The performance of Sharon Stone in this erotic thriller from the 1990s is comparable to “Basic Instinct.”

Sam Dalmas feels defenseless as he watches a victim writhe in pain from what looks to have been an attempted murder while standing behind a glass door in a crucial scene from Dario Argento’s film The Bird With the Crystal Plumage. The thriller and voyeurism are strongly related, particularly in masterpieces like Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Released in 1993, during the brief period of sexual thrillers that had mixed popularity after Basic Instinct, Sliver included themes of obsession and voyeurism that have long been prevalent in the genre.

Sliver, one of those sensual thrillers that merits much more acclaim than derision, was dismissed by many critics when it was first released. Some were surprised by what some called a more “passive” part after seeing Sharon Stone’s portrayal of femme fatale Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct. Although Stone’s portrayal of book editor Carly Norris differs from her role in Basic Instinct, many actresses have adopted this role, including Edwige Fenech, as someone who mysteriously becomes entangled in a web of intrigue and infatuation.

Sliver fully utilizes a number of well-known ideas that have been used in the thriller genre throughout its plot. The first of these is the location where a large portion of the movie is situated. Professional book editor Carly Norris (Sharon Stone) lives into a posh high-rise apartment complex in New York. A significant amount of mystery is made possible by the towering building, its diversified tenant base, and a mysterious murder that occurred before Carly moved there.

As the building becomes the main focus of the story and each resident appears to have their own innate vices, fans of Roman Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy” (Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, and The resident) may find some parallels. When one of the tenants is unexplainably discovered dead outside the building, Carly arrives to observe the arrival of investigators in the aftermath of the tragedy, a deft reference to Rosemary’s Baby is made.

Voyeurism is Sliver’s central concept. The private lives of everyone who lives in the building, even those who reside outside, are scrutinized closely, or through a lens in this case. After moving in, Carly throws a cocktail party when the idea of looking into private lives is introduced. She receives a telescope from a secret admirer, which she uses to amuse herself and her visitors as they observe the activities of the people who inhabit in the building across from her. Sliver expands on this idea and applies it to the contemporary day with a not-so-subtle homage to Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

In the thriller, Zeke Hawkins (played by William Baldwin) and a sophisticated camera system enable him to keep an eye on the intimate lives of the people who dwell in the apartment complex, modernizing voyeurism. At the time of its publication, Sliver was criticized for what some called Zeke’s absurd monitoring system. The public’s love with reality television is evident when seeing Sliver through a contemporary lens; Zeke even brags that it’s “better than any soap opera.” Nowadays, it’s commonplace for many real-life television shows to depict private lives and reveal all secrets to unsuspecting viewers.