‘Roger, I had a very disturbing dream last night…’
David Cronenberg is one of the finest horror directors of all time. Despite this, he’s also hit and miss. This is partly due to the sheer fact of how prolific he has been throughout his career, and partly due to budget restraints with his earlier pictures. Partially funded by the Canadian government (much to the chagrin of many Canadian film critics), Shivers is Cronenberg’s first full feature length movie after a number of short films and TV movies. While it is definitely rough around the edges, there are enough interesting moments here to make Shivers worth seeking out…
When a deadly parasite invades a modern, deluxe apartment building on a remote island, it is up to reluctant hero Paul Hampton (Roger St. Luc) to make it out alive. Unfortunately, seemingly everyone in the building has become a sex obsessed maniac.
Despite the low budget, Cronenberg, directing from his own script, still managers to create something of substance. The parasites themselves are suitably disgusting, and the presumably inexperienced cast do a good job despite some banal dialogue and lack of character depth. St. Luc is particularly effective in the film’s earlier scenes and considering how large a cast this film has for such a small budget, nobody really stands out as being particularly bad, which must go down as a success.
Elsewhere, many of the themes that would become staples of Cronenberg’s work, namely body horror, sexuality and psychological trauma, all rear their grotesque heads here, and while he simply doesn’t have the budget to render these themes in front of the camera visually, there are enough aesthetically striking moments here to ensure that Shivers is a worthy addition to the Cronenberg canon.
It’s certainly not as arresting as The Brood or as explosive as Scanners, but it is yet another mostly successful horror film directed by David Cronenberg. The man is the master of body horror. And Shivers is proof.