Prime Video’s Binge-Worthy 8-Part Psychological Thriller Series Brings Back An Iconic ‘90s Trend

While Prime Video’s new number one show, 56 Days, proves that one iconic psychological thriller trend from the ‘90s has finally been revived, the series wasn’t the first show to try to bring back this format. Psychological thrillers come in many forms, from adaptations of hit novels to original stories that borrow from genre classics like Psycho.

Over the decades, the genre has transformed to include domestic thrillers like Gone Girl and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, and serial killer movies like The Silence of the Lambs and David Fincher’s psychological thriller masterpiece Se7en. However, like any genre, it has a few recurring trends that seem to rise and fall in popularity.

Although Prime Video’s 56 Days is a massive hit for the streaming service, the show’s success was far from a sure thing. Based on the novel of the same name by Irish author Catherine Ryan Howard, 56 Days centers on a young couple, Oliver and Ciara, who move in together shortly after their first meeting.

56 Days Is A Hit Erotic Thriller For Prime Video

56 days later, the police discover a badly decayed body in the bathtub of Oliver’s swanky apartment, and neither of the show’s main characters is around to explain this occurrence. Up until the twist ending of 56 Days, viewers are left to wonder whether the body belongs to Oliver, Ciara, or someone else.

The stage is set for a compelling psychological thriller as the show bounces between the police’s investigation in the present and Oliver and Ciara’s brief relationship in the past. In the source novel, the couple’s decision to move in together almost immediately after they meet is justified as the story takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic, so lockdowns force their hand.

In the show, this aspect of the plot is jettisoned, perhaps for fear of putting off viewers with reminders of that dark era in recent history. After shows like HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama Station Eleven inadvertently turned off viewers with their unexpectedly timely depictions of pandemics, this is hardly surprising. However, the series keeps another important element from the original book.

56 Days is unapologetically raunchy, with the show’s frequent and explicit sex scenes being central to both its plot and promos. Stars Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia are frequently seen getting down and dirty throughout the show, and their twisted romance’s role in the dark murder storyline calls to mind a ‘90s multiplex mainstay.

Erotic Thrillers Were Huge In The ‘90s (& Then They Died Out)

In terms of style, tone, and story, 56 Days is a traditional erotic thriller. Although this genre originally began to gain popularity in the ‘80s with hits like Fatal Attraction, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Jagged Edge, its true heyday came in the ‘90s.

That was when movies like Basic Instinct, Sliver, Wild Things, the Poison Ivy franchise, and Disclosure stuffed the cinemas. Viewers could not get enough of erotic thrillers during this decade, as these raunchy, often slightly silly stories explored shifting gendered power dynamics and sexual mores at a time of social and cultural upheaval.

Even more mature movies from acclaimed directors, like Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and David Cronenberg’s Crash, managed to get in on the psychosexual action. However, as swiftly as the popularity of this trend had blossomed, the erotic thriller died out at the turn of the millennium.

Critics have attributed the erotic thriller’s decline to various causes, although the ubiquity of at-home Internet access is often said to have played a role in the waning popularity of the genre. Whatever the cause, erotic thrillers died out by the early 2000s, with failures like Trois and Basic Instinct 2 signaling their declining relevance.

That is, until Prime Video’s 56 Days hit number one on the streaming service and proved that there is life in the sub-genre yet. Despite all the ink that has been spilled about Gen Z viewers and their ostensibly prudish viewing habits, 56 Days still became a breakout hit.

56 Days’ Success Finally Revives The Erotic Thriller After Years Of Failed Attempts

While 56 Days is the first unabashed erotic thriller to become a major mainstream success in years, it is far from the first show or movie to try this feat. Musician The Weeknd’s comically self-serious vanity project The Idol proved a critical catastrophe in 2023, with reviewers calling its many misguided sex scenes more unintentionally funny than arousing.

Meanwhile, 2023 saw Prime Video’s own movie The Voyeurs waste A-list star Sydney Sweeney on a misguided romp that was more convoluted than exciting. 2022’s Deep Water might have starred Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck and boasted the talents of Fatal Attraction director Adrian Lyne, but the movie was still dismissed as risible by critics.

Meanwhile, the one-season remakes of Fatal Attraction and American Gigolo proved that erotic thrillers didn’t fare any better as streaming shows, while the most successful sexually explicit TV shows, such as Bridgerton and Normal People, had no thriller elements. Thus, 56 Days marks a major comeback for this much-mocked sub-genre, which is finally wooing viewers for the first time since the ‘90s.