Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.
Directed By: David Cronenberg
Produced By: Ivan Reitman
Written By: David Cronenberg
Starring: Paul Hampton, Barbara Steele, Lynn Lowry, Joe Silver, Allan Kolman, Susan Petrie
Original Release: 1975
AKA: Orgy of the Blood Parasites, The Parasite Murders, They Came from Within, Frissons
Reviewed By: Sam Christopher
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars
Synopsis: The film begins with Mr. Merrick (played by Ronald Mlodzik) trying to sell a young yuppie couple on the virtues of living in the ultramodern skyscraper community of Starliner Towers intercut with the brutal murder of a beautiful young woman perpetrated by, as we later learn, Dr. Emil Hobbes (Fred Doederlin), who then commits suicide by slitting his own throat. Meanwhile, building resident Nicolas Tudor, who has evidently been engaged in an adulterous affair with the aforementioned young woman, comes by to visit and discovers the bodies. The apartment building, we are shown, is very self-sufficient, coming with its own on-site doctor, Roger St. Luc (Paul Hampton). St. Luc learns that Hobbes was engaged in some rather unorthodox research. Hobbes had come to think of modern man as a creature out of touch with his own roots; he came to believe that we needed to be taken back to the primitive emotions and away from the rational. He had created a parasite, a cross between a venereal disease and an aphrodisiac that once introduced into the body would create the “enlightenment” he was searching for. He had implanted this parasite into the young woman he would eventually murder; only to find that she promiscuously spread it among the population of the Starliner Towers. Once this is learned, the rest of the film involves Dr. St. Luc and his nurse (Lynn Lowry) working to contain the ever-spreading epidemic, culminating in a swimming pool scene reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead.
Comments: This is Cronenberg’s first mainstream film and has all the hallmarks of his best work. We have characters acted upon by a medical process which alters their bodies in ways completely alien to any known human experience. We then get to watch as these characters trapped in a fantastic situation must deal with the “real world” consequences of these alterations and the decisions the characters make in dealing with the situation, as well as the effects on the characters here that are in no way transformed. The infected here for the most part don’t really have much choice in what they do—there is one scene where Tudor tries to make a deal with the parasite growing out of his stomach—and the uninfected have all choice taken from them, first by their inability to discern the full scope of the threat posed by the infected, and then finding themselves overtaken by that threat. Along the way we are treated to the spectacle of sexuality as deadly horror, a Bacchanal madness that overrides every rational thought, every civilized impulse. This madness will lead to murder and mayhem, rape and child molestation, as the urge to “make love” becomes all.
This is a low-budget film, shot on a shoestring for around 179,000 Canadian dollars in just 15 days. It has been purported to be the most profitable Canadian film ever made up to 1975 and was certainly one of the most controversial. The Canadian government, which had partially funded the film under the aegis of the Canadian Film Development Corporation, even debated the film’s artistic value and cultural significance, prodded, no doubt, by Robert Fulford’s article “You Should Know How Bad This Movie Is, You Paid for It”. This article, it has been reported, resulted in Cronenberg finding it difficult to obtain funding for later films and even getting kicked out of his apartment. Ah, the travails of a nascent auteur. Of more importance to viewers of the film will be the razor-edged verve of the production, as well as the inventive story that relies more on the inherent horror of the situation than any special effects the filmmakers didn’t have the budget to utilize. This is a film that moves through every part of the story, never wasting time or energy on frivolous scenes or empty space. It is the beginning of the Cronenberg legend and a magnificent piece of subversive cinema in its own right. While borrowing in some ways from the zombie tradition of Romero—a tradition fairly new at the time—it has shown its reach to exceed its grasp, acting as precursor if not influence on such diverse works as the film 28 Days Later and the Clive Barker story The Age of Desire.
Note that the Shivers DVD is currently out of print, but it is available through Amazon Sellers.
Buy Other Movies from the Must-Watch List on DVD from Amazon.com:
