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Title: Sliver (1993)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Sharon Stone | ... | Carly Norris | |
| William Baldwin | ... | Zeke Hawkins | |
| Tom Berenger | ... | Jack Landsford | |
| Polly Walker | ... | Vida Warren | |
| Colleen Camp | ... | Judy Marks | |
| Amanda Foreman | ... | Samantha Moore | |
| Martin Landau | ... | Alex Parsons | |
| CCH Pounder | ... | Lt. Victoria Hendrix | |
| Nina Foch | ... | Evelyn McEvoy | |
| Keene Curtis | ... | Gus Hale | |
| Nicholas Pryor | ... | Peter Farrell | |
| Anne Betancourt | ... | Jackie Kinsella | |
| Tony Peck | ... | Martin Kinsella | |
| Frantz Turner | ... | Doorman #1 | |
 |
Melvyn Kinder | ... | Dr. Palme (as Dr. Melvyn Kinder) |
In a daring attempt to start afresh after a dead-end marriage, the successful book editor, Carly Norris, moves into her elegant new apartment on the twentieth floor of a high-tech Manhattan apartment building. Unbeknownst to her that the luxurious "sliver" building comes with a terrible history of unsolved grisly murders, Carly catches the eye of both the burned-out crime novelist, Jack Landsford, and the shyly charming video-game designer, Zeke Hawkins. However, as a mysterious voyeur watches the tenants' every move, yet another female neighbor dies. Could Norris be next? Written by Nick Riganas
Decent acting doesn't salvage this poorly scripted, over-sexed, story of a 30-something woman (Stone) who seems to make all of the worse possible choices in places to live and boyfriends. "Sliver" is the beautiful but apparently haunted (or at least dangerous) apartment building she moves into on the rebound from a lengthy failed relationship. Vulnerable, Stone is almost immediately courted by her new neighbors - Berenger and Baldwin. Inexplicably, she doesn't even consider moving when she learns that several unresolved murders, suicides or accidental deaths have occurred in the building, including the former occupant of her own room who looked just like her. Both of her suitors are creepy and seem about as trustworthy as politicians, and it appears likely that at least one of them has committed some terrible crimes.
This film must have made a better grade b mystery/suspense novel than a movie. Not having read the book, I can only guess based on my experience with the pulp mystery genre that the film follows its plot closely. All of the main characters seem to be either sex addicts, perverts or impotent men, and this provides an opening for too many boring and unnecessary sex scenes. I suppose these were meant to fill in the gaps left by the vacuous plot and the uninspired script.
In terms of mystery, Sliver's central plot succeeds, as it does (somewhat but not completely) keep you guessing right up to the end. However, the plot would have made a much better 30 minute or hour-long episode of a TV detective show (minus the sex). Sliver is overloaded with baggage and filler - too many sex scenes, a little too much character development (especially considering how shallow, irrational and absurd most of the characters are) and not enough psychological realism.
Overall, I found the film slightly entertaining, but a little difficult to get all the way through.