By Descriptive Video Service®, Live® Entertainment Inc., & Dan Hoy
(based on source material by Joe Eszterhas, Paul Verhoeven, & Canal+/Carolco/TriStar)
“Now a white horse gallops through a dawning blue sky, // its
mane fluttering in the wind. / It sprouts wings and soars up and over
a golden triangle / enclosing the words TRI STAR PICTURES.”
NOTE ON THE TEXT
Each poem that follows is drawn verbatim from a transcription of the Descriptive Video Service® (DVS) audio track of the 1997 original DVD release for Basic Instinct. Subsequent releases of Basic Instinct on DVD (in 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2007) omit the DVS functionality, which “makes this title accessible to blind and visually impaired audiences.” The poems’ titles correspond to those of the chapters listed on the inside flap of the DVD case (package and design © 1997 LIVE® Entertainment Inc.), and the poems’ images are screenshots corresponding to the chapter images of the scene-selection interface. The poems’ start and end points and sequence correspond to the digital markers on the DVD.
Click here to download Basic Instinct: Poems, uncut.
Catherine at Play (video recording)
Opening Credits
Now a white horse gallops through a dawning blue sky,
its mane fluttering in the wind.
It sprouts wings and soars up and over a golden triangle
enclosing the words TRI STAR PICTURES.
A point of blue neon light arcs back and forth
forming a letter C with five layers.
White light flares from the C
as the color fades to black-and-white: CAROLCO.
Against a black screen, sharply angled prisms appear
reflecting a moving image. Flashes
of a woman’s bare body rock and sway in the shards
of glass.
Titles appear.
More titles.
Nighttime.
Johnny Boz and the Ice Pick
A mirror looks down from a ceiling
onto an ornately decorated room.
Its reflection shows a naked couple making love
in bed.
Limbs entwined, they lie amid crumpled,
cream-colored sheets.
Our view tilts down to the bed
as the woman rolls on top of the man and
straddles him.
Her medium-length blonde hair is down,
obscuring her face.
She slides her fingers into his mouth.
He sucks them eagerly.
Forty-ish, he is handsome with a curly head of
salt-and-pepper hair.
The woman is slender with small breasts,
smooth skin, and a toned body.
She rides on top of him.
He grabs her hips and gently squeezes.
She lifts his hands and places them against the
wrought-iron headboard.
Then she tugs a white silk scarf out from the
pillow beneath his head.
Taking one end, she ties his right wrist
to the headboard, then his left.
As she leans over him, he kisses her nipple.
She sits back, thrusting her hips.
He winces in ecstasy and grits his teeth.
Rocking on top of him, she leans back
jutting her breasts, and slides her fingers across
the mattress.
She slips a sharp, gleaming ice pick out from
under the sheets
and jams it into his neck.
As she stabs him repeatedly
blood splatters everywhere, coating her arms
and breasts.
A Retired Rock ’n’ Roll Star
Daytime.
A brown sedan pulls up to a crowded sidewalk.
Two forty-ish men hop out.
One is jowly and beer-bellied,
the other slim and handsome.
Heading to a brownstone, they stride past
a policeman.
The two detectives step inside, climb a
carpeted staircase
into a hallway, and stop to glance at a Picasso
painting on the wall.
Several officers stroll past.
They enter the ornate bedroom.
A medical examiner grips a thermometer.
The handsome detective turns on a stereo.
A detective shines a laser scanner onto the
bloodstained bed
as the handsome detective looks through a pair
of red glasses.
A mirror lined with white powder.
The captain steps up to him.
Detective Nick Curran eyeballs him for
a moment.
The captain turns away.
Nick and the heavy-set Gus start down the stairs
passing the tall, fifty-ish captain.
The detectives walk away.
The gray-haired Lieutenant Walker
exchanges a glance with Captain Talcott—
The Facts
—As Nick approaches.
They enter Walker’s office.
Detective Harrigan.
Detective Andrews.
Talcott glares at him.
Nick takes a sip from a coffee mug.
A Devious Diabolical Mind
Daytime in a conference room.
He sits at the head of the table.
Gus holds out the book.
Now a heavy-set man storms into a corridor
followed by Gus, Walker, Talcott, and Nick.
Interrogation
—The heavy-set prosecutor approaches.
Everyone stops and stares at Nick.
With a half smile she glances at Nick
then takes a seat in the front of the dimly
lit room.
The men sit at tables facing her.
Catherine takes out a cigarette
and taps it on the top of her case.
The heavy-set Correli looks away.
Catherine lights the cigarette
then blows out a puff of smoke.
With her bare legs crossed, her short dress
is hiked up to the middle of her thighs.
Correli unconsciously licks his lips.
She leans forward with an eager smile.
Nick Curran glances up from his notepad.
Correli eyes him curiously.
With a saucy gaze, Catherine uncrosses
her thighs.
She briefly exposes her pubic hair
then recrosses her legs.
Nick’s gaze shifts from hers to Correli’s.
Sweating, the assistant DA purses his lips
and leans back into his chair.
Nick rises and heads to a coffeemaker.
She opens her cigarette case and slides out a
fresh one.
She sticks it into her mouth and grins slyly
at him.
He chuckles contemptuously.
Gus studies her, his arms crossed over his chest.
Later, the officers watch a television—
Friendly Little Therapist
Nick watches TV in his apartment.
He pours himself a drink.
Beth unlocks the door and steps inside.
She holds up a Bart Simpson key ring.
She stands firm.
He picks up her key ring.
He rips his key off the ring.
She lunges at Nick, slamming him against
the wall.
He throws her off.
She scrambles to a chair.
Nick starts to pace.
Beth takes an anxious swallow
and stares up at him, her tousled hair hanging in
her face.
His shoulders sag.
Nick gazes out a window, his arms crossed over
his chest.
She bows her head for a moment, then rises.
Later that night, Nick lies asleep on the couch.
A grisly horror movie plays on TV.
Nick groggily holds up his head.
His eyes clear gravely.
A Possible Wacko
—Zips up a duffle bag at his desk.
Gripping the bag, he takes a file folder over to Andrews.
He shuts his office door in Curran’s face.
An Old City Cowboy
Nighttime at a country-and-western bar.
As a band plays onstage, couples dance and
twirl on the crowded floor.
Stepping up to the bar, Nick taps a cowboy on
the shoulder.
It’s Gus, wearing a suede jacket and ten-
gallon hat.
Nick puts on Gus’s hat and holds his former
partner’s gaze.
Moments later, they pass a group of middle-
aged women
in the parking lot.
They head toward a diner.
A little later Nick watches Gus eat a bowl of chili.
Patrons in a nearby booth glare at them.
He sprinkles hot sauce into his bowl
then stirs it around.
Seated across from Gus, Nick gazes out
the window.
Gus jiggles his tongue at a glaring
woman nearby.
She rolls her eyes.
Nick stares pensively out the window.
Later the two men leave the diner.
Through a windshield in a car parked across
the street
we watch Gus take out a piece of gum
and stuff it into his mouth.
Gus drives off in his Cadillac.
With a toothpick clenched between his teeth—
No Luck with Women
Flames flicker in the nearby fireplace,
flinging shadows onto the walls and throwing an
orange glow.
Catherine kisses Nick,
then settles beside him with a contented smile.
She rests her head on his shoulder.
She looks into his eyes.
He searches her face.
Later, at a police station, Gus and a female officer—
College Experiments
Nick stands near a window.
She stops short.
He looks away, shaking his head slightly.
He heads out.
A Second Chance
—He walks up the staircase to his apartment.
Reaching for his keys, he discovers the door
is unlocked.
He finds Catherine with a large palm tree.
Catherine steps up behind him.
She fondles his ass.
Backing away, she slips off her blouse, revealing
her breasts.
Squeezing her breasts, he kisses her passionately.
Later, they sit nude in a window seat.
His legs are wrapped around her.
Minks and Rug Rats (excerpt)
The scene fades to black for a moment,
then comes back up.
Nick and Catherine continue to kiss.
He rolls on top of her.
We glide away from them
down Catherine’s side of the bed.
A silver-handled ice pick gleams on the floor.
Cut to black.
