Sliver (1993)

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This November is “No Nut November” at Catching Up On Cinema!

All month long, we'll be reviewing erotic thrillers from the 80's and 90's!

This week Trevor does a solo review of Phillip Noyce's, Sliver (1993)!

Released almost exactly one year after her star making turn in the massively successful Basic Instinct (1992), Sliver (1993) saw Sharon Stone return to the erotic thriller subgenre, albeit without the benefit of the one-two punch of Paul Verhoeven's slick and wildly excessive directorial flourishes, and Jan De Bont's sumptuous lighting and lensing.

Once again working from a screenplay penned by genre veteran and Hollywood sleaze maestro, Joe Esztherhas; Sliver sees Sharon Stone cast not a femme fatale as in case of the pairings earlier effort, Basic Instinct, but as a weirdly passive, shy woman that may be more sexually adventurous than even she would care to admit.

A murder-mystery whodunit that often feels utterly uninterested in detective work or suspense building, Sliver somewhat delivers on the eroticism and thrills one would expect from an erotic thriller, however the connective fiber between the elements, so essential to creating an effective and cohesive genre film, are sorely lacking.

Dull and aimless in instances where its handsome and talented cast still have their clothes on, Sliver is not bereft of interesting thematic content or compelling performances, though at the end of the day it all feels very slight and surface level, and sadly doesn't amount to a film that could be considered much more than “adequate” or “serviceable”.

Reportedly a troubled production in the form of the MPAA requiring massive reedits to avoid an NC-17 rating, and negative test audience reactions compelling the producers to insist on changing the identity of the killer and the entire ending well into post-production, Sliver is a film that was restructured within an inch of its life, such that its a small miracle that it was even able to limp its way into theaters as a coherent narrative at all.

Many point to Basic Instinct (1992) as being at or near the pinnacle of the erotic thriller boom of the era, and appropriately enough, Sharon Stone and Joe Esztheras' very next project together, Sliver (1993), would go on to represent the cresting of the wave for the genre.

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