SHIVERS: 1975: Horror: The movie Shivers isn't exactly your average zombie movie. It's not your average movie, period. Initially named, Orgy of the Blood Parasites, and They Came from Within, it was directed by the one and only director who brought us The Fly and Scanners. For those of you who have never seen The Fly, I definitely recommend it as a great sci-fi movie. I was actually going to see it last night and review it, but I decided to try something new that I hadn't seen.
The Fly had some great make up and special effects.
Shivers is definitely something I have never seen or even heard of until I looked up the works of David Cronenberg. I'm running low on horror movies, since I saw and reviewed many I wanted to see last year. I could have just reviewed all the Saw movies but I wanted to challenge myself and the viewers as well. Up came this obscure movie that wasn't really that obscure after all. It won some awards and had mixed reviews, but it was out there. And out there it was..
Released in 1975, Shivers was influenced and influenced various movies.
Since it was created in the mid 70s, it's has some great old school style directing and camera shots, not to mention glimpses of the crazy and wacky style of architecture and interior decorating that was common in its day. But this isn't a blog about that.
Sitting down to have a nice 70s breakfast..
Everyone is going crazy for zombies and in general things that walk after they're dead, and this movie gives you that..in a way. In some ways it gives you more...so much MORE~!
They may look like zombies, but they are different, very different.
Instead of wanting to eat your brains, these zombies want to give you brains..Literally. Instead of craving flesh to eat to satisfy some primordial urge, these infected humans want sex and lots of it. Take a moment to digest that. Seriously, I definitely had to. When I read the premise of the movie, I thought it was a joke...not so!
Does she turn into a sex crazed zombie? Hope so..
I'll save you the long drawn out explanation of the movie and give you the basics. I do recommend this movie, but it's really slow in the beginning and doesn't pack the initial punch of many of the horror movies you'll see these days. Again, it was made in a different time. Also, the blood in some scenes looks absolutely horrible. Aside from these few issues, the overall theme of the movie kept me watching it. I fell asleep since it was almost 2am, and first thing I did when I woke up was want to finish it.
Shivers will definitely make an impact.
The interesting thing about this movie was that since it was made during the 70s, scenes involving nudity, and they were many, seemed to take a very artistic approach in the beginning, and then dive into scenes of unadulterated wickedness and debauchery. The inhabitants of an isolated community fall victim to a parasite that was created by a crazy scientist who wanted mankind to find it's most primitive and instinctive emotions and drive, primarily it's sex drive.
There were many very nicely shot scenes in this movie.
Very 70s...this one reminded me of The Shining..
There is no doubt in my mind that Cronenberg saw Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead. What prominent director of that time didn't? His infected humans behave like the zombies of the aforementioned movies up until the point where they want to give cunnilingus and other sexual acts. This movie isn't X rated, but it gets pretty close sometimes. You never get to see the really interesting body parts, but there is some frontal female nudity...*laughs..some
The infected humans only want one thing..and it's sex!
I realize that I'm not really reviewing this movie, I'm focused on the premise. I'm laughing right now as I write this. The movie gets sort of scary, but not without losing it's amusing overall tone. That has to be the way you look at this movie.
Don't get me wrong there is some pretty decent gore in this movie, but it's not anything close to Night of the Living Dead. That being said, you can make a definite case that Aliens stole the idea of a creature coming out of a chest cavity, from Shivers. Yes, I just said that. Look for yourself..
Parasite coming out of the stomach. Shivers 1975
Alien coming out of stomach scene, Aliens 1979.
Draw your own conclusions on this one. I understand that there is an assumption to be made that the director of Aliens saw Shivers and in fact was so blown away by it to copy.
All hell breaks loose in this condominium and since it's isolated and on an island, it goes on unchecked for quite some time. Plenty of opportunities for wild pool parties and sex fill romps in hallways.
The pool scene was pretty entertaining.
Fun filled zombie sex in the hallways! Nice..
Overall, the movie has the opportunity to get tawdry and does a few times, but isn't too bad. It definitely deserves its R rating, but doesn't cross the line. Getting to see Lyn Lowry was absolutely worth it. I didn't know about her before, but I do now. What an actress. The music was decent and had some nice analogue sounds from the 70s. I also liked the ending.
I recommend this movie, but watch it with an open mind: 69%
If you see this guy, run...
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