Fever (1999)

It took me 14 years since the movie's theatrical release in November 2000 to sit through and watch this film written and directed by Alex Winter (best know for starring as Bill in the two film set Bill& Ted's Excellent Adventure and the movie sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey). For the greater percentage of films that make it out to a general release if the director is also the primary writer, the film will not do well at the box office, and for good reason. Writer's who want to direct, and/or director's who want to write a screenplay have a unique perspective that they want full control to present to their audience. Quite frankly, the audience does not want to see a unique "artistic perspective", we want to be entertained.I read the majority of complimentary reviews of this film that were written a dozen years or so ago, and they all said how talented Alex Winter was as both a writer and director, some comparing his style to Alfred Hitchcock. Oh please, were these reviews written by Alex Winters' close friends and family? If not then roll forward to 14 years later in 2014 and look at Alex winters body of work as either a writer or director and you will see that Hollywood has not been banging down his door with financial backing for any subsequent films.I rated the film as high as a 4 out of 10 only because of the strong performance of the lead actor Henry Thomas. Unfortunately although Thomas's performance was very real, his face appeared in 95% of the film and his psychotic and delusional behavior was irritating. I also found the lack of any notable musical score presented the film more as a documentary style (which it was not trying to be) than as a thriller. Alex Winter kept throwing in scenes that attempted to provide a film noir, "Hitchcock" approach, but in my opinion the film suffered even more so as a result.After 14 years since its release and over 500 viewers scoring this films average rating of 6.1, I believe this is a very generous IMDb score. I will not be recommending this film to anyone to waste their time watching, even with the attractive Teri Hatcher playing Henry Thomas's sane sister.Some viewers may enjoy this type of film premise of a disturbed young man who experiences dream sequences (or are they real?) and coming in and out of reality but it certainly is not my cup of tea. I say pass on this attempt at film noir. I give it a 4 out of 10 and this is generous only due to the good performance of Henry Thomas.

This is an amazing little film. Deserving of more attention (if at least not a better rating guys!). Rented it with friends in the States and we were all caught in its dark, tragic web. Now we are trying to find other films from this director. Stands up to the best Indies from outside the US and head and shoulders above the general product from that country. If you like Lynch, you'll love this one.

Winter doesn't seem to have his head around the screenplay for "Fever", a dark and morose drama about a young, disturbed NYC slum dwelling artist (Thomas) who is caught up in a trio of murders . The film paints a portrait so nebulous as to leave many questions unanswered as it plods toward an unsatisfying conclusion with a sort of Hitchcockesque style. Unfortunately we're not given reason to care about the principle and are left to wait for the other shoe to drop all the way to rolling credits. "Fever" is an okay watch technically and artistically which offers solid performances. However, the screenplay misses opportunities to put more meat on the bones of a story with unrealized potential. Okay fodder for couch potatoes into quirky film noir psychodramas.

Fever is an exceptionally well-crafted film which creates its own, dream-like world. The story is sparse, but revolves around a struggling young painter who lives in a run-down apartment building in New York City. He is already suffering from many anxieties and hardships, and when a murder occurs in his building, he begins to come completely unhinged. Some friends I saw it with compared it to Polanski or the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink. It's easy to see the comparisons, but this film is more quiet and has a subtle, creeping effect on the audience. It also has a surprising amount of heart for a disturbing thriller of its kind. I really cared about the fate of the protagonist - who is brilliantly portrayed by ET's Henry Thomas. The other actors are excellent as well, particularly David O' Hara as an enigmatic drifter and Teri Hatcher as the artist's sympathetic sister. The look and sound of the film are totally unique. The imagery is rich and beautiful, and the sound effects and music are deceptively complex and effective. I don't know when this film is going on general release, but I hope it's given a good distribution because it's a powerful, uncommonly sophisticated little gem of a movie.