Sliver

Sliver (1993)

Runtime: 106 minutes

Directed by: Phillip Noyce

Starring: Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, Polly Walker, Martin Landau (RIP)

From: Paramount

Yep, I watched this erotic thriller; I haven't seen too many erotic thrillers before. I'll just say this is no Basic Instinct. Heck, it even has an ending that was changed from what was originally filmed, and the original ending sounds better and it explains a bizarre line in the middle of the picture: 

I realize this isn't the most dignified movie for me to say “RIP Martin Landau,” but I wanted to see an erotic thriller so I could say a few words about it here and why not kill two birds with one stone? Well, Landau's role as Sharon Stone's boss is pretty small-he disappears after the opening act-but at least you get to see him join in with the rest of the guests at a party and use a telescope to peep on a couple having sex in an apartment... yes, that happened. Whether you best remember Landau for Mission: Impossible (as my parents do), for Ed Wood, or for something else, I was saddened to hear he passed away. On a completely different topic...

Since the Internet became popular around 20 years ago and it became easy to see pictures and videos of naked people and naked people doing all sorts of things, the erotic thriller genre died out and in recent years they are as rare as hen's teeth. I haven't seen too many of those myself but I know they are wacky, lurid pulpy tales that theoretically are supposed to get the viewer's engines all revved up. I should watch them at least once in a blue moon, so I can be bemused by them and also look back on what used to be a popular thing back in the day, but now seems quaint and the current generation likely will snicker at how the previous generation got all excited for these flicks.

This movie is from the infamous Joe Eszterhas, the screenwriter who really deserves to have the tag “infamous” attached to him. The plot: a woman who looks a lot like Sharon Stone is killed in the beginning of the film by being thrown off the balcony of a fancy apartment complex. The real Sharon Stone then moves in and plenty of sleazy people live there, it turns out, and other sleazy people hang out there. This includes William Baldwin (who the movie somewhat hilariously plays as a “sex symbol”) and Tom Berenger as an author who is a real creep. There are some other women characters but for the most part they aren't portrayed in the most flattering light. There's some pretty bad dialogue, believe me.

I can't say the movie is “good” but I wasn't bored either; I was amused by how silly it all was... how it was obviously inspired by Rear Window but it's an insult to Rear Window to make such a comparison. A character is a real voyeur and that's a big plot point... the Hitchcock movie addresses it much better, believe me. Plus, that leads to a pretty gross subplot, even if it is brief. Then again, this is a film which tries to be “cool” by having Stone's character say she “haves Pavarotti” and would rather attend a Pearl Jam concert. The soundtrack actually is interesting... there's everyone from UB40 to Massive Attack and Lords of Acid.

This is not unwatchably bad but it likely won't turn you on either (at least I presume this is more likely to get your blood flowing than the absolute rubbish that is those 50 Shades travestities) and it's just goofy nonsense which isn't as fun of a pulpy tale as it could have been. If you want to watch a movie starring Sharon Stone and the screenwriter was Joe Eszterhas... don't make it this one.