Shivers (18.)
Directed by David Cronenberg.
Starring Paul Hampton, Lynn Lowny, Allan Migicovsky, Joe Silver and Barbara Steele. 87 mins. 1975.
Many big name film directors have begun their careers in horror films before moving on to other, “better”, things. Watching these early efforts there is a tendency to view them through what we know of their future. If Cronenberg had not gone on to do anything with his career would his first film Shivers still be remembered and revered? Maybe not, but I think it would still register as being a little off in some ways, as being a distinctive and unusual movie. Surely, many a big name film makers would have jumped at the chance to make a film about a tower block that is overrun by sex parasites that turn the inhabitants into sex crazed zombies. Any other big name film maker though would have made it fun.
The standard Cronenberg method has been to come up with a crazy laughable premise and then not see the funny side of it. He would later apply this stony face approach to vaginal gun holsters, telekinetic exploding heads, bug typewriters and underarm malevolent bloodsucking penises, so a common-or-garden sex parasite loose in an exclusive Montreal tower block is nothing to get carried away with. Which is a blessing; there is something genuinely disturbing about Shivers and if it had been played as a romp it might have been unbearable.
It opens with a middle aged man appearing to be attempting to rape a school girl. Except the reality is even worse, a particularly disturbing act of murder surgery. (The film reassures us that the girl is actually 19, but later in the film there are some really unpleasant scenes featuring child actors.) From there the film follows what would come to be the Cronenberg narrative template – the remorseless disintegration of normality and civil society, in this case in the form of a plague whose spread cannot be checked.
Watching Shivers is an oddly sordid experience and there's a joylessness to it that is similar to that often found in pornography. Afterwards it strikes you as mightily impressive but during its 87 minutes the combination of exploitation plot and the rather puritanical way it is treated makes for a distanced and detached viewing experience.
It is an impressive debut, though not without flaws. The sound recording is a bit haphazard and the quality of the acting is variable. Our protagonist is Doctor Roger St Luc played by Hampton, a man who resembles a cross between Robert Redford and Garry Shandling and who is calmness personified. Nothing seems to phase him, or disturb him or have an impact on his sense of bland contentment – which would be good if he actually were a doctor but as a leading man is a definite limitation. Many of the other performers are actually quite good and the limited number of special effects shots are well done. It has to be said though that this supposedly luxury apartment block looks to be kind of a dump.
Extras.
The inevitable Original Trailer and a slide show of promotional material.
The rest are three documentary features, running to about an hour and three quarters in total which are informative but do tend to overlap and cover the same ground. So you get to hear repeatedly how the film was in part funded by public money; about a furious review of it by Canadian critic Marshall Delaney saying you should know how bad this film is because you paid for it that created a scandal around it in Canada; how it went through numerous titles – Orgy of the Blood Parasites, They Came From Within, The Parasite Murders – and how the British title is a translation of the title used in French speaking Canadian markets, Frisson.
Parasite Memories: predominantly actors and make up artist Joe Blasco reminiscing on life on set. Blasco in particular has a lot to say about how much he contributed to the film and how Alien ripped him off.
On Screen: The Making of Shivers. A Canadian TV documentary, very thorough and probably the best of the three.
From Stereo to Video. A 26 minute video essay about Cronenberg's early film making from his early experimental films to Videodrome. The section on his early films, Stereo and Crimes Of The Future, is disappointingly brief.
There's also a Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Paul Corupe, creator of the Canuxploitation website, reprinted excerpts of Cronenberg on Cronenberg and more, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.
Other Cronenberg reviews:
A Dangerous Method
Cosmopolis
The Brood
Maps To the Stars
Rabid
Directed by David Cronenberg.
Starring Paul Hampton, Lynn Lowny, Allan Migicovsky, Joe Silver and Barbara Steele. 87 mins. 1975.
Many big name film directors have begun their careers in horror films before moving on to other, “better”, things. Watching these early efforts there is a tendency to view them through what we know of their future. If Cronenberg had not gone on to do anything with his career would his first film Shivers still be remembered and revered? Maybe not, but I think it would still register as being a little off in some ways, as being a distinctive and unusual movie. Surely, many a big name film makers would have jumped at the chance to make a film about a tower block that is overrun by sex parasites that turn the inhabitants into sex crazed zombies. Any other big name film maker though would have made it fun.
The standard Cronenberg method has been to come up with a crazy laughable premise and then not see the funny side of it. He would later apply this stony face approach to vaginal gun holsters, telekinetic exploding heads, bug typewriters and underarm malevolent bloodsucking penises, so a common-or-garden sex parasite loose in an exclusive Montreal tower block is nothing to get carried away with. Which is a blessing; there is something genuinely disturbing about Shivers and if it had been played as a romp it might have been unbearable.
It opens with a middle aged man appearing to be attempting to rape a school girl. Except the reality is even worse, a particularly disturbing act of murder surgery. (The film reassures us that the girl is actually 19, but later in the film there are some really unpleasant scenes featuring child actors.) From there the film follows what would come to be the Cronenberg narrative template – the remorseless disintegration of normality and civil society, in this case in the form of a plague whose spread cannot be checked.
Watching Shivers is an oddly sordid experience and there's a joylessness to it that is similar to that often found in pornography. Afterwards it strikes you as mightily impressive but during its 87 minutes the combination of exploitation plot and the rather puritanical way it is treated makes for a distanced and detached viewing experience.
It is an impressive debut, though not without flaws. The sound recording is a bit haphazard and the quality of the acting is variable. Our protagonist is Doctor Roger St Luc played by Hampton, a man who resembles a cross between Robert Redford and Garry Shandling and who is calmness personified. Nothing seems to phase him, or disturb him or have an impact on his sense of bland contentment – which would be good if he actually were a doctor but as a leading man is a definite limitation. Many of the other performers are actually quite good and the limited number of special effects shots are well done. It has to be said though that this supposedly luxury apartment block looks to be kind of a dump.
Extras.
The inevitable Original Trailer and a slide show of promotional material.
The rest are three documentary features, running to about an hour and three quarters in total which are informative but do tend to overlap and cover the same ground. So you get to hear repeatedly how the film was in part funded by public money; about a furious review of it by Canadian critic Marshall Delaney saying you should know how bad this film is because you paid for it that created a scandal around it in Canada; how it went through numerous titles – Orgy of the Blood Parasites, They Came From Within, The Parasite Murders – and how the British title is a translation of the title used in French speaking Canadian markets, Frisson.
Parasite Memories: predominantly actors and make up artist Joe Blasco reminiscing on life on set. Blasco in particular has a lot to say about how much he contributed to the film and how Alien ripped him off.
On Screen: The Making of Shivers. A Canadian TV documentary, very thorough and probably the best of the three.
From Stereo to Video. A 26 minute video essay about Cronenberg's early film making from his early experimental films to Videodrome. The section on his early films, Stereo and Crimes Of The Future, is disappointingly brief.
There's also a Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Paul Corupe, creator of the Canuxploitation website, reprinted excerpts of Cronenberg on Cronenberg and more, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.
Other Cronenberg reviews:
A Dangerous Method
Cosmopolis
The Brood
Maps To the Stars
Rabid
