Paul Verhoeven's Biggest Flop Had A Sequel You Probably Haven't Seen

Back in 1995, director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, the creative team behind the blockbuster erotic thriller "Basic Instinct," reunited to deliver another stylishly sleazy provocation — one that would use its easily won NC-17 rating as a marketing dare to the movie-going public. This new film would make "Basic Instinct" look like an episode of "Dragnet." It would slither into theaters teeming with sex and violence, simultaneously turning you on and shocking your conscience. Indeed, motion pictures would never be the same again after audiences got a load of "Showgirls."

That critics would break out the lead pipes to bash the holy hell out of "Showgirls" was a given. They'd tired of Eszterhas's tawdry tales and were offended that he was breaking industry records with each spec script sale. They'd written him off as a low-aiming hawk and wanted nothing more than to see him fall flat on his face. Verhoeven, however, was more of a divisive figure. The tremendously talented craftsman had earned mostly raves for "RoboCop" and "Total Recall" and even received grudging credit for turning Eszterhas' ludicrous screenplay for "Basic Instinct" into a ludicrously entertaining triumph of bad taste. But many critics also believed Verhoeven had lost his way by hooking up with the sensationalist screenwriter for what they considered an appallingly amoral T&A musical.

While MGM probably wasn't thrilled with the vitriolic reviews, there was a chance that the very vulgar idea of "Showgirls" would prove irresistible. You just had to see this sex-stuffed spectacle for yourself. But whether folks were embarrassed to be spotted buying a ticket to the movie or simply more intrigued by its opening weekend competition, David Fincher's "Se7en," the $45 million production ($95 million in 2025) tanked hard. The film staggered to a $37.8 million worldwide gross at the box office and all but killed Eszterhas' career.

Unsurprisingly, the film gradually found a cult following that appreciated its high camp and garish set pieces. "Showgirls" is still a notorious movie, but it's now viewed as a go-for-broke, see-it-with-a-crowd hoot. This resurgence wasn't big enough for MGM to consider greenlighting Verhoeven's scrapped sequel, but it did inspire one of the film's cast members to make their own follow-up. It's not a good movie, but it certainly is singular. If you're a "Showgirls" fan, it's a must-see.

Had "Showgirls" become the first NC-17 blockbuster, Verhoeven was ready to dive back into this world with a sequel titled "Bimbos." As the director told the New York Daily News in 2015, the film "was going to be 'Nomi does Hollywood', but after 'Showgirls' was released, there was no way anyone was going to give me money for that." He added, "If we could just make Elizabeth Berkley 20 years younger now I would love to make 'Bimbos' today." (It's worth noting that the film badly damaged Berkley's career, so somewhere Charlize Theron is breathing a sigh of relief that she didn't land the role of Nomi.)

Verhoeven might've had zero interest in making a sequel after "Showgirls" bombed, but one of the movie's co-stars, Rena Riffel, saw the opportunity to make a spinoff of sorts about her stripper character, Penny. Partially financed via Kickstarter and released in 2011, "Showgirls 2: Penny's from Heaven" is the stylistic antithesis of Verhoven's movie. Shot on video with a budget of $30,000, the movie is, on one hand, a more accurate depiction of the dregs of Las Vegas. The story centers on Penny's quest to hit the big time via an appearance on a popular reality dance competition show called "Stardancer," which requires her to hook up with a controlling violinist (!) who manipulates her to abase herself in a variety of scuzzy ways.

Like its predecessor, you'll definitely want to watch "Showgirls 2: Penny's from Heaven" at a midnight movie or, at the very least, in a living room with your friends. It is preposterously overlong at 145 minutes, but, again, the cheapness of the endeavor kind of works in its favor. It's currently streaming for free on Fawesome, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say the movie will likely never receive a physical media release. If you think this oddity might be for you, I can pretty much guarantee that it is. Just know that, technically, it's as far from a Verhoeven movie as you can get.