, BUT it's paired along with some of the most beautiful Victorian dialogue. Take a look at some of these excerpts and tell me your screen doesn't fog up:

"Do you think there is a corner of this Earth that you could travel to far away enough to free me from this torment? I am a gentleman. My father raised me to act with honour, but that honour is hanging by a thread that grows more precarious with every moment I spend in your presence. You are the bane of my existence. And the object of all my desires." - Anthony Bridgerton Season 2, EP 5

"From the mornings you ease, to the evenings you quiet, to the dreams you inhabit, my thoughts of you never end. It is you I cannot sacrifice I burn for you." - Simon and Daphne Season 1 EP 4

"These past few weeks have been full of confounding feelings– feelings like a total inability to stop thinking about you– about that kiss. Feelings like dreaming of you when I'm asleep and in fact preferring sleep because that is where I might find you. A feeling that is like torture. But one which I cannot, will not, do not want to give up." Collin Bridgerton Season 3, EP 4

Take a moment, wipe off your screens.

Usually each of these, keeping with the theme here, was followed by (please read in British accent) a deliciously scandalous scene, featuring one of the leading male's bare buttocks. It's a Netflix must-watch!

Dirty Dancing

An older classic with less full frontal nudity. This PG-13 classic from the 1980's was a true controversy of its time. Talk about TENSION, this is a great example of a movie that has no visible sex scenes and still delivers equivalent or even greater sexual tension than most modern TV shows that appeal more to our shock factor than true slow burn. If you are looking for something with romantic, spicy tension but don't want the fear of someone walking in on you, this is the throwback for you. Patrick Sweazy is a total heartthrob icon of the 80's – we all wanted him to teach us his moves!

I think what added to the tension of this movie, making it that much greater, was the fact that Patrick Swazey and his female co-star Jenifer Grey did not like each other much at all during production! So it was an underlying enemies-to-lovers story in actuality as well! That friction translated into something electric — a genuine push and pull that made their connection feel earned rather than manufactured. The result is a film that proves you don’t need explicit scenes to be undeniably sexy; sometimes, restraint, longing, and a little resistance create a far more memorable slow burn. Unlike the next films coming up on this list...

50 Shades of Grey

Couldn't have made this list without it. This is the film the put Dakota Johnson on the map for... a couple of reasons. If you're somebody who is into (Seriously Grandma stop reading) being tied up, whipped, chained to the bed, and having intimate relations with your millionaire boss in his dungeon, well do I have the film for you! This is most definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I know there are some of you out there that have already watched it one or two or ten times... this year. This movie is for my Booktok/Wattpad people whose roomates went home for the weekend. What was unique about this movie, as far as the industry goes, is it came from a female writer and director! It was one of the earliest films we've seen that heavily featured sexual exploration from the perspective of a woman.

So in layman's terms, it's a movie for the freaks, and you know what, who are we to judge!

After

You may have already seen some of this movie on TikTok; it follows a sheltered college student whose life and sense of self are upended when she falls into a volatile, all-consuming romance with a mysterious, emotionally damaged bad boy. This movie is no cinematic masterpiece, I'll tell ya that for free.

But that's not always what we want, is it?! As someone who's lived and breathed film since I was 9, I can tell you there is a time and place for moving films with emotional depth and symbolism, and then there are times for "please take your shirt off" films. They all have a place at my table.

The book After is actually, I couldn't make this up if I tried, a Harry Styles fan fiction. I'll bet those girls were excited about Don't Worry Darling. If you enjoy the innocent/shy vs experienced/troublemaker trope, you will love these. The good news is there's plenty to love! They've since come out with 5 After movies: After, After We Collided, After We Fell, After Ever Happy, and of course After Everything.

This film is somewhere in between 50 Shades and Dirty Dancing. There's lots of heavy make-out scenes, implied sex (ie clothes coming off, falling onto bed, waking up together), partial nudity (no full frontal), and verbal tension. Now, sex is a major plot point, as far as 'who screwed who and why.' It's a classic Y/A, teen drama with sneaky tension and a pretty stellar bathtub scene – from what I can recall. And like I said about Bridgerton, y'all know I'm a sucker for a British guy! This scratches a similar itch for someone that likes The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Vampire Diaries, or Riverdale... You'll love this!

Well, there you have it. I had too much fun writing this article. The lesson here is that sometimes the best cure for a cold day, a snowed-in afternoon, or an existential spiral is a little escapism, a lot of longing, and a reminder that movies don’t always have to be good to be fun — they just have to make you feel something.