Review #320: 'Shivers' (1975)

Dr. Hobbes (Fred Doederlin) has been using unorthodox methods upon his transplant patients, placing large, penis-shaped worms in their bodies to act in place of the missing organ. He has placed one in his under-age patient, whom he strangles at the beginning of the film, only to slit his own throat with a razor blade. Nicholas Tudor (Allan Kolman) is a former patient and, after a violent episode, coughs up a worm off his balcony, and it sets about infecting others. Soon enough, the community (a sort of isolated holiday tower block) is overrun with sex-crazed zombies, and it's up to the resident doctor Roger St. Luc (Paul Hampton) to get to the bottom of it.

Shivers is David Cronenberg's first full-length feature film, and he offers an insight into a subject that would remain prominent throughout his career. That is the human psyche mixed with the sexual; whether it be sexual promiscuity or inner perversions, it is here wrapped up as a schlock horror. The bland inhabitants of the tower block appear bored and resigned to their positions in the social order. That is, until the parasite quickly spreads and their suppressed sexual desires come to the fore and they are soon fucking everything in sight and slavering at the mouth. The distinction between sex and horror are blurred to the point where it's difficult to ascertain who is being killed and who is being raped. Cronenberg took huge risks with the censors, exploring and mixing themes such as paedophilia, rape, medical experimentation and sexual disease. With the explosion of AIDS just round the corner, Shivers becomes almost prophetic.

This being Cronenberg's first 'proper' film, it is rough around the edges. The horror is manic to the point of ridiculous, as we are treated to an orgy of flesh and blood that is almost non-stop in the last 30 minutes. Cronenberg would soon learn that such gratuitousness is not needed to compliment his social and sexual commentary, and would refine it rather quickly, leading to such great films such as The Brood (1979) and Videodrome (1983). Not to say this ruins the film, after all, it is a Grindhouse favourite, so a bit of over-the-top exploitation is expected. Far from his best work, but a fascinating insight into the mind of one of the greatest horror directors of all time (although lately he has moved away from the genre).


Directed by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Paul Hampton, Joe Silver, Lynn Lowry, Allan Kolman
Country: Canada

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie