Review: Shivers (1975)

Directed by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Paul Hampton, Lynn Lowry, Barbara Steele
Written by: David Cronenberg
Country: Canada
Available on: Blu-ray (Vestron)
IMDb

Although writer/director David Cronenberg has long used clinical situations as a jumping point for his explorations of human connection, most of his films don’t feel especially cold. However, that is not the case with Shivers, his first true horror feature. The film focuses on Starliner Towers, a glitzy high-rise in which slimy, pustuled, worm-like parasites that infest the body and heighten sexual desire to a ravenous level are let loose. The movie incorporates many of Cronenberg’s pet themes, including violent physical manipulation of tissue for enhanced pleasure and humankind’s obfuscation of its passions through technology. However, in his best films, Cronenberg focuses on intimate connections between just a handful of people, which allows him to establish complex inner lives and explore their desire to tear down barriers to their humanity. In Shivers, with its large cast, the characters are primarily cold, emotionless vessels — zombies first to technology and creature comfort, then carnal lust. This void of animating life force is present in many aspects. Whereas another prominent element of Cronenberg’s work is music, usually with innovative composer Howard Shore providing aural fortification of the themes, Cronenberg relies on stock library music in early films like this and Rabid (1977), used very sparingly. The lack of score leaves many scenes feeling very quiet, still, and alien. Adding to this unnatural eeriness is the fact that many of his characters don’t react to horror with expected hysteria. Whether it’s intentional or just bad acting, there are few screams or vocal exclamations in this movie. Starliner Towers is very brightly and artificially lit and nearly the entire film takes place within its confines, recreating the nauseating din of an operating theater. The sexual parasite does not discriminate among its hosts and their relationships with one another. At times, this edges toward nurturing a liberating and progressive view of human sensuality, when both partners are infected and thus consensual, crumbling barricades of gender identity or sexual orientation; but this also means there are some fairly shocking moments of strongly implied incest, pedophilia, and, in situations where one party hasn’t yet been infected by the parasite, sexual assault. All of this comes together to create a mood that’s very bizarre and at times off-putting, which I’m sure is the intention. As a horror film intended to make skin crawl, Shivers does its duty well. But I definitely found myself wishing there was a finer point to the debauchery.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10