[Owen POV]
The "erotic thriller" era was one of Hollywood's strangest gold rushes — a mix of lust, danger, and bad decisions that somehow made a ton of money.
It really kicked off in the late '80s with Fatal Attraction. That movie scared the hell out of married men everywhere – the idea that a one-night stand could ruin your life.
It made over three hundred million dollars worldwide, and the studios looked at that and went, 'Ah. Sex sells. Especially when it ruins people.'
Then came Basic Instinct in '92, which turned it into an art form. Cold, stylish, European-feeling. Sharon Stone became an icon overnight after her private part was on screen for a split second.
After that, everyone wanted their own version of "sexy but dangerous."
By the mid-90s, it wasn't just big studios. Smaller companies were cranking them out for cheap. Poison Ivy, Body of Evidence, Sliver, Color of Night, Jade, Crash — all of them mixing skin with sin. It became a formula:
Budget under ten million. Steamy scenes. A murder mystery or some power game.
Some had a slight theater run to get the label for the DTV market — which was the true market for these movies. At this time, people still had shame and wouldn't go to the theater to watch them.
And the VHS cover always promised softcore porn but with a Hollywood star's face.
These were guilty pleasures. Trashy, addictive, and kind of honest about it. Everyone pretended not to watch them, but the rental numbers told a different story.
It worked because the 90s didn't have internet videos yet.
People were lonely. Repressed. Curious. They couldn't just type something into a search bar. They had to rent it, hide it, and hope the video store clerk didn't judge them.
So yeah. Ero-thrillers were the secret language of adult boredom. Lust mixed with guilt. Hollywood knew exactly how to sell that.
And then there's the other category: horror movies with nudity. Lake Placid, Species, The Crush, Deep Rising — all those B-level, sometimes-C-level thrillers that mix jump scares with sex appeal.
These weren't erotic thrillers in the classic sense. The plot didn't revolve around lust or manipulation.
The nudity was just… part of the formula to get audiences in the door. People came for the monster, the creature, the suspense — but the studios knew that adding a half-naked scene would sell tickets and rentals.
It's guilty pleasure again, but with a different flavor. Sin isn't psychological anymore. It's a little visual candy sprinkled over suspense, action, or horror.
The women might scream, run, and die, but there's a wink from the camera. The audience knows what they're watching. Thrills first, sex as seasoning.
ThunderCow, the distribution company I bought before I turned it into 4CLOVER, has a lot of movies like that in their library. Low budget horror movies.
"What's the story you want to make the sequel on?" Elena asked.
"I don't want to. I have to," I made it clear to her. I took out the VHS tape of the movie and showed it to her.
The poster featured a young girl looking terrified, a sheriff, and a lizardman glaring at them from behind.
"The Scaled One?" Elena was astonished.
"Lizardman is already copyrighted. They had to get creative with the naming," I explained.
Sandra, Michael, Agustin, and Gael were watching from a distance. Michael asked, "Owen, is that for movie night?"
"I have to watch it to see what it's about. You're welcome to join me," I replied.
We set up the courtyard projector and started the tape.
Immediately, everyone grimaced. The first scene had a college girl screaming with her breasts exposed while the lizardman mauled her boyfriend.
Classic B‑movie logic — sex, then death.
The girl was pretty, but she couldn't act for shit.
Then came the cult sequence. Stupidly drawn‑out and poorly lit. Everything in the movie was dark.
The girl was stripped naked and tied to an altar as part of a sacrifice ritual.
The fake blood looked like ketchup. The acting was worse than wooden, and the monster moved like it was stuck in molasses. Every time it attacked people, it was in slow‑mo.
Sandra muttered, "Oh my god… it's so bad."
Michael groaned. "Why is there nudity in every single scene? Like, is the monster's attack not scary enough?"
Agustin just shook his head. "This is… painful."
I leaned forward, tapping the VHS case. "And yet… this made $5 million in rentals and $400,000 in sales when it came out in 1993. With a $200,000 budget."
Everyone's eyes went wide.
Gael whistled. "You're kidding. That trash?"
"Not kidding," I said with a sigh. "This is just a movie that's so bad, it's a good type of film."
Sandra blinked. "So… people actually like watching this?"
"Religiously," I said. "And that's why we're doing the sequel. The name recognition is there. The original built a cult following."
I rubbed my chin. "If I spend around $200,000 more on the next movie, it can make around $1 million, which will justify the DTV factory existence."
Agustin also rubbed his chin and said, "You can actually do it cheaper and get a better film."
I turned to him with intrigue and asked, "How?"
"Kendrick," he said. My eyes widened slightly.
Michael asked, "What can Kendrick do?"
"He can partially transform into a lizard. Turn his head into it. Jasper can build his entire body. So they don't have to use animatronics for the monster," Agustin said.
"Also, if Owen is involved, he can partially control the actress's facial expression. Elena can plant a seed in her mind that tricks her into thinking she's doing this herself," Agustin added.
"I can edit the film. Just like how we did Bob the Builder. We can use our collaboration to make the movie," he suggested.
I sighed and said, "We can do that when it's just us. There's a lot of moving parts in shooting a film. The sound—"
"Bayani," Agustin interjected.
"Lighting—"
"Cahaya," he interjected again.
I was stunned for a bit. "I guess you're right," I told him.
"But there's something else. The director controls the IP. If he wants to direct it, there's nothing we can do about it," I told them.
"Who is the director?" Michael asked. I reached into my satchel and took out the résumé Claire had made for me. It had his picture and credits.
"He did like ten B‑horror movies. The rentals all came from his cult following, actually," I told them and handed the résumé to Michael.
Suddenly, Sandra snatched the paper from him. "Huh?" Michael was confused.
Sandra's expression snapped. Her eyes went red. She crushed the résumé, which startled everyone.
"Babe, what happened?" Agustin asked, concerned.
"He… he was the one who murdered… Michael's sister Ophelia," Sandra said through clenched teeth.
Michael's face went blank. He turned away without saying anything, his expression a mask of cold fury.
I used my swift steps to get in front of him. "Calm down, Mike."
"Get out of my way, Owen! I will kill that guy!" Michael said, his eyes bloodshot.
I stepped in front of him and placed a hand on his shoulder, firm and controlling. "I'm not telling you you can't," I said quietly, keeping my voice low so it would anchor him. "But if you go in blind, you'll get yourself jailed."
I added, "We have our advantages. Plan it out. Kill him cleverly, in a way that will not ruin you."
He calmed down a bit and said, "Okay. Sorry, Owen."
Micheal had waited 9 months to get his revenge. He could wait a few more days for it to happen.
Agustin suddenly got another idea, as expected of the smartest guy in the sect right now.
"Owen. Does your company need the IPs?" He asked.
"It will help with the DTV thing, but I don't really have to pick that movie." I replied to him.
"What if, we do it like this?" Agustin grinned slightly.
The plan was simple. Ambush the man in his house.
Elena would get the necessary information from his brain, like his signature, bank account, et cetera. He would voluntarily sign away his IPs to 4CLOVER. Elena could take over his body.
Use Gael or someone who has the same stature to act as the director using a prosthetic mask.
Then, Gael would direct the movie as the director, with me actually controlling the entire production.
"Once he finished the movie, make him die in a car accident or something. Use his death to market the movie to his cult following." Agustin finished his plans.
"What do you think?" He turned to me.
As someone who enslaved a cartel leader, I have no problem with his plans.
"It is quite good." I replied.
Gael looked at me and Agustin and mumbled, "Both of you are really screwed up in the head."
However, he has nothing against the plan itself.
Micheal, Elena and I went to the director's house that night. He lived in the Pacific Palisades, somewhere near the mountain area where it was isolated.
Standing in front of the Spanish style mansion, with our faces covered in black masks, we confirmed the director was inside. However as I touched the gate, I stopped the two people from continuing.
"I smell a familiar scent of sulfur." I muttered, my eyes lit up slightly.
"Julie Nelson is here." I said and retreated with the others. We needed more information to proceed. Obsidian was alerted and she went to infiltrate the house to get more information.
…
"I built you." The demon woman stepped on the director's head as he kneeled on the floor.
A ragged cloth covered her dark purple skin. Her long hair fluttered in the wind, covering one horn slightly. Her sharp teeth were munching some raw meat.
"I gave you your entire career." She pressed her foot harder, which made the fifty-year-old man groan in pain.
The injury from the battle had left her strength depleted.
"I need sacrifices! Get me the children for me to feed on! Now!" she ordered him.
"My contact disappeared nine months ago. I don't know how to get you tributes now," the director whined.
"I don't care!" she said as she pressed down harder.
"You—You'll kill me now! Stop!" the director shouted urgently.
Nelson took her foot off and casually went to the couch and sat. The man slowly raised his head and looked at her with fear.
"Get me some tribute. Or I will eat you tonight," she forced him.
The man shivered and said, "I'—I will."
I was eavesdropping with Obsidian's ability and then commanded the snake.
Obsidian slithered secretly and puked out some vials of poison in the room.
"Get out of there, now," I told my snake.
Nelson, the envy incarnation, was around a Nascent Soul realm. I couldn't fight her face to face.
Since I heard she demanded tribute to feed on, I had to intervene before an innocent person lost their life.
I waited for the movie director to come out of his house before exploding the vial. He entered his car, and I threw a paralysis needle at his neck before he could close the car door.
Instantly, the entire house was engulfed with green poisonous gas.
"Get the director," I told Michael and Elena. "Then, retreat from the area."
Michael opened the director's car, gave him a punch, and then threw him into the backseat. He used the director's own car to run away from the area.
Elena said internally, 'Owen. Be careful.'
"Don't worry. I will." I replied to her. I had crossed the realm last night, effectively entering the Golden Core stage.
It didn't really mean I had a core in my body, or that it was golden. Unless it's demons or beasts, humans don't really have a core in them.
The other name for this realm was Core Formation. The qi in the dantian was compressed and turned from a gaseous state to a more liquid, moving state.
Nelson coughed as she staggered out of the house. I grinned as I saw the poison was affecting her.
Her eyes burned in hatred as she saw me standing there.
"SRU!!!!" She yelled, shaking the ground with her angry stomp. She dashed toward me, wanting to stab my face with her claws.
I didn't move from my spot, instead smoothly deflecting the claw with my sword as I moved in a circular motion. My right hand deflected it, and my left hand stabbed into her waist as I turned.
"Agh!" she yelled. I injected more poison into her body.
I knew the regenerative power of the demon would cure her, so I had to add more.
"You bitch! Who are you!?" she yelled, sliding on the ground and taking a fighting stance from afar.
My face was still covered. I muttered, "SRU."
"I knew it!" she yelled in anger. "You kept messing with my plans! Once the lord descends, I will make sure to kill every single one of you!"
Instead of fighting, she tried to run.
I used my Swift Step to get next to her instantaneously and asked, "Where are you going?"
She blocked my sword with her hand, but I had coated the blade with my sword qi.
SLASH
Her entire arm was separated from her body. She jumped back, looking at me warily.
"Fight. Otherwise, you'll die," I said menacingly.
I wanted to test my abilities against her. Right now, I was at the level of a young clan leader in the murim Tang Clan, just slightly below the Transcendent stage.
In my past life as a murim warrior, I had managed to get to the Unrestrained Realm, a level past Transcendent in the battle against Heavenly Demon. Although, I died before I could explore that realm.
She gritted her teeth in hatred. Then, a new arm grew back.
She dashed toward me suddenly, using her claws as blades.
By concentrating her demonic energy into the claws, she shot out several demonic-qi slashes that flew through the air.
I jumped up to avoid it, and she predicted that, already mid-way, jumping towards me.
I smiled and threw out my flying daggers. She had to block them by stabbing her head, which stopped her from coming close.
"Phantom Swallow Strike." I dashed around her, leaving an afterimage in my steps.
Her eyes darted around, trying to find the real me.
Suddenly, I appeared right in front of her and thrust my sword into her stomach.
"Bluek!" She suddenly puked sulfury magma from her mouth. I had to sidestep to avoid being melted by it.
She followed me, trying to spray the magma at me while I avoided it. Soon, the entire front yard of the house was filled with magma.
She huffed in anger, her face contorted in worry.
"A large scale attack huh? I have that too," I muttered. Suddenly, a thousand needles floated around her in a dome shape. Her eyes shook as she finally realized it.
"Tang Clan Technique. Thousand Needle Rain," I muttered with disappointment.
The needles flew at high speed toward her. Suddenly, she pressed her hand on the ground before it could happen. A black circular summoning circle appeared on the ground.
The needles hit the summoned being instead: a magma-covered lizard. The Golden Core lizard died instantly.
"Fuck!" she cursed.
"You motherfucker! Do you really want to kill me!" she shouted.
I was confused. "Didn't I say that earlier?"
She grinned suddenly and said, "Oh. Right. Mysterious stranger. Thank you for killing the beast on my behalf. Now, I can do this."
A pink haze suddenly enveloped me. Her voice became seductive as she asked, "Tell me stranger. What do you envy the most in the world?"
Her mental technique targeted my innermost desire. However, what she saw confused her.
"Death? You envy… death?" Her eyes shook, her hand shivered. "You're… an immortal being?" Her knees became weak.
I shook off the mental attack as I grew bored of the game.
"You know. A succubus's charm worked a hundred times better than that," I told her.
She suddenly stabbed her own heart. It activated runes all over her body.
"You're finally using your master's ability," I muttered and put my guards up.
Unlike Victor D. Andre, I noticed from the beginning that Nelson had a master.
Her humanoid figure contorted, and she sprouted two wings on her back.
Her strength climbed higher, surpassing the Nascent Soul and entering the Ascension stage.
"I will kill you Immortal!" she screamed, her voice contorted like a broken radio speaker.
"If you manage to come to me," I muttered. "Shiryu. Obsidian. Come back."
Both snakes slithered back to me. Nelson was confused as she finally realized the snakes were there.
They were helping me set up an array to kill the demon while I distracted her.
"Reverse Heaven Sorcery," I muttered. "Borrowing the will of the heavens, I will send back the demons to where they belong."
A pentagonal array appeared on the ground with the yin-yang symbol at the center of it. The clouds above thickened, and far-sounding thunder noises rolled.
"STOP!" Nelson tried to break through the protective barrier.
I took out an exorcism talisman and threw it to her. This particular exorcism could only be used for demons who ate human flesh.
"Flame Thunder."
BOOOOOOOOOM
A huge lightning bolt descended from the sky, engulfing and scorching her entire body.
She yelled in pain. Her regeneration couldn't help her this time.
As the thunder dissipated, Nelson staggered as she walked toward me.
"My lord… will get you for this," she said and reached her hands out.
Then her hand turned to ashes. Her body followed, leaving behind only a black core on the ground.
"Sweet," I muttered. "I can use this to build the energy array."
After seeing the array in the beast's breeding ground, I wanted to build one for our sect too, since as all of us grew stronger we would have to compete with each other to absorb heaven and earth energy.
As I admired the core, a car pulled over to the side of the house. I expected to see Elena and Michael; however, other familiar faces came out of the car.
Jessi and James. The SRU investigators.
"You—What happened here? What's… with the lightning bolt?" Jessi, the beautiful brunette with the eyepatch, asked.
James, the freckled man with side-shaved hair, had fear in his eyes.
"Demon exorcism. Julie Nelson, the Envy incarnation, is dead," I told them, disguising my voice deeper.
They widened their eyes in shock. Before they could say anything else, I disappeared from their point of view using Swift Step.