Shivers (1975)
Genre: Horror / Scifi
Duration: 87 minuten
Alternative titles: They Came from Within / The Parasite Murders / Huivering
Country:
Canada
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Stars: Paul Hampton, Joe Silver and Barbara Steele
IMDb score:
6,3 (26.395)
Releasedate: 10 October 1975
Shivers plot
"Going mad is just the beginning of the terror …"
A wacky scientist develops a parasite that he hopes will benefit humanity. But the parasite runs wild and infects the inhabitants of a large apartment building...
Actors and actresses
Roger St. Luc
Rollo Linsky
Nurse Forsythe
Betts
Nicholas Tudor
Janine Tudor
Ronald Merrick
Detective Heller
Kresimer Sviben
Reviews & comments
Chainsaw
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- 8845 messages
- 3690 votes
Reminded me of Night of the Creeps by Fred Dekker, in which a snail-like creature also turns people into zombies. Only this time the living dead are huge horny cousins. Shivers, one of David Cronenberg's first films, was visibly made quite cheaply. The acting is quite sad (that French couple) and in terms of effects they don't get much further than some fake blood and often quite bad editing to hide something. The biggest effect in the film seems to be the red dog turd on a string as the large, evil parasite. The premise is interesting and, as is often the case with Cronenberg's films, the beginning and end are quite strong. However, the middle part regularly collapses like a pudding; it often looks a bit rudderless and scenes sometimes seem endless. But especially the battle scenes are very clumsy. It's a pretty fun twist on the zombie genre and it's easy to imagine that this debut and its controversy portrayed Cronenberg both positively and negatively as a filmmaker. But it's not a good movie.
2.5 stars.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Shadowed
-
- 11670 messages
- 6867 votes
Tragic Cronenberg.
It is hard to deny that Shivers is a fairly typical film for Cronenberg, but I found it a disappointing whole. It should be clear that Cronenberg still had to start somewhere and Shivers was actually the beginning. The hand of Cronenberg can be recognized here mainly by the filth.
Shivers is actually a very typical start for the best man. For fans there must be enough to discover to bring it to a good result as a whole. The problem, however, is that I'm not a fan of Cronenberg. Give me his son instead, because he combines a colorful visual style almost seamlessly with steely body horror. This Shivers is mostly broke.
The filth is hard to take away from the film and there are quite nice moments that are overshadowed by the poor quality and slow form of horror. The acting is really abysmal and there is no flow anywhere in the film. I was actually completely bored through the film, and then 87 minutes quickly takes a very long time.
As long as Cronenberg can spend some money and just stick to body horror, he'll be fine. This movie is too cheap to be a good body horror. That is not to say that a film can be written off immediately, but I found the direction here far too serious and painfully uncreative. You would hardly say that a great director is behind the helm here.
Boring, boring and slow movie. In advance, such a film about a parasite infection seems quite fun and digestible, but if Cronenberg is not your director, you will probably not experience too much of this. At least when the film was over I was happy to cross off at least one more film from his career.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Bobbejaantje
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- 2365 messages
- 2119 votes
Well made for a small budget. In terms of theme and effect, this is vintage Croonenberg. In any case, it is vintage because it is one of his first films from a bygone era. The special effects are nicely done and the subcutaneous (well) tension is good. A virus that infects people and makes them sexually licentious… yes, that is another cool wink with a socially critical side. The actors are great at what they do. Also enjoyed the setting in the building designed by Mies van der Rohe. That's what you get as a viewer. Nice!
According to David Croonenberg himself, this is where Alien got the mustard for her body horror. And don't blame him. Alien would become a classic, but this Shivers is cult at most.
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