Whither the erotic thriller? In the wake of the awful B.O. performance of 'Basic Instinct 2', THR ponders why Americans will no longer flock to the multiplexes to see such fare as they did in the halcyon days of, uh, the original 'Basic Instinct.' And I'm sure there are other examples too. Genre icon Paul Verhoeven blames it on the Bush administration:

"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," he said. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."

Funny, last I checked the porn industry was thriving. Meanwhile, 'Fatal Attraction' uncredited re-writer Nicholas Meyer chimes in and compares himself and his comrades in semi-titillation to the Hollywood blacklist crowd:

"We're in a big puritanical mode," he said. "Now, it's like the McCarthy era, except it's not 'Are you a communist?' but 'Have you ever put sex in a movie?' "

The noise you just heard was Paddy Chayevsky rolling over in his grave...