Flesh + Blood (1985)

Some things just naturally enhance one another like milk + cookies, tissues + hand lotion, and director Paul Verhoeven’s Flesh + Blood (1985). Not to be confused with the British shows Flesh and Blood (2002) and Flesh and Blood (2020) or the American drama Flesh and Blood (2017), this costume saga includes graphic depictions of brutal human selfishness coupled with explicit and extensive scenes of unbridled nudity. Long before Verhoeven gave the gape-jawed world Basic Instinct (1992) and Showgirls (1995), he had already mastered the mixture of mayhem and titillation, as displayed here to shudderingly satisfying effect. Set in 1501 Italy and following the exploits of a fierce leader of bloody mercenaries, the historical adventure brings to vivid life an era of carnality where violent sex and murder are as common as the nudity on nubile stunner Jennifer Jason Leigh. As Agnes, the virgin daughter of an aristocrat, the ingénue bares her breasts, bush and bum when she bathes with Rutger Hauer. In another scene, she proves she’s smoking hot when the full-frontal eyeful throws her clothes onto a fire! Otherwise known as God’s Own Butchers and The Rose and the Sword, the R rated flick also features Anne Lockhart, Blanca Marsillach, Kitty Courbois, Marina Saura, Susan Tyrrell, and Nancy Cartwright’s bare boobage! If that’s not arousing enough, Clara (Blanca Marsillach) reveals her rack and snatch while having a seizure in bed. Back then, the treatment meant being tied to the bedposts. No wonder there was always a doctor in the house!