Shivers (1975)
Directed by David Cronenberg
Ah yes, Cronenberg, the master of body horror. I was able to watch this for the first time at the 12 hour horror movie marathon at Howell Theater. I have enjoyed every other Cronenberg film I have seen, no matter how strange, so how is this?
Shivers is about a fancy high rise apartment in Canada, of course, that is infected by parasites that turns the residents into mindless nymphos. This movie is balls out crazy, pun intended. There are so many horned up infected people in this, and it makes for some funny instances. The main character is a doctor that is trying to get to the root of the issue, and escape the building desperately. He scrambles around the building, running into infected residents and trying to save himself and his secretary. One of the funniest scenes to me, is when he runs down a stairwell, and suddenly there are twin girls on leases acting like dogs, butt naked. He just slowly turns around and runs back up the stairs.
The acting is really solid. Paul Hampton plays Dr. St Luc, the dashing doctor trying to survive. He’s likable and you root for him. The deranged people are kind of creepy but funny at the same time. They basically either want to fuck you or kill you, but have a good time doing it. We get an idea of the immense size of the building when the doctor is scrambling around, it reminds me a little of Demons 2 or Poltergeist III with much less yelling of “Carolanne!”.
The special effects are pretty solid for a mid 70s movie. You see people getting cut open, and a decent amount of blood. The scenes at the end really made me laugh. The doc is trying to escape the building but two hot women are in a pool trying to seduce him. He goes out through a window, only to find hundreds of people coming after him. He goes back inside and gets pulled into the pool and starts being assaulted.
This movie was interesting. I enjoyed how ridiculous some parts were and how genuinely creepy others were. The acting was decent and the effects were solid. I give Shivers a B.
