Summary:
A strain of parasites infects a high-rise apartment complex and turns the residents into sex-crazed fiends.
My Thoughts:
In my experience, most cinephiles associate Cronenberg, with two things: body-horror and weird sex stuff. Well guess what? “Shivers” has the best of both worlds!
“Shivers” is Cronenberg’s official debut- he’d done a slew of short films, TV episodes, and made for TV movies and documentaries, but this was the first feature film. I have to say, this would be a darned impressive debut for anyone, but for Cronenberg, it seems a harbinger of horrors to come. Some of the body-horror stuff he does in this film hints at what he’d perfect in “The Fly” and “eXistenZ”, some of the weird sex stuff is further expounded upon in “Videodrome” and “Dead Ringers”, but “Shivers” laid a firm foundation for his career. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t heard more about this movie before I watched it; I thought it was better than both “Rabid” and “The Brood”, both of which I’d been recommended and seen before I’d ever heard mention of this film. Besides my roommate with whom I watched this, I’m the only one I know who has seen “Shivers”, and that’s too bad. This movie certainly deserves a bigger audience.
“He tells me that everything is erotic, that everything is sexual. You know what I mean?”
The residents of Starliner Towers, an island apartment high rise, are suddenly subjected to a wave of parasites that cause their hosts to engage in compulsive sexual behavior, and eventually die.
This movie starts off pretty rough. Right away, we see a Doctor (Emil Hobbes, “Scanners”) murder a young woman (Cathy Graham), slice open her stomach, and pour acid over her guts. You might be saying to yourself, “Woah, pump the horror breaks, Cronenberg! You’re doing some pretty messed up stuff and this is only the second scene of your first feature.”
Oh, just wait, it gets worse.
From there we move to meet one of our main characters Nicholas Tudor (Allan Kolman, “Se7en”), whom, as he readies himself for his day, seems preoccupied with a pain in his stomach. We also meet two other main characters, Dr. Roger St. Luc (Paul Hampton, “Heartbreak Ridge”) and Nurse Forsythe (Lynn Lowry, “Cat People (1982)”). Soon, people are vomiting slugs, watching snakes writhe beneath their skin, and fighting off sex-crazed rapists with kitchen utensils.
This is one of those films that borders on schlock, but manages, through clever writing and impressive practical effects, to transcend its subject, transcend the shaky filmmaking, and become a true work of art. The basic premise for this film reminded me a lot of “It Follows” (both revolve around a parasite/monster thing that is sexually transmitted). “It Follows” is a classier production by far, and probably better written (they quoted Dostoyevsky! I don’t know how many horror films can do that and make it work) though this film, surprisingly, is far more chaotic.
This first act of this film is brilliantly paced, and by the second act, we’ve started to see some things that are truly impressive for a low budget film. As I mentioned above, this film hints at the horrors to come from Cronenberg, but though his body-horror stuff in this movie doesn’t touch the craziness of “The Fly”, the way Cronenberg uses those practical effects is essential to the tone of the film. As I watch Nicholas Tudor talking to his parasite as it moved about in his stomach, I felt myself shiver at the grossness of what I was seeing, and for body-horror fans, that’s exactly what we want.
I do have to say the third act of this movie almost goes off the rails in the same way that “Rabid” definitely goes off the rails. Both films ramp up really quickly at the end, and their climaxes are much bigger than the rest of the films. However, where “Rabid” leans into it’s ending and ends up going too far (in my opinion), this film stays grounded, and the ending is incredibly unsettling. I feel like the way this film ends really lets the viewers’ imaginations run wild.
SOME SPOILERS IN THE FOLLOWING PARARGRAPH
There were one or two scenes that I thought went too far. This film is about people that go sex-crazy when they are infected with these parasites, and while there is some sex and some nudity, it is used more to terrify than it is to titillate. That being said, there was a scene where a rapist attacks a mother and young girl (probably ten or twelve) in an elevator; the elevator doors close and we don’t see what happens, but it’s implied that the rapist attacked both the mom and the little girl, for the next time we see that little girl, she is helping her mother sexually assault a man that they’ve tackled and brought to the ground. Even for me, who has watched dozens of horror films with tons of violence against children, I found that scene was a bit much. There was one other scene were Doctor St. Luc is trying to find a way to break out of the high rise apartment complex, and when he wanders into the basement he finds his way is blocked by little girls being led on leashes and barking. Again, that’s too much, Cronenberg. I have no problem with your weird sex stuff when it works in tandem with the plots of your films, but keep your weird sex stuff to adults, and please, leave the kids out of it.
Verdict:
This is a pretty great early entry from Cronenberg. It might be simpler in plot than many of his films, and it might not be as gory as some of his more famous works, but it has a strong directorial voice, it has some seriously messed up stuff in it, and it’s a pretty quick watch at only an hour and twenty-seven minutes. If you’re a Cronenberg fan (and you don’t mind his more perverted side), then you owe it to yourself to check out this film.
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