gwnightscream David Cronenberg's 1975 sci-fi/horror film stars Paul Hampton, Joe Silver and Lynn Lowry. This begins in an apartment building where a scientist kills a young woman and then himself. Hampton plays doctor, Roger St. Luc who discovers that he was working on an experiment with parasites and the girl was infected. The parasites turn their hosts into mindless, sex fiends and soon, they spread in the apartment building, infecting the residents. The late, Silver (Rabid) plays Roger's friend, Rollo Linsky who is a scientist and Lowry plays nurse, Forsythe. This is pretty good, the cast is decent and there's great make-up effects. If you're into body horror flicks, give this a view.

VideoXploiter The story is an interesting blend of horror and kinkiness. There are some decent gore and creature effects, but due to the low budget are few and far between. There's also a bit of gratuitous nudity, all courtesy of Lynn Lowry (who reminds me of the Gelflings from 'The Dark Crystal'). The hot lesbian scene is also worth mentioning (grrrr). While the pacing is slow, there's enough of a threatening undercurrent to keep things suspenseful. All-in-all, not a bad start for the man who would later bring us 'The Fly' (1985).

artiscoole The sci fi film called shivers is an interesting work of fiction because i believe it combines several themes to think about throughout the course of the film. One of the themes is the importance of sex in our lives and how it usually tends to influence our behaviors at a physical and social level Another of the themes are the conventional forms of the nature of Man. It is also able to introduce the fight against these impulsive and destructive desires. And showcase our struggle to resist the temptation.. From a general perspective the film can be viewed from a science fiction standpoint/ in our endeavors to continually cheat death Scientists have developed an interesting solution; the creation of an organism that is able to replace defective organs in our own bodies. This organism would begin to eat the hosts failing organs and take their place all the while feeding off the hosts blood. The change is at first unimportant because superficially the hosts appears to be in a good condition. This however is an erroneous conclusion because the parasite, while feeding off the host is slowly growing akin to a bloodsucking fly whose body begins to grow in proportion to the amount of blood it feeds. And therein lies the problem. A cheating husband living in a hotel who is married to a loving and a caring wife, mistreats her all the while he is secretly engaging in sexual intercourse with a young woman who is infected with this parasite. The husband is having serious health issues that start affecting his life; he coughs up blood has convulsions and is in serious need of medical treatment. The way the parasite is able to spread itself is through this host. The parasite can multiplies itself being able to breed asexually inside the husband. After reaching a mature age, the parasites offspring leave the host in search of new bodies in order to keep spreading. It only takes a couple of hours for this outbreak to become uncontrollable infecting all the guests in the hotel. After that we are treated to many scenes involving highly sexual content, while being careful to not reveal much to the audience Everything that the characters are doing is easily interpreted into the viewers minds. There are scenes which imply acts os sexual orgies,incest,pedophilia,rape and others. From this point on, the film deviates from the original concept of scifi elements and starts going on another route. More specifically into philosophical notions about libertine behavior in society. the belief that one has no need of any legal or moral restraints to live out their lives, encouraging excessive indulgence. It contrasts an interesting allegory between the biblical ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah wherein the inhabitants of those cities were so morally bankrupt and who engaged in acts of human depravity and whose excessively destructive behaviors incurred the wrath of God and put an end to them. Another allegory would be Las Vegas too Add to the fact that the setting of the film is on an island, isolated from the rest of the world or figuratively speaking from the prying eyes of those whose ways are not compatible to the ones who live on the hotel, That is, do as thou please. Freedom to indulge yourselves in extreme excess without worry or care....True enough it is more a far fetched idea on my part but whatever. But the most striking allegory that hit me during the films climactic moment was when everybody started to lose their minds and identities for cause of that scientific abomination that drove normal people to the edge and converted them into sexual monsters concerned with erotic practices, consensual or otherwise, which is the most damning aspect of the film is the complete depravation and debauchery of the nature of man and how quickly we can sink into that state of absolute sexual nature, How, even children can be corrupted quite easily by our own standards and how few people fight to preserve their humanity against such overwhelming odds where it could be easier to give in to the dark side of humanity, yet they fight on until their last breath gives out. And it is this courageous man who is inspirational because it is a virtue being able to not give in to your sexual urges. Knowing the consequences and the evil vices one leaves himself to be exposed to, for an extremely short amount of time for carnal pleasure begs the question....why are we so stupid that we oftentimes make the wrong choice. Infedilty,rap-ism,incest,pedophilia..wtf

p-stepien In a high-end apartment complex located on the secluded Starliner Island,, a luxury hide-out for the well-off, a mysterious parasite is embodying itself into human beings, feeding off he body, whilst in return removing sexual inhibitions and turning the whole building into a bloody fetishist orgy. The organism a product of a scientist intent on offering the world a release from bodily restraints by indulging into blissful satisfaction. However afraid of his own creation his kills the first host and then cuts his own throat. All too late as the parasite has already been spread...At his worst Cronenberg can be self-indulgent into his obsession with human bodies, flesh and its interaction with outside world. But even then his offers a significantly higher degree of intelligence than standard horror fare, subtly adding levels of contemplation. Even when he misses Cronenberg still manages to evoke a strong reaction, not only due to gross bodily imaginings, but the almost surreal quality of his work. "Shivers" is a very rough first work, chaotic in composition, albeit structurally suiting the increasingly rampaging infestation. At times sexually perversive and unapologetic, for example showing a man playing with his parasite much as with a penis, which ultimately allows him to experience even greater levels of sexual satisfaction. In this twisted world the body - or flesh, as Cronenberg prefers to denominate it - is wholly sexual, even death is erotic with infected becoming zombified heralds of lust. The predominant theme of Cronenberg's body of work - the 'new flesh' is explored here, as entering a new self-induced step in evolution, one however we would better not be taking. Cronenberg seems to point to the modern world as a place, where disease is progress.Despite misgivings towards the plot and the delivery "Shivers" is a fascinating first feature, especially given the consistency of themes presented in future, much superior movies. David Cronenberg apparently didn't know much about filmmaking, when shooting his debut and the deficiencies in that department are pretty obvious. Featuring several B-movie performances Cronenberg nonetheless manages to evoke some disturbing freakish sequences, especially those with Allan Kolman, one of the first victims. The biggest issue lies with the movie itself, which at times comedic, at times disturbing or even horrifying, leaves a lot to be desired in term of story (with incubation rates of parasites changing from days to a matter of seconds) and pacing coupled with almost non-existent tension (aimless scenes of people chasing each other around the complex). Despite its content Cronenberg's movie is not as accomplished as future endeavours, although by far not his worst work.A big call out to the special effects crew - some truly gruesome organisms.