{"id":12721,"date":"2025-08-06T22:59:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T02:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12721"},"modified":"2025-08-06T22:59:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T02:59:20","slug":"sliver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/08\/06\/sliver\/","title":{"rendered":"Sliver"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Sliver<\/strong> (1993)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes (Unrated Version)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated NC-17 (strong sexual content and graphic nudity, language, violence, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Phillip Noyce\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Howard Shore\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 21, 1993 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, Martin Landau, Polly Walker, Colleen Camp, Amanda Foreman, Nicholas Pryor, C.C.H. Pounder, Nina Foch, Keene Kurtis, Anne Betancourt, Tony Peck, Allison Mackie, Jim Beaver, Jose Rey, Victor Brandt, Ryan Cutrona, Robert Milano, Steve Eastin, Matthew Faison, Robin Groves, Marne Patterson.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $36.3M (US)\/$123.9M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0Allow me to satisfy your curiosity. There is no noticeable difference between the theatrical and unrated cuts of Sliver<\/strong>, a soggy thriller from director Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm) and writer Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct). There might have been a random shot here and there, but I honestly didn\u2019t see anything that went beyond a hard R. It hardly matters anyway because Sliver<\/strong> is a stinker by any rating.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sliver<\/strong> gained notoriety not for its steamy content, but the drama that surrounded it before it hit theaters in May \u201993. As I previously indicated, it ran into problems with the MPAA. They wanted to slap it with the dreaded NC-17 which would have killed its box office prospects. Noyce claims he had to make 110 cuts in order to get the desired R rating. Sounds exaggerated to me. Either way, there\u2019s no shortage of sex and nudity. That\u2019s not all that happened prior to release. Paramount made Noyce and Eszterhas come up with a whole new ending after test audiences didn\u2019t like the original one. If you know what to look for, you can kind of see how it doesn\u2019t quite jibe with the rest of the picture.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The makers expected Sliver<\/strong> to be a smash hit along the lines of Basic Instinct. It had some of the same ingredients, namely Eszterhas and Sharon Stone, both hot off the success of the vastly superior and stylish Basic Instinct. If only they could have gotten Paul Verhoeven too. Oh well, you work with what you have even if it doesn\u2019t amount to much, right? That\u2019s precisely the case here. Sliver<\/strong> isn\u2019t much at all. In fact, it amounts to exactly nothing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Stone stars as Carly Norris, a successful book editor and recent divorcee who\u2019s just moved into an exclusive sliver building in New York City. A sliver building, for those not in the know, is a tall, narrow skyscraper built on a small slender lot. Right away, she\u2019s told she looks a lot like her apartment\u2019s previous occupant, a young woman who fell to her death from the balcony. Actually, she was pushed off by a hooded killer, but nobody knows that other than the killer and one other person.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Carly catches the attention of two of her neighbors, mysterious rich guy Zeke (Baldwin, Flatliners) and detective fiction writer Jack (Berenger, Platoon). Let\u2019s talk about them for a moment. They both raise red flags. Zeke is smooth and handsome in an oily way. He\u2019s like an overgrown frat boy who majored in date rape at university. Naturally, he has secrets. First, he owns the building. He\u2019s not just rich, he\u2019s filthy rich. Second, he\u2019s a voyeur. He has hidden cameras in every apartment. He spends his free time secretly watching his neighbors, especially Carly. He knows the truth about the previous tenant\u2019s death. Jack, all arrogance and testosterone, is an old school alpha male, He smokes, drinks and flirts by beating his chest (figuratively speaking, of course). He truly believes he\u2019s irresistible to women and can\u2019t understand why Carly isn\u2019t into him. He\u2019s like somebody from one of his other movies, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s as easy to identify the killer as it is pinpointing where Sliver <\/strong>goes wrong. It goes wrongs in lots of places, but I\u2019m thinking of one absolutely crucial area. As a thriller, it falls flat on its face. The suspense level is zero. The identity of the killer is never in doubt. It\u2019s clear from the moment you meet this character and clearer with every subsequent encounter. Noyce, of course, tries to throw viewers off by pointing at other possible suspects including [SPOILER ALERT!] <\/strong>a maintenance worker who stares at Carly a couple of times. NEWS FLASH! It\u2019s never the creepy-looking dude with no dialogue. That\u2019s beside the point. You won\u2019t have any problem correctly guessing the killer. He may as well be wearing a sign that reads \u201cPSYCHO\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sliver <\/strong>has style to spare, but little in the way of substance. In fact, it has none at all. Noyce doesn\u2019t even do a good job trying to hide it either. Now you\u2019d think the killer storyline would be front and center, but it\u2019s not. It\u2019s treated as a subplot for the most part. The focus appears to be Carly trying to find herself after escaping a stifling (NOT abusive) marriage. Noyce spends a lot of time on this, showing Carly hanging out with Zeke, being harassed by Jack and talking things over with horny best friend\/co-worker Judy (Camp, Clue). He occasionally breaks the monotony by dropping another dead body. He has to keep the audience awake somehow.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sliver<\/strong> is lame for the most part. There are times, however, when it becomes ludicrous. For example, just how dumb is Carly? She can see Jack poses a threat. At one point, she finds him sitting in her apartment when she gets home from work. Why doesn\u2019t she report it to the police? This is why they have restraining orders. My favorite bit is her date with Zeke at a fancy restaurant. He likes to engage in risky behavior and encourages her to do the same. In a 9 \u00bd Weeks-like scenario, he convinces her to remove her panties and pass them to her. The dirty old man at the next table watches intently while his wife doesn\u2019t appear to care. It\u2019s more silly than sexy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sliver<\/strong> is badly written with poorly developed characters and an unfocused storyline. Noyce cares more about how his movie looks than whether it\u2019s any good. The acting is pretty bad. Stone acts like she\u2019s there just to collect a paycheck. She puts no life into her character. Baldwin is little more than a pretty face. He and Stone have no chemistry whatsoever. Berenger hams it up mightily. The supporting cast doesn\u2019t help much. It includes name actors like Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Polly Walker (Patriot Games), Nicholas Pryor (Risky Business), Nina Foch (An American in Paris), CCH Pounder (Benny & Joon) and Keene Curtis (Heaven Can Wait). Sadly, they\u2019re not given much to do. They show up for a scene or two and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The funny thing is I don\u2019t hate Sliver<\/strong>. It\u2019s bad, but in way you can roll your eyes and laugh. Real people don\u2019t talk they way they do in this movie. The dialogue is awful, hilariously so at times. Here are a few choice nuggets:<\/p>\n

Judy (obviously not up on pop culture): \u201cHey, isn’t Pearl Jam some sort of oriental sex thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack (when he sees Carly\u2019s telescope, a gift from Zeke): \u201cYou’re a peeper! A peeper, peeper!\u201d<\/p>\n

The topper has to be this exchange, a brilliant meeting of the minds:<\/p>\n

Carly: \u201cYou’ve been spending too much time with your vibrator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judy: \u201cI certainly have – I’ve been getting a plastic yeast infection!\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, Eszterhas is no Hemingway.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The sex isn\u2019t all that hot. The scene where Stone\u2019s character masturbates in a bathtub will surely NOT get anybody hot and horny. There\u2019s no point to any of it. The only reason Sliver<\/strong> even exists is because of the success of Basic Instinct. It wants to be the next one, but doesn\u2019t even come close. It\u2019s just dumb. It deserves an eviction notice.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sliver (1993)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes (Unrated Version)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated NC-17 (strong sexual content and graphic nudity, language, violence, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Phillip Noyce\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Howard Shore\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 21, 1993 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, Martin Landau, Polly Walker, Colleen Camp, Amanda Foreman, Nicholas Pryor, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guilty-pleasures","category-suspense-thrillers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sliver-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12721"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12733,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12721\/revisions\/12733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}