Fever (1999) is a psychological thriller by Alex Winter. Nick Parker (Henry Thomas) is a struggling young artist suffering a mental and physical breakdown. When a violent murder happens in his apartment building, it pushes him to the edge of sanity. Suspected by his sister (Terri Hatcher) and tracked by a police detective (Bill Duke), Parker begins to think he may have committed the murder himself except for the appearance of a mysterious drifter (David O'Hara) who has moved in upstairs. Is he a witness or a murderer, and was it all a setup or illusion? The bottom line is: Who can you trust when you can no longer trust yourself?
Reviews
- A.O. Scott in The New York Times: Pure Hitchcockian panic. An arresting example of what a talented filmmaker can do with the sparest of means.
- Godfrey Cheshire in Variety: An eerie, insinuating tale of urban dread and mental breakdown, [and] reps an impressively sophisticated solo directorial debut.
- Dennis Lim in the Village Voice: With the director's impeccably chic expressionism and Henry Thomas's persuasive, dread-soaked performance, Fever sustains a convincingly spooky ambience throughout. Winter achieves a degree of technical polish rare among American independents.
- Phil Hall, Film Threat Mediocre thriller about a starving artist suspected of murder.
Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival, 1999.
