Sliver (Phillip Noyce, 1993)

[domino harvey]

It's OK, I'll pick up domino's slack on this one as I had not picked this up before now, and mainly want to do so because its one of the trifecta of erotically charged thrillers from that time that featured the music of Enigma on its soundtrack! (The big one being Sliver of course, which has songs written especially for the film, but as with Single White Female, Boxing Helena also used Sadeness Part 1)

I mean, it's a fantastic movie that everyone should own, so if anyone doesn't already have the Shout Factory disc, grab this for sure!

I'm sure Sliver will receive a three disc $100 UHD with a working surveillance camera slipbox from one of the usual suspects in a few year's time

[colinr0380]

I know there have been some disparaging comments about the convincing nature of a certain Billy Baldwin's erotic prowess made by Ms Stone recently but that kind of works for a film where the men are big techno-dorks too interested in their screens than the flesh-and-blood heroine when she's right there in front of them. I'm a big fan of Sliver, not just for the Enigma connection but also because of being based on an Ira Levin novel and even using the same location for the apartment as the one in Rosemary's Baby! So I would be looking forward to the pipedream of a UHD edition, if only to finally get to see the film in its proper aspect ratio and not a pan-and-scan one!

[domino harvey]

Not sure if it had the same level of exposure in the UK, but how could you not mention the UB40 video from Sliver, that aired pretty much on a continuous loop in the early to mid 90s on VH1?

[The Curious Sofa]

I know there have been some disparaging comments about the convincing nature of a certain Billy Baldwin's erotic prowess made by Ms Stone recently but that kind of works for a film where the men are big techno-dorks too interested in their screens than the flesh-and-blood heroine when she's right there in front of them. I'm a big fan of Sliver, not just for the Enigma connection but also because of being based on an Ira Levin novel and even using the same location for the apartment as the one in Rosemary's Baby! So I would be looking forward to the pipedream of a UHD edition, if only to finally get to see the film in its proper aspect ratio and not a pan-and-scan one!

Karina Longworth also seems to be a fan, she devoted much of an episode to Sliver in her podcast series Erotic 90s. Of course Single White Female also features.

[John Cope]

I'm also a big fan of Sliver and have been since its original release. It's profoundly underrated and misunderstood afaic. My dream video release would have to include a cleaned up version of the workprint which is a tremendously different film (including a different killer) and features the rather famous "helicopter flying into a volcano ending", which is really kind of awesome. I'm not sure which version I prefer actually but the workprint as it stands is in terrible condition and needs the kind of restoration it ain't likely to ever receive. Thankfully, anyway, it is at least available to view (on ok.ru)

MOD EDIT: Please do not directly link to copyrighted films

[thirtyframesasecond]

Not sure if it had the same level of exposure in the UK, but how could you not mention the UB40 video from Sliver, that aired pretty much on a continuous loop in the early to mid 90s on VH1?

That was a big hit in the UK, number one as it was in the US. I could never, ever understand what Ali Campbell was singing. Then they got mired in legal issues when Campbell left.

[colinr0380]

I'm also a big fan of Sliver and have been since its original release. It's profoundly underrated and misunderstood afaic. My dream video release would have to include a cleaned up version of the workprint which is a tremendously different film (including a different killer) and features the rather famous "helicopter flying into a volcano ending", which is really kind of awesome. I'm not sure which version I prefer actually but the workprint as it stands is in terrible condition and needs the kind of restoration it ain't likely to ever receive. Thankfully, anyway, it is at least available to view

I had not been aware of this and would certainly like to see that in better quality! What a strangely perverse ending too, which whilst it would have been a neat and unexpected twist on the expected climax to this kind of material, I would bet would not have gone down well with test audiences! Interesting to see that Enigma's Age of Loneliness (aka Carly's Song) was originally used for both the opening credits and helicopter ending (although maybe with it being a workprint it was just a placeholder, though it works nicely there), and then in the final theatrical release it just plays over the revised opening credits and different initial murder victim! I kind of love that theatrical opening because it well captures the moody sensuality (along with the seductive thrill of voyeurism, which is the main theme of the film) as well as opening the film with a giallo-esque bang! (Although I also wonder if there is a sly reference to the opening of 1981's Ghost Story going on there too!)

Which itself immediately ties the film in thematically with the other Ira Levin works like Rosemary's Baby or The Stepford Wives in the sense that we as the audience are just being given the briefest glimpse of the tail end of some horrible fate befalling the last tenant before our oblivious main character (who has a suspiciously interchangeable look to the last anonymous woman) walks into the situation, and herself begins to find out about the nefarious activities going on within! And just why that exclusive apartment that she otherwise would have had no hope of renting suddenly became available at a steal!