Rating: 
Summary: DVD version has problems
Review: One of my favorite Cronenberg films...raw, low-budget fun. HOWEVER, the DVD has pixelization and artifacting. It's not the worst I've seen, but it is annoying. I suggest buying the VHS version from Anchor Bay instead...clear, crisp and perfect. IMAGE ENT should take more care in their DVD releases if they want to compete with the majors. Disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Tense, claustrophobic and paranoid
Review: Set around a country block of appartments which sits itself outside the city but with all the requirements of city life - life couldn't be much better. Well almost......We are given this lovey dovey image of a picturesque block of appartments that really give off this relaxed vibe. But a 17 young girl is spreading a virus unbeknownst to it inhabitants. Immediately we see her being strangled to death by a doctor who then proceeds to cut her open and put highly caustic acids to kill whatever it is that is inside of her. So ashamed of this he then slits his throat..... These sequences will set you up for the rest of the film. It seems almost eerie how the philosophy works and how deranged they can be at times. More and more people start complaining of this thing that's in their stomach. This leads one randy old man to remark " it feels kinda sexual " to the nurse ( played by the beautiful Lynn Lowry ). It comes to the stage that there are those who have it outnumber those who haven't and it's more or less just a fight for survival I won't say more as I feel I might have given too much away but I got this movie a few years back in a second hand shop since at the time anything with Cronenberg was an instantly bought on my part ( I still do the same now but I've got nearly everything ) and when I put this on I felt the same way those trying to survive do. Trapped! I could have turned the video off but I couldn't take my eyes away from it. It was gripping - almost hypnotic to watch. The film shook me so much that I had to watch it again 2 HOURS LATER after it was finished. That has never happened before to me and never since and it was still good when I watched it the second time. I don't know what else to say about this film but just buy it and see what you think PS While I'm here I suppose like many other Cronenberg fans would like to see his pre-Shivers experimental movies. Anything he does is worth a look at
Rating: 
Summary: NIGHT OF THE LOVING DEAD
Review: SHIVERS is the first movie of canadian director David Cronenberg. This director is one of the rare today filmmakers who has got a coherent filmography. In short, David Cronenberg's peculiar concern is the human corpse. And its hidden secrets. So no wonder if the hero of SHIVERS is already a doctor. In fact, the man responsible for the horrors depicted in this movie is also a doctor. Good and Evil, Pain and Pleasure, SHIVERS is a study of these dualities which make the world turn round. During the interesting interview of David Cronenberg that you can see as bonus feature, the director presents SHIVERS as a truly original horror movie. Well, I don't quite agree with him. It's impossible not to think of George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and Don Siegel's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS as you watch this movie. But, let's be fair, it could be considered as an homage to these two classics. SHIVERS has its moments of pure horror and very comic moments (specially when children are involved, congratulations for your good taste, David) considering the subject of the movie. I must admit that just the simple idea to have living parasites in my body makes me uneasy, but to imagine that they could grow and take control of my mind is terrifying. Happily enough, David Cronenberg is a Hitchcock's pupil and often let's the audience imagine the worse by suggesting rather than by showing it. In the first part of the movie, parasites are very aggressive until they've taken control of a sufficient number of bodies. Then, and THAT is genuinely original, they will try to win by using the sexual pulsions of the building's inhabitants. See at least once SHIVERS for the dionysiac orgies that follow. Average audio and video. A featurette and a trailer. A DVD to swallow.
Rating:
Summary: Shaky SHIVERS Serves a Slice of the Seventies, Suspense...
Review: SHIVERS David Cronenberg, that crazy Canadian with a penchant for serving up icy-cold cross-sections of sexual obsession and a delirously deviant outlook on the claustrophobic world around him, has a surgeon's precision of taking the filmmaking medium and, like no one since Kubrick of the '60s and early '70s, turns moviemaking into a perfectly symmetrical, an almost clinical form of teaching us that the human race is flawed, and, for the most part, genuinely frightening. SHIVERS was Cronenberg's first dive into the process of creating motion pictures and the flick made a big enough splash to secure his career as a major force in filmmaking. The movie goes by a myriad of titles: "They Came From Within," the aptly titled "The Parasite Murders," but for this DVD edition they stuck with SHIVERS, which I believe (don't quote me on this) is the title originally picked for American distribution. The film was written by Cronenberg, who had to fight to direct the picture himself. It was made under the close scrutiny of Ivan Reitman, fellow Canadian and a filmmaker in his own right, who crafted true film gems (Ghostbusters) and unholy messes (Junior). SHIVERS was made for zilch and stars the one and only love of my life... Barbara Steele. The plot centers around a condo complex located on an isolated island inhabited by swinging seventies fashion and haircuts. It seems a mad scientist and renter has concocted a plan to use giant mutated parasites as replacements for organs in the human body, thus turning something that feeds off people into something that could sustain life for people. Is this a good plan? Well, maybe on paper, but so was communism. Needless to say, the doctor finds out too late that the little varmints actually unlock the Id in folks, turning them into slaves of their own sexual passion and reckless violence. They work like VD, spreading thoughout the swinging patrons of the place, taking over the complex one person at a time. Yes, the parasites are an antidote to the freewheeling, free-loving disco era. Is SHIVERS a great film? No, not really. It is a sturdy horror B-movie that makes the most of a meager budget and green cast of actors. The next film Cronenberg did, entitled RABIB (also available on DVD) is basically a rehash of the plot starring the one and only love of my life, Porn Star MARILYN CHAMBERS! RABID shares a similar theme with SHIVERS, a better budget, and a wiser director. But, for all of you Cronenberg fans, this is a must. The DVD format of this film is letterboxed and offers a better print than I have ever seen of the movie. It also contains a short-but-sweet interview segment with David Cronenberg, and has a trailer or two. THERE IS NO COMMENTARY though, which is a cardinal sin in my book. So, if you want a decent scare, and believe me the fashion and haircuts WILL scare you if the slugs don't, check it out.
Rating:
Summary: They're in the mood for Love...
Review: Shot on a shoestring budget and in a whirlwind 15 days in Montreal, "Shivers" (also known as "They Came from Within") is Canadian horror visionary and all-around Creepy Guy David Cronenberg's astounding, jaw-dropping little gem about the end of the world, in which humanity doesn't go out with a Bang or a Whimper, but more of a Moan. But let's get something out of the way right now: David Cronenberg is a genius and, for my money, one of the top 3 horror film directors *ever*. And while it's certainly useful to view "Shivers" as a preview of coming attractions---without a doubt, it's amazing what the young Cronenberg was able to pull off under severe budgetary, time, and talent limitations---the movie stands on its own as a ground-breaking little nugget of unflinching grue that burrows under your skin and truly disturbs. Things break down quickly in "Shivers", which is about a medical experiment gone horribly wrong, and the terrible toll it takes on the residents of a luxury island apartment complex outside Montreal---and from there the world. The film's mad scientist (a nice turn by Fred Doederlein, who pops up again as the yoga master in "Scanners") wants to produce designer parasites that can be introduced into a body, devour a failing organ, and 'become' that organ, thus helping its host at the cost of a little blood. But wouldn't ya know it, his first experiment Annabelle(a fetching Kathy Graham) refuses to play along with the Doc's good intentions, chiefly because the parasite has two complications: 1)within a few hours it turns its victim's mind to mush, and 2)it also has the unfortunate side-effect of making the subject a ravening sexual psychopath. In the fim's shocking opening sequences, the Good Doctor brutally tries to abort his little extracurricular activity, but Annabelle has been a popular girl around the Starliner apartments, and faster than you can say "sick building syndrome" the little parasites, which look like a phallic combination of extra-large garden slug and Jimmy Dean sausage, are going a-roving through the apartment building in search of victims. And faster than the tenants can say "the check's in the mail", they've been converted into a legion of slug-infested serial rapists looking for love in all the wrong places. It may very well have been that Cronenberg's limitations forced him to adopt a style that was so sterile, brutal, and overlit that the film couldn't help being brutal and startling: from an infected old woman groaning from behind her door to a startled delivery man "I'm hungry...for LOVE", to an avid slug crawling up an elderly lady's walker, to the horrible death of Dr. Lenski, to the wicked elevator infection scene, to the part where screen goddess Barbara Steele is infected by one of the nasty parasites *in her bathtub* (ewww!), Cronenberg keeps up the pressure and ratchets the horror level up so high you feel your brain will pop. You haven't seen ghoulishly creepy until you've watched Allan Colman pleading and talking with a nest of parasites that have been setting up shop in his stomach. Grisly stuff. Technically this is an average DVD. It could very well be that the movie was shot in a 1:33:1 aspect ratio, in which case the full-screen format is appropriate, but the sound here is atrocious. The extras here, including a theatrical trailer and an illuminating, goofy interview with Cronenberg, are pretty spare, so let's hope someone gets around to releasing this creepshow with the quality treatment it deserves. Yes, "Shivers" highlights a promising career---but for sheer skin-crawling nastiness, it has yet to be surpassed.
Rating:
Summary: long but not forgotten memory
Review: the watermellon explosions were a misterious memory till i recently rented this film and realized it was one of the few my family owned when i was a child. this may have been the cause of many childhood nightmares, but i do attribute my early film viewings to my present unorthodox state of cognition.
i now love david cronenberg's film.
Rating:
Summary: A CREEPY CRONENBERG CATASTROPHE-David's 1st Feature Film
Review: There is no doubt in my mind, by watching/reading many interviews with David Cronenberg & viewing everything that he has created thus far that David is a "very special boy". Cronenberg has the kind of imagination, lunacy, & repression to really create the kind of visuals in films that once you view them, you never forget. Cronenberg's 1st feature film, "Shivers", does just that. Filmed on a shoestring budget during 15 hectic days of production in Canada, this film tells the story of a doctor/madman that develops a parasite to live in human beings, take over their intelligence, morals (social & spiritual) & of course, their physical body, & transforms them into oversexed, libertine, bi-sexual cretin beings. The film is set in and on an exclusive & elite island compound in Canada. The compound has everything one would ever need. A grocery, a drugstore, tennis courts, olympic sized swimming pool, doctor's & dentist offices, room service. The compound includes everything that your little heart desires, plus an extra surprise of parasites roaming in air vents, plumbing, & elevators that resemble a strange cross between a giant,slimy garden slug, a small phallic symbol and a smokey-link breakfast sausage. This is definitely a catastrophic/end of the world type movie because as the film and the parasites progress to all the inhabitants of the island, there really is only one conclusion... Of course, I won't give away the ending, but for anyone who enjoys films like Night Of The Living Dead, Outbreak, Dawn Of The Dead, 28 Days, or genre films that feature zombies/animals/mutants/disease taking over the entire world, you will enjoy this movie. Happy Watching!
Rating:
Summary: A CREEPY CRONENBERG CATASTROPHE-David's 1st Feature Film
Review: There is no doubt in my mind, by watching/reading many interviews with David Cronenberg & viewing everything that he has created thus far that David is a "very special boy". Cronenberg has the kind of imagination, lunacy, & repression to really create the kind of visuals in films that once you view them, you never forget. Cronenberg's 1st feature film, "Shivers", does just that. Filmed on a shoestring budget during 15 hectic days of production in Canada, this film tells the story of a doctor/madman that develops a parasite to live in human beings, take over their intelligence, morals (social & spiritual) & of course, their physical body, & transforms them into oversexed, libertine, bi-sexual cretin beings. The film is set in and on an exclusive & elite island compound in Canada. The compound has everything one would ever need. A grocery, a drugstore, tennis courts, olympic sized swimming pool, doctor's & dentist offices, room service. The compound includes everything that your little heart desires, plus an extra surprise of parasites roaming in air vents, plumbing, & elevators that resemble a strange cross between a giant,slimy garden slug, a small phallic symbol and a smokey-link breakfast sausage. This is definitely a catastrophic/end of the world type movie because as the film and the parasites progress to all the inhabitants of the island, there really is only one conclusion... Of course, I won't give away the ending, but for anyone who enjoys films like Night Of The Living Dead, Outbreak, Dawn Of The Dead, 28 Days, or genre films that feature zombies/animals/mutants/disease taking over the entire world, you will enjoy this movie. Happy Watching!
Rating:
Summary: Alien effects
Review: This film is a weird cross between the original "Invation of the body snatchers" and "Alien" with lots of sexual paranoia thrown in for good measure. Here is "Alien" 4 years before the real thing hit the screen. Look for the stomach crawl effects and jumping, burning slugs. There is some really bad acting but the writer/director takes the material to the limits in an interesting way. I originally saw the film in the late 70s on the big screen and some of the scenes stayed with me over the years. Great to (finally?) have it available on tape.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for a first feature film.
Review: This is a very interesting movie. Not for the faint of heart. Although it is not as "weird" and "fleshy" (Cronenberg fans know what I'm talking about) as later Cronenberg films, his style is easily detectable. Relies more on shock than psychological horror, however. The interview with Cronenberg on the DVD is very interesting and one may choose to watch the film again after seeing the interview to gain a new perspective on the work.
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