Sliver (1993)

Ah yes, back in the early 90's Sharon Stone had the reputation of being Hollywood's dirty star, thanks to 'Basic Instinct' and this. At the time I was a young teen and Stone was notorious for her antics on film, we all talked about her, we all wanted to see her films, Stone was the pinnacle of naughty films we weren't allowed to see.

Apparently the film is based on a novel of the same name and I'm sure the book is much better than this film. Its basically a murder thriller in a tall apartment block. Stone has just moved in, there's a young stud on one floor who fancies her and a middle aged bloke on another who fancies her too. One of them killed the previous owner of Stone's flat (yes in the UK we say flat), choose between the paranoid loony or the enormous peeping tom.

I admit the film does well in hiding who committed the murder (and the other one during the film), you're never really sure which of the two chaps did it right up to the end. Tends to swing from moment to moment, one minute you think its Baldwin, the next its Berenger, nicely done I guess.

The thing is the whole film just feels like its capitalising on Stone's previous massive hit 'Basic Instinct'. If they had another female lead in that role I just don't think it would have attracted the same publicity. After all this was Stone's sex sequel, her second big sexual escapade and boy did they nail that home! I mean the film is reasonably enjoyable but its merely one sex scene after another, once Stone's character meets Baldwin's creepy duck faced character it just becomes one sweaty sex sequence followed by some dialog, then another sweaty sex sequence etc...It does actually feel as though the director is simply giving you a breather from playing with yourself with some boring plot, until the next big tissue inducing sequence (its not that dirty by the way).

Gotta give it to Baldwin, he really does come across as a slimy creepy pervert that you know not to trust. Whether that was good acting or just the way he is I dunno. I quite liked the sub plot revolving around his electronic spying, you know its gonna play into the murder plot because he has cameras in every nook n cranny of this building, kinda obvious what will happen. Berenger is OK as this jealous oddball who breaks into peoples apartments all the time, a bit bland though, kinda plays it safe with his performance, nothing too special. A bit sickening watching both these guys trying to schmaltz their way into Stone's knickers, I wonder if the script is the same as the book?

Stone moans, groans and exposes herself well throughout, nothing more, she does exactly what you expect and its pretty much all she can do. Really it just feels like a quickfire follow through after Stone hit the big time, its very simple in premise and hardly a thriller in any aspect if you ask me. Its not even that sexy really, I don't wanna see Baldwin's sweaty ass! Some nice visuals though, a bit noir-ish I guess, soundtrack is a little haunting also, so not all bad. The films title suits the content perfectly, you really do feel like you need a shower after this sleazy affair.

5.5/10