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A flaccid erotic thriller that’s more hilarious than horny throws streaming fans a bone

A decidedly flaccid attempt at mining a steamy genre for genuine thrills.

sliver
via Paramount

The late 1980s through the the mid 1990s was truly the Golden Age of the erotic thriller, with several high-profile movies merging titillation with triumph to yield major critical and commercial rewards. Despite the pedigree of talent involved on either side of the camera, though, 1993’s Sliver was not one of them.

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Initially slapped with the dreaded NC-17 rating, extensive reshoots were ordered to try and whittle down the saucier elements of the story, which had the unwanted side effect of completely butchering the original narrative. As a result, director Phillip Noyce’s vision flopped out with critics, ending up with a 15 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and seven Razzie nominations in every single one of the major categories.

sliver
via Paramount

It was admittedly a hit at the box office after earning $116 million on a $40 million budget, because sex sells no matter how vanilla it proves to be. Taking that sentiment and running with it, Sliver has thrown a bone to Prime Video subscribers this week by thrusting its way onto the platform’s most-watched list, even if there’s not much to be found within in terms of either thrills or erotica.

Sharon Stone’s book editor moves into a new building, only to discover the flaws in her homeowner’s research upon finding out a number of women have died horrible deaths. With a potential serial killer on the loose, she throws caution to the wind and ends up having a fling with William Baldwin’s owner, with Tom Berenger’s neighbor also making eyes from across the hall.

Even the identity of the culprit was changed in post-production, but you’ll have probably lost interest long before then.