Sliver is a 1993 American erotic thriller film based on the Ira Levinnovel of the same name about the mysterious occurrences in a privately owned New York high-rise sliver building. Phillip Noyce directed the film, from a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas. Because of a major battle with the MPAA, the filmmakers were forced to make extensive reshoots before release. These reshoots actually necessitated changing the killer's identity. The film stars Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, and Tom Berenger. When he signed on to direct the film, Phillip Noyce remarked "I liked the script a lot. Or at least, I liked the idea of jumping on the Joe Eszterhas bandwagon." The film opened to very poor reviews, but was a box office success, ranked as the #1 movie in America.
Plot
Carly Norris, a book editor and divorcee in her mid 30s, moves into the exclusive New York City sliver building "113". She meets other tenants including Zeke, a video game designer; Jack, a novelist; Vida, a fashion model who moonlights as a call girl; and Gus, a professor of videography at New York University. They tell Carly that she bears a striking resemblance to Naomi Singer, the previous tenant of her apartment who fell to her death from her balcony. After running into Zeke numerous times, Carly invites him to her housewarming party. Soon after they begin a sexual relationship. Meanwhile Jack starts stalking Carly and warning her about Zeke who he says is "sick". As Jack's behavior becomes more erratic, Gus and Vida die under suspicious circumstances. Zeke reveals to Carly that he is the owner of 113, which he bought with the inheritance of his wealthy father. As owner of 113, Zeke installed a comprehensive video surveillance system throughout the building, allowing him to spy on all of the tenants of 113 from his own secret surveillance room. Through deduction and eventually one of Zeke's secret recordings, Carly learns that Jack killed Naomi in a crime of passion. Jack was jealous of Zeke, who had sexual relations with Naomi and a number of other tenants in 113. Finally Jack attacks Carly in her own apartment, and she shoots him dead. Angry at Zeke for withholding evidence in Naomi's murder, and jealous of his liaisons with the other tenants, Carly destroys Zeke's surveillance room, tells him to "get a life", then leaves.
In the film, the tall and narrow sliver building is located at 113 East 38th Street in Manhattan, placing it at 38th Street and Park Avenue. The actual building used in the film is known as Morgan Court, located at 211 Madison Avenue New York, one block west and two blocks south of the fictional address. The building has since become a condominium development. It was built in 1985 and has 32 floors. While the movie made use of the building's courtyard, the lobby was a Los Angeles film set.
Original ending
In the film's original ending Zeke, instead of Jack, turns out to be the antagonist. He and Carly fly over a Hawaiian volcano when Zeke suddenly confesses his crimes. He then veers the aircraft into the volcano as the end credits roll and leaves the audience to decide whether they survive. The shooting of the final scene resulted in the crashing of the helicopter. After an investigation the pilot's certificate was temporarily suspended. The footage shot during the flight was destroyed. Preview audiences disliked the idea of Carly turning immoral: In the helicopter scene, she tells Zeke that the evidence against him is "somewhere safe", implying she is willing to cover up his crimes.
Release and reception
The film premiered on May 19, 1993, at Mann National Theatre in Los Angeles. It was released two days later, on May 21, and received negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 11% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 3.61/10. The site's critics consensus reads "Sliver is an absurd erotic thriller with technobabble and posits prime Sharon Stone as a professional book nerd." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". The main criticisms were that the film provided little in the way of compelling thriller elements, that it diluted some of the plot of the novel, and that the actors were not on form. Many also singled out the editing and ending, calling the latter hasty and unconvincing. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "C-" on a scale from A+ to F.
MPAA ratings issues
According to a Showtime special about the film before the late-night premiere showing of the original NC-17 version, the debate over the NC-17 versus R-rating was linked solely to the display of male frontal nudity. However, when Paramount released the unrated version to video there was no male frontal nudity included, though the sex scenes were considerably more graphic.
Box office
The film debuted at No. 1 at the box office making $12.1 million in 2,093 theaters. By the second week the box office taking dropped to No. 6. Sliver eventually grossed $36.3 million domestically and $87.6 million internationally to a total of $123.9 million worldwide.
Home video releases
When originally released on VHS, the film was released in both an R-rated and an unrated version. In March 2006, to coincide with the theatrical release of Basic Instinct 2, which starred Stone, Sliver was released on DVD. Only the unrated cut was made commercially available, but the R-rated cut was distributed for rental. There are no special features and although the film was presented theatrically in the 2.35 aspect ratio, the DVD features a matted, 2.10 aspect ratio transfer. The picture quality of the disc has been criticized by reviewers for what was felt to be an unusually high amount of dirt and scratches for a film that was 12 years old at the time of the DVD's release. In 2013, the film was released on Blu-ray Disc, using the same matted 2.10 aspect ratio version of the R-rated theatrical cut.
