User Reviews

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.

Extremely atmospheric thriller starts out great, as young artist (Thomas) living in hellish urban apartment grows more and more paranoid as other tenants end up dead. The high production value and Thomas' performance maintain the interest, but the script -- reminiscent of other, better pictures -- goes nowhere fast, with a been there, done that "surprize" ending you can predict 20 minutes into the film. Seriously ruined by a slapped on, cop-out finale that leaves you furious and unsatisfied.

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.

Fever is an unusual movie for today's moviegoers, slow, disguieting and legitimately frightening. Henry Thomas plays a neurotic urban artist, barely eking out a living and refusing the help of friends and family. A murder in his squalid apartment building knocks the artist off kilter and begins an increasingly paranoid and hallucinatory chain of events. Thomas's performance is an amazing balance of subtlety and intensity. He has the difficult task of appearing in almost every frame and we never grow tired of his presence. Instead the audience is pulled into the mind of this suffering character and forced to confront his demons and dilemmas. The film does not set out to ask "whodunnit", rather to make us experience the singular nightmare of a struggling and sensitive young man alone in the modern world.

Anyone who imagined Alex Winter to be as dull-witted as Excellent Adventure's Bill (or Keanu Reeves for that matter) is in for a surprise. His writing and direction in Fever is intricate and carefully put together. He has created a film that is incredibly haunting and disturbing, and this is his directing debut. Henry Thomas' performance is perfect. His acting is just subtle enough to indicate the danger of his character toppling over the edge. Winter and Thomas show that well-developed talent can always outlast time.

**SPOILERS** Deep psychological suspense/drama set in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn with a murder of a landlord that later escalates into a world of insanity as well as the unknown for one of the tenant's in the building.

Sidney Miskowitz, Sandor Tecsy, is found murdered in his apartment one late evening just hours before Sidney has a bitter argument with one of his tenants Leonard Wooley, Jon Tracy. It's later thought by the police and almost everyone else in the building that Wooley is Sidney's killer. One of the tenants in the building art teacher Nick Parker, Henry Thomas, was a witness to the fight between Sidney and Wooley and is later called by the police as their star witness in the murder.

At first you think your watching a murder/police drama until Nick goes upstairs to talk to his new neighbor Will, David O'Hera. It's then that things really start to get weird. Nick asks Will, the night of the murder, that he's disturbing him in doing his work by making load noises and to please stop. Will lets Nick have it about it being none of his business to what he's doing and almost throws him out of his apartment.

Later that morning when the police are called to investigate Sidney's murder Nick tells NYPD Det. Glass, Bill Duke, about Will living upstairs and being a possible suspect and is shocked to find that Will doesn't live there and In fact the upstairs apartment is empty! You then start to realize that this Will may just be a figment of Nicks imagination. We keep seeing Nick go upstairs and talk to Will, who supposedly is not there, and Will comes across as a man totally out of touch with reality.

Will feels that the Nazis are in control of the world and that the ancient Gnostics are the real power behind every government on earth. This makes Nick, like those of us watching, feel that this guy is a can or two short of a six-pack when it comes to his mental reasoning.

As the movie goes on it becomes apparent that Nick is suffering from some kind of breakdown but what exactly is causing it? Later Mrs. Miskowitz, Sidney's 80 year-old mom, is also found dead by Nick who's now sure that Will murdered her just like her son Sidney. Sometime later Nick looks out of his window and sees a crazed and disheveled looking Will leaving the apartment in a hush with his duffel bag. Nick is now certain that he must have murdered Mrs. Miskowitz, as well as her son Sidney, and is trying to escape from being arrested by the police.

Quickly following Will onto the subway Nick Confronts Will between cars and ends up stabbing him to death. Scared almost to death himself Nick thinks that he was seen by a witness in the adjoining subway car stabbing Will and then makes his way outside on the street only to be picked up by the police! Not for Will's murder but for being a bit lost and out of his mind.

It's not until the very last few minutes in the film that you realize just what's wrong with Nick; His past has finally caught up with him. Nick indeed did witness a horrible event but not of the Miskowitz's or of the imaginary Will but of someone very dear and close to him. It may very well have been the murder of Sidney Miskowitz being so close to home that brought all this out.

Carrying this guilt with him all his adult life Nick tried to hide it in his subconscious mind all these years. When it finally broke out and he was at last forced to face what he did. It was that dark and deadly secret that Nick kept hidden so deeply from himself all that time that in the end, when it finally resurfaced, drove Nick to lose not only his mind but later even his life.

To put it plainly, the movie revolves around this artist, who is so deeply disturbed by the gruesome murders of his landlord and his (landlord's) mother, that he becomes pallid and starts hallucinating. Now, why do the murders have such febrile effects on him and does he actually hallucinate, is where lies the suspense of the movie. Though a fairly simple movie with just a handful of characters, ‘FEVER' can be put under the rubric of scary movies. There is always an air of eeriness throughout the movie, with an abrupt ‘shocking' scene popping up every now and then, with a high potential to chill the bones most of the viewers. Much of the credit for what the movie is, should be given to the acting, mainly of the prime two characters, ‘Nick' and ‘Will', played by Henry Thomas and David O'Hara respectively. While Henry Thomas does a pretty good job of a person ‘spooked' by the murders in the movie, it is David O'Hara, who puts up a splendid performance, by acting as a mentally deranged, ‘psycho' Irishman, who is a sailor, and is a staunch believer of Nazism. The presence of such a character in the movie actually makes it spookier, than it already is. Along with good acting, the direction is pretty decent, too, maintaining just the right amount of the funereal atmosphere throughout, without going overboard with gory details. However, worth mentioning is this particular scene, which can be said as the pivotal scene of the movie, in which ‘Nick' encounters ‘Will', in a train: Though there is very little flaw in the direction in the rest of the movie, this particular scene, especially being a crucial one, is so grossly misdirected, that it ruins the build-up to it. Either this scene should have had more attention paid to the minor details, which are seriously flawed, (and do much damage to it) or else, it could've done without the backdrop of an underground train-ride, and could have done with a much less complicated backdrop.

The movie has all the elements of a spook-thriller, and is scary from the beginning to the end, building up to a good suspense. The overall feel of the movie is also well maintained, without trying to give too much detail to gore, and primarily paying attention to maintain the stolid and chilling atmosphere, in a very subtle manner.

Rating:7/10

One of the joys of buying two dollar DVDs in trash and treasure stores is that now and then you hit on something really good. That's how I came across "Fever". This is a compelling movie on just about every level. Although some of the elements have cropped up in other movies, "Fever" is original enough to make it quite unique.

The film is set in New York. Nick Parker played by Henry Thomas, an art instructor at a local community centre, lives in a run down apartment block. We learn that Nick is a troubled man, haunted by events from his past. Nick becomes more unhinged when the old landlady of his apartment block and her janitor husband are brutally murdered. A detective questions Nick, because he had witnessed a fight between another resident and the murdered couple the day of the murders.

Nick also encounters Will, who has moved into the apartment above him. Will seems to have insights into Nick's character and challenges him intellectually. Although Nick tells the police that Will also witnessed the fight between the other resident and the janitor, there is no sign that anyone lives in the apartment above him.

Nick seems to be losing his grip on reality. Nick's family, especially his sister Charlotte, played by Teri Hatcher, is concerned about him, but he resents their intrusion. When Nick becomes more agitated and encounters Will on an eerie train ride, it precipitates the climax of the film where some, but not all the questions are answered.

"Fever" has a great story, convincing performances and no shortage of style. There seems to be some interesting influences: the death of the old Polish landlady smacks of Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment", while the beautifully shot scenes of New York with cityscapes contrasted with the dilapidated interiors of Nick's apartment block, have the same mysterious, static quality as Edward Hopper's paintings - the exterior of the apartment block has a character all it's own.

Interestingly, the relationship between Nick and Will, although treated with a certain amount of ambiguity until the end, has similarities with the Russell Crow and Paul Bettany characters from "A Beautiful Mind", made a couple of years later.

As for the cast, Teri Hatcher lights up any movie she is in and gives this one a touch of class. Henry Thomas is fine as the troubled Nick, and David O'Hara is unsettling as Will.

Although Hitchcock and Polanski come to mind, "Fever" is its own movie, and for those who like a thriller that is edgy, with heaps of atmosphere, then go no further than this stylish film.

I was completely unprepared for this surprisingly well made thriller. The films stars Henry Thomas as Nick Parker a struggling painter living in a realistically terrible New York Apartment building. Nick lives at the poverty line, his only income being continuing education classes he teaches at a community college. Early in the film a terrible murder occurs in his building and Nick and the audience spend the rest of the film coming to terms with what may have really happened.

The film was written and directed by Alex Winter, most famous as the star of The Bill and Ted films, from this effort he has great promise to become a major director. He works extremely well here with the actors getting good performances from Thomas, Teri Hatcher, Bill Duke and David O'Hara. It is the cinematography by Joe DeSalvo that lifts this film to the level of something truly special. DeSalvo manages to capture shots of the New York skyline that seem unprecedented in American film and his interior work is remarkable evocative and reminiscent of the very best work of Gordon Willis and John Alonzo. Surprisingly this is the last film DeSalvo has made (it is now 2003) I am not sure why this is, but, one hopes he will have a long and prosperous c

Fever is a difficult film, and I mean that in a good way. I think the director is creating a story about the raw emotions and desires in a young man caught in the modern world. We follow a painter in New York City who is not able to achieve his goals and dreams, and as a result, escapes into an alternate reality. However, this reality is as much of nightmare as his waking life. If not worse. Like Lynch and Cocteau, Winter forces us into this man's subconcious, and asks us to feel the terror and despair that affects this confused mind. I really enjoyed the trip.

Alex Winter's "Fever" is one of the creepiest independent thrillers I have ever seen.Nick Parker,a struggling young painter,is suffering a mental and physical breakdown.When a violent murder occurs in his apartment building,Nick begins to suspect that he may have committed the crime himself.From this event begins the downward spiral of paranoia and illness that ends in the horrifying climax.The film is extremely atmospheric as it looks almost like painting.The hallucinations of Nick are undeniably creepy.The photography by Joe DeSalvo is excellent and the production design adds a lot to the atmosphere.The film is pretty tough to find,but if you get a chance watch it.Highly recommended.

For its mere 90 minutes, this film packs a lot of punch. Intriguing, beguiling story ... excellent cinematography ... first rate sets ... solid, even direction ... all around good acting ... wonderfully ambiguous ending. Total treat!

I saw this most unusual and moving film at the Raindance festival in London last year. Slow paced, yes. Boring? For me, no. A young artist, Nick Parker, (an excellent, sensitive Henry Thomas) teaches drawing in a run-down area of the Bronx. and his surroundings are depressing him to the point of nervous breakdown, or worse! A murder in his apartment affects him deeply and attempts by his sister (a well-judged performance by Teri Hatcher) to communicate with him are offset by his growing mistrust of his own senses. This film has qualities that repay the patience needed to appreciate them. The cinematography is responsible for much of the film's impact and the high level of acting all round builds the tension nicely, together with Alex Winter's splendid screenplay. I was impressed by it's intelligent and realistic portrayal of a descent into insanity.

I'm quite familiar with the name "Alex Winter," and it actually has very little to do with "Bill and Ted." I remember "The Idiot Box," and I loved "Freaked," although few people I know have ever even heard of it, and I hope that now, with the release of "Fever," more people will remember Mr. Winter for something other than the "Bill and Ted" movies. "Fever" is a haunting film, sparked by excellent performances from Henry Thomas and David O'Hara, as well as by Winter's brilliant direction. The old-fashioned stationary camera shots, together with the powerful (if bleak) cinematography, combine to create an affecting, often unsettling whole. Alex Winter seems to know New York pretty well - and as a native, I should know. For example, the shots of the N.Y.C. skyline looking dusky, seared and ominous rather than, as in so (too) many films, impossibly grand and inspiring, help us to see Nick's surroundings in the same skewed and frightening way he does, which in turn gives us a better understanding of his paranoia.

I waited months to see this film, as it was never released in Boulder theaters. I looked up the video release date, made a note of it, and rented it as soon as it was available. I was not disappointed. The only letdown is knowing that I will have to wait awhile for Alex Winter to write and direct another film. For my sake at least, I hope he hurries.

I saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival. It blew me away. It's a really detailed examination of paranoia and psychosis - without spoiling the story. I was really impressed with the way the film looked, and the quality of the acting. Alex Winter is from my home town (St. Louis) and I was surprised by how different this film was from his older comedy work. It's a deeply thought-out film, different in a lot of ways from everything else that's out there in the indie scene right now. It takes its subject matter seriously, and doesn't treat the audience like idiots. I had some problems with the pacing of the film - it's slow in some places. And it could have used more of a soundtrack. But it's a really cool movie in spite of its weaknesses. The weird images stayed with me for weeks afterwards. They haunt your dreams.

This film proves that you don't need a huge budget and a slew of special effects to scare the audience. The film is dark and creepy, very claustrophobic.

Nick is an undiscovered artist living in a rundown building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He's losing his part time job, and is already so broke that he doesn't have a phone. His life is spiraling downward.

Somebody is murdering people in Nick's building. He hears strange noises through the walls. There's a mysterious man in the supposedly empty apartment upstairs, but nobody else seems to know he's there. Nick is not feeling well. He's feverish. He might be imagining all this. Perhaps he's not. Strange things keep happening -- sometimes just little things -- that make everything feel tilted and out of control. The film feels sort of like "Eraserhead" meets the "Sixth Sense". When I came out of the theater I took a big gulp of fresh air and looked all around me to reassure myself that real life was nothing like this movie.

Simply put, Alex Winter is a genius. Thank you for taking me on this journey. "Fever" is a film any film lover should see with an open mind. Eyes open, ears tuned in... Enter this beautifully atmospheric film... It's unfortunate that it's from another time... ahead of this one. A super film, and a great dvd too! Make some more, Alex! Keep it personal, and don't compromise. This film rocked like Elvis and David Bowie rockin' in New Orleans! Dark, dynamic, and visionary!

To sum-up: Fever is a very dark, shadow-filled look into the formation of emotional disease and discomfort. The acting is very good on Henry Thomas' part as well as the direction by Alex Winter (Bill from the infamous Bill & Ted films) but the storyline has a few out-of-place moments and enough awkwardness to make even the sleepiest of viewers cringe.

Pro's & con's:

+ Henry Thomas' performance (you'll have trouble believing that it's the kid from E.T.)

+ Alex Winter's high quality and sometimes colorful directing style (including some nice, steady camera work which was more fitting for a film like this)

• Very cheap visual effects

• By the time it ends you'll feel like you've wasted your time

One of those long-forgotten low budget late 1990s movies that hasn't aged too well. Notable for being directed by actor Alex Winter. The story sees all-grown-up Henry Thomas playing a haunted artist living in an apartment who gets implicated in a string of murders within the building. Lots of mystery and attempts at atmosphere that don't really pay off as it's just too cheap and dawdling to be of interest. The supporting cast, including Bill Duke, David O'Hara and Teri Hatcher, must have wondered what they were doing there.

The man behind Bill from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure steps behind the camera for the second time and offers us Fever. A claustrophobic and dark tale of a man who can't sleep and when he does he dreams about his mothers death. Soon he is haunted by a neighbor who lives upstairs and may be responsible for a series of murders. Now Nick Parter (Thomas) must prove that he is not the killer before he loses his freedom and sanity. A great film all the way around. Check it out!!!!!!!!!!

Well......that was a strange movie about an artist with a fragmented mind. The story took us through the painters brief encounter with a murder n his unsure state of whether or not he did indeed commit the murder.

The acting was good n the characters were great.

There was plenty of tense action n suspense throughout.

The ending was a little confusing n abrupt but did not quite bring the story together. It was still good nonetheless.

I recommend this movie especially if you like suspense n drama.

Fever is a movie that appears very shallow at first glance, but is actually quite complex.

The plot is a little confusing, but after a close look; not all that difficult to get. An artist (Nick Parker) is struggling to keep his job as an art instructor. After a grisly murder at his apartment, he begins to slip slowly into insanity.

Henry Thomas was OK as Nick Parker. I think they could have gotten someone else to play him, but Thomas wasn't really bad, so to speak. David O'Hara (The Departed) was really good as Will, Nick's neighbor and new slightly insane, creepy friend. Probably my favorite character. Teri Hatcher was very good as Charlotte Parker, Nick's worried, caring sister. You really sympathize with her throughout the entire movie. Bill Duke (Predator) was also very good as Detective Glass.

The lighting was what really set the mood for the film. As Nick's sanity vanishes slowly, scenes tend to be darker. And with a low-tone music score added to it, you have a very dark film.

Not a bad film, see it before you judge it. 7/10.

Being a big fan of bill and ted back in my teen years, I was very interested to see what sort of writer/director Alex winter had become. After seeing this, I'm amazed his resume is so light and he has not made or written more movies. While this wasn't brilliant, this was a very atmospheric dark film about a guy trying to make ends meet and living in a slumflat. Henry Thomas was great in the lead role ably directed by Winter who keeps the suspense for the whole movie so that even when the credits roll, many questions still remain. With more efforts like this, hopefully Winter will move out Keano's shadow and not just be remembered for being a airhead who did fake guitar riffs.

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.

Man this movie is a great ride. Weird story, strange characters. Why isn't this on general release, with all the junk that's out there these days? This flick scared the hell out of me. I didn't know what was a dream and what was real.