Pluskylang Great Film overall

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Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

lukem-52760 I really enjoyed this 70's grimy shocker Horror,Cronenberg is an excellent Horror director & like most his early movies are the best as they are much more darker & daring!!! Rabid (1977) was very similar & also directed by Cronenberg. The little slimey slug like parasites are really well made & scary & such good practical FX for a very old movie & still better than c.g.i fx used today. I really liked the big building setting that was very cool & creepy too it gave an almost lost abandoned atmosphere that worked great,none of the acting was very good but i didn't expect it to be excellent as Shivers is just a well thought out sick Shocker Horror flick & it really was good fun & very rewatchable!!! Would make a great double bill with Rabid,that's how i watched it

Red-Barracuda After making several experimental films, director David Cronenberg managed to get his first two feature films made by the Canadian exploitation film production company Cinépix, namely Shivers and Rabid. The first of these was Shivers, which remains one of the most direct and uncompromising debut films you could imagine. Even at this early stage it indicates quite clearly his very specific brand of cinema which would go one to be known as body horror. Like his contemporary George A. Romero, Cronenberg was bringing seriousness to the horror genre. Shivers certainly shows the influence of a couple of Romero's early works, namely Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Crazies (1973). Like that latter film, Cronenberg's film has a group of people turn psychotic due to a man-made disaster. The infection in this case is spread by a parasite that was devised to carry out useful functions within a human body. Unfortunately, this well-meaning experiment goes disastrously wrong turning those that come into contact with it into sex maniacs, who in turn transmit the infection to those they assault.Despite its low budget, this is a very ambitious bit of work. It opens very strongly with a promotional slide show detailing a luxurious apartment complex, which is isolated and exclusive. The voice-over, however, is entirely soulless and the complex itself somewhat sterile. Immediately after this we see a young couple arrive here and welcomed to their new home, while we simultaneously witness a brutal murder of a girl in a school uniform by an adult male. It's pretty disturbing to say the least and with no context to understand it, it makes quite an impact and indicates that this is a film which is not too likely to pull its punches. Throughout the rest of the film there are many moments of very provocative imagery, including some impressive low budget effects work. It's a very visceral film, arguably the most singularly intense movie Cronenberg ever made. It's made all the more full-on by its claustrophobia, seeing as all of the horror happens within one building. It shows the definite influence of the J.G. Ballard novel High-Rise, in which the residents of one of the then futuristic and new luxurious high-rise buildings descend to increasingly savage behaviour. Cronenberg's film combines these ideas with his specific interest in body horror, which results in an intense and quite extreme movie in many ways. Cronenberg went on to make more polished movies and some better films but he was rarely quite as uncompromising as he was here with Shivers.

jackie It could be a milestone through David's movies! I rented this DVD and got back to my apartment, turning the lights off.For some time, I fell asleep and lost my sensibility. As I woke up sweating, I caught the glimpse of an unknown liquid coming out of the toilet, it made my heart up and down for a while, then I watched the rest of movie on my own over and over again. Overall,the aspects were fine, the plots were good, the actors were not so bad, but the music and background were a little bit scary and thrilling. The Fly was his second must-see film. It tells of the tragedies of science. The ending was thought-provoking, you know, it reminded me of something bad, maybe i would add more comments about it.

SnoopyStyle It's an apartment complex with all the amenities on an island in Monteal. Dr. Emil Hobbes is doing deadly experiments to substitute organ transplants with parasites. He kills young Annabelle Brown and then himself. He had infected Annabelle with the parasites which causes uncontrollable sex drive. She had infected others in the apartment which continues to spread. Roger St. Luc is a doctor at the complex who investigates the work of Dr. Hobbes.David Cronenberg has an idea with good potential. It allows for creepy parasites and some sexuality. There are good horror set pieces from Cronenberg. The movie lacks good acting and that seriously holds it back. The directions and camera work are still amateurish. It probably should have concentrated solely on the Dr. Hobbes and Annabelle for the first act. It could have been more bloody and grotesque. It should explain the parasites more at the beginning. The exposition to St. Luc is clunky. It becomes a series of attacks which has some good moments. It's a nice step up for the young Cronenberg.