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Basic Instinct’s closing shot, an ending that appears after an initial fade out, might reveal all. Or maybe it reveals nothing at all. Does it tell us who the real killer in the film is? Or is it another red herring in writer Joe Eszterhas’ cryptic neo noir in which everyone has something to hide?
While you’ll have a theory on who the killer is in Basic Instinct, the film offers us few definitive answers. Similarly, the fate of Michael Douglas’ detective is left ambiguous. Indeed, we’re unsure if he has come to the conclusion that Catherine Tramell is innocent or guilty; is he the willing participant in her “game” or a rabbit caught in the headlights and under her sexual spell?
Here we’re going to try to find out who did the murders in Basic Instinct and decide on Catherine Tramell’s innocence or guilt.
A subversive, enigmatic erotic thriller
With his first two Hollywood movies, Robocop and Total Recall, Dutch director Paul Verhoeven had shown that he could out-Hollywood the best of them and deliver splashy crowd-pleasing entertainment with a subversive edge. In 1992 he turned his attention to a hot script by screenwriter Eszterhas (whose credits include Flashdance and Jagged Edge) which, after a bidding war, reportedly sold for $3 million – an unheard-of sum at the time.
Michael Douglas stars as hardboiled San Francisco detective Nick Curran with Sharon Stone as enigmatic novelist Catherine Tramell, a stunning blonde with a talent for seduction and a history of relationships that end in death. She reportedly landed the role after numerous stars, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Geena Davis, Melanie Griffith and Kim Basinger, turned it down.
Basic Instinct is now legendary for its ground-breaking depictions of sexuality in a mainstream Hollywood film. Featuring one of the most talked about scenes in film history, the film redefined the erotic thriller genre and influenced all that followed.
But was Catherine Tramell the real killer in Basic Instinct?
Basic Instinct begins with a sex scene between an unknown blonde woman and a rock star named Johnny Boz. The woman sits astride the man. She’s in control. She accentuates this dominance by unveiling a silk scarf from under a pillow, tying the man’s hands to the headboard. As both appear to reach orgasm, she leans back, picking up a secreted ice pick. She then violently stabs the man many times in a frenzied and manic attack.
When the police begin investigating the crime scene the circumstantial evidence points to a single suspect: the beautiful blonde novelist Catherine Tramell, Johnny Boz’s girlfriend and the last person to see the man alive. Not only does she fit the profile, she even detailed the murder in one of her books. Basic Instinct continues to play on the theory that Tramell is the culprit but stops short of definitively telling us she killed Johnny Boz.
That is until the very final scene in which she is in bed with Detective Nick Curran. The pair begin to make love having previously had passionate sex that mimicked – including the use of the silk scarf – the death of Johnny Boz. The camera pans down to an ice pick under the bed. This “reveal” suggests Catherine Tramell was the killer of Johnny Boz, the probable culprit of the other murders, and a threat to Curran’s life.
What if Basic Instinct has multiple killers?
If we consider motive and circumstance, Joe Eszterhas’ script presents us with multiple possibilities for who might be the killer in Basic Instinct including the idea that each murder was committed by a different culprit.
Therefore Dr. Beth Garner, Hazel Dobkins, and Roxy Hardy are killers. They are all manipulated by Catherine to commit murders, the novelist utilising her ability to read and understand people thanks to her education in psychology.
Based on this thesis we can speculate that Roxy kills Johnny Boz out of jealousy (she’s therefore the blonde in the opening sex scene), and we know she tries to kill Nick Curran for the same reason. Dobkins kills Gus because he’s getting close to revealing the truth about Catherine’s previous murders, and Dr. Garner kills Lieutenant Nielsen because he too has found information that could put Catherine in prison.
They each do this because they’re obsessed with Catherine; they have a similar lust that Curran ultimately feels. We know that Dr. Garner was a previous girlfriend of Tramell, Roxy is her current girlfriend, and the film hints at a possible sexual relationship between Catherine and Dobkins too. The novelist is a master manipulator. Her sadistic fascination with murder is what drives her desire to use people like pawns on a chessboard.
So Catherine Tramell is the chief villain of Basic Instinct but she might not have killed anyone.
No, Dr. Beth Garner is the killer
Before the revelation of the ice pick under the bed in the film’s final shot, the police believe they have found their killer. That person is Dr. Beth Garner. As well as circumstantial evidence (Dr. Garner was discovered near to where Gus was killed moments after his murder and close to the murderer’s discarded clothes and blonde wig) the cops find a 38-caliber gun in her apartment that links her to the shooting of Lieutenant Nielsen.
Dr. Garner also had motive, intimate knowledge of the investigation, and an unhealthy obsession with Catherine Tramell (underlined by the treasure trove of books, newspaper cuttings and other related materials found in her apartment). She also lies to give Curran an alibi in the murder of Nielsen, consequently giving herself an alibi too.
Or maybe Catherine Tramell was the killer after all
Ultimately, all roads lead to Catherine Tramell being the real killer in Basic Instinct. The final shot of the ice pick under the bed suggests she was intending to kill Detective Nick Curran in a similar way to Johnny Boz at the beginning of the film.
Why doesn’t she kill Nick Curran at the end?
Catherine Tramell intends to kill the detective in the final scene of the movie but changes her mind as he’s a man she is still curious about. His demise will almost certainly occur, but that will wait for later. Tramell has spent the entire movie studying people. She’s interested in those with shady histories: Nick Curran drunkenly killed two innocent people; Roxy and Dobkins were also murderers.
In the scene in which the ice pick is ready and waiting to strike Curran, the detective talks about their potential future and Tramell discovers there are still things to study in the man. Therefore she spares his life, at least for now. She also has some feelings for him. In an earlier scene in which she tells Curran the novel is finished, she’s seen crying. Are these tears of true sadness because she knows it’s now time to dispose of Curran? Maybe.
Why is Dr. Garner a suspect then?
She’s framed by Catherine Tramell. When Dr. Garner is found near Gus’s dead body it’s because Tramell coaxed her there. Garner reveals a message she received to meet Gus at the location of his murder. Tramell deleted the message from the answering machine at the same time she entered Dr. Garner’s apartment to plant the novels, newspapers and other materials suggesting the psychologist’s unhealthy obsession with the novelist.
Similarly, the blonde seen killing Gus is Catherine Tramell. She discards the murderer’s bloody jacket and a blonde wig to frame Dr. Garner for the murder. The gun found in the apartment that matched the one used to kill Nielsen was also planted after the novelist killed the cop because he was getting too close to uncovering her real activities.
The biggest pieces of evidence pointing to Catherine Tramell as the real killer in Basic Instinct
When Nick visits Catherine Tramell he reads a page as it’s being printed from her latest novel. It details Gus’s death while he (Nick) is running up the stairs to save him. Only Catherine knows this. Therefore we can surmise she is the one who kills Gus.
The clues in the sex scenes also point to the novelist as killer. The silk scarf motif, penchant for being “on top” when having sex, and cocaine use, link Tramell’s sexual appetite to the killing of Johnny Boz. This is accentuated by the revelation of the murder weapon used in Boz’s killing under the bed in the film’s final scene.
So in conclusion: Catherine Tramell is guilty!
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Well carren enter Beth’s apartment & it was unlocked is that the moment when Catherine puts her novels & obsession newspapers in Beth’s home? That leads that she wants to finish of Beth as she is the one who knows her well and did some crimes on her behalf but she fall in love with carren and the jealousy destroyed the whole team what a dick he has
I think a key point here is that the psychologist, Beth, is at the heart of the whole affair. She is the person Catherine had been obsessed with in college and it is clear that Catherine never got over her obsession. She kills Beth’s husband before the film starts, then frames Beth for the murders. The suggestion is that Catherine has engineered these events in order to get back at Beth.
Catherine is the killer. She’s a master manipulator and she sets the whole thing up as a murder mystery because she gets off on playing games with people. She kills people and then brags about it in her books.
I’m asking for someone to explain what Internal Affairs Lieutenant Marty Nilsen knew about Catherine and Dr. Beth Garner? “A Year ago” Lt. Nilsen went and got the Police report that Catherine had filed on Lisa Hoberman (Dr. Beth Garner). I just want someone to fill in the blanks about Lt. Nilsen…..
Catherine has a small scar on her left upper arm/shoulder area. You see her in the scene with Johnny Boz as well as in the scenes with Nick Curran. French manicured fingernails can also be seen in the Johnny Boz scene. Of all the female characters in the rest of the film, Catherine Tramell is the only one to wear them.
So remember that Catherine Tramell, was a very wealthy socialite, and according to Dr. Beth, Garner, she was brilliant, and dangerous, and so I can only think that, that meant she was a sociopath with murderous, intent, particularly about those that she could manipulate, and that fell in love with her. So based on that, I would think that given her history and her involvement with everyone in the story, that she’s the likely killer of Johnny Boz, and remember also that it was the murder of Johnny Boz that brought the Det. Nick Curren into the picture.