Sliver unrated edition

Scripted by the erstwhile Joe Eszterhas Basic Instinct and Jagged Edge , Sliver follows the standard Eszterhas plot line of a protagonist suspecting that his or her lover may or may not be a vicious killer, the tension mounting as clue upon clue is discovered.

Unlike both Instinct or Edge , though, Sliver delivers little suspense, thanks in part to a reshot ending that changed the original identity of the killer in the Ira Levin novel and confounded students of rational thought. However, if you're looking for an unintentionally funny thriller with loads of extraneous nudity, Sliver is an enjoyably huge hunk of cheese. She decides on Zeke, a compulsive voyeur who maintains a video surveillance of every room in the building; he may also be the mysterious psycho who has brutally murdered several of the tenants.

As an exercise in eroticism, however, the film actually surpasses its predacessor. Although it has been said that Stone and Baldwin didn't get along too well when the cameras weren't rolling, they make an extremely hot screen team and engage in some of the most breathtaking sex scenes ever captured on celluloid; Zeke and Carly's tryst against a pillar is particularly risque for a mainstream feature.

Unfortunately, the dialogue and storyline by Joe Eszterhas is also of the same quality. With deftness and subtlety, this could have been a mildly effective thriller, but Eszterhas and Director Phillip Noyce are about as subtle as a knife to the gut or a push off a balcony. Apparently, the film not only changes the ending of the book the movie was based on, but five different endings were devised and tested.

That would at least make us care if he was the killer. Billy Baldwin also makes the mistake of giving us a typical Billy Baldwin performance. Admittedly, with this film and Fair Game the guy has to have some sort of talent to be cast in these roles where beautiful actresses are naked in front of him. Top to bottom, Sliver is an awesomely stupid movie.

The film has bad performances, bad dialogue, and great nude scenes. Otherwise, stay as far away from this as possible. Sliver is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2. How many special features do we get? None, zip, zilch, nada, nothing, blank, diddly squat, goose egg, naught, nil, squat, zippo, zot.

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. But while awesome may be forever, this DVD proves that the alternative, while revelatory, is sometimes far more merciful: we eventually discovered the real reason everyone in the office wanted a crack at reviewing it - namely, because we all forgot how truly bad a Sharon Stone sex movie could be.

Score: 3 out of 10 The Video Sliver is presented in a widescreen 2. That fidelity apparently extends to the source material's age as well, since the transfer print was not cleaned or mastered since the film's theatrical run: while colors are mostly clean, backgrounds flicker with transfer fallout, contrasts are muted, and the overall look of the film is decidedly less polished and vivid than director of photography Vilmos Zsigmond originally intended.

Beyond even the basic demands of a DVD upgrade, however, this film looks pretty bad, boasting matte debris in at least one scene Carly's run in Central Park and plenty of visual flotsam in others. Contrary to IGN's abiding passion for this lost classic, it would appear that the choice to re-release this film in an Unrated version was motivated more by commercial interest than creative necessity.

The most noteworthy element of the entire film is its soundtrack, which featured the hit UB40 cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" as well as songs by Neneh Cherry, Lord of Acid, Shaggy, and of course Enigma, pop music's favorite ambient monks. The dialogue and actual score, by Howard Shore, is mostly concentrated in the center channel and front speakers, offering precious little to the rear channels or subwoofer. The soundtrack, meanwhile, seems to exist on a completely different audio track; piped in behind virtually every scene not involving death or dismemberment which amounts to sex and "workout" scenes , it serves a far more noble purpose - namely, to draw attention from the dialogue and the action on screen.

I'm actually regretting selling that soundtrack now, because I could have played it while the film was running and avoided the plot altogether. English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired and multilingual audiences. Score: 6 out of 10 Extras and Packaging Sliver comes in a standard Amaray case with a paper insert featuring a plot synopsis and technical information about the disc.

Other than the promise of an "Unrated" version of the film, there are no extras; while it's fantastic to watch Billy Baldwin go through the motions of balling Sharon Stone, even an EPK-style interview explaining the plot would have been welcome.

But then again, why drag this disaster on any longer? Bad, as I've said, is indeed sometimes merciful. Score: 0 out of Was this article informative? YES NO. In This Article. Sharon Stones stars in this murder mystery.