BEING TERRIFIED IS JUST THE BEGINNING... Initially reviled in its native land (some critics took exception to the fact the film was largely funded by the Canadian taxpayer), Shivers is an intensely claustrophobic, subversive masterpiece and an essential entry in the oeuvre of one of the horror genre s most gifted auteurs. Some 40 years after its release, it still retains its power to shock. Starliner Island is an idyllic community. Cut off from the rest of the world, the luxury apartment block affords its occupants the chance to escape from the hustle and bustle of the big city. But this isolation is to prove fatal when a new breed of parasite a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease which arouses sexual aggression in its hosts is let loose in the building, resulting in an orgy terror and mayhem. Known under a host of alternate titles such as The Parasite Murdersand They Came From Within!, Shivers is the startling debut full-length feature from director David Cronenberg which anticipates the body-horror concerns of his later films such as The Fly and Videodrome.
One of the most singular auteurs of the horror and science fiction genres, David Cronenberg has wowed audiences with his depictions of body transformations and explorations of society, this collection of his early short and feature films shows a master learning his craft and exploring many of the themes that would dominate his most celebrated work. Transfer (1966), Cronenberg's first short film, is a surreal sketch of a doctor and his patient. From the Drain (1967) finds two men in a bathtub, which may be part of a centre for veterans of a future war. Stereo (1969), Cronenberg's first official feature film, stunningly shot in monochrome, concerns telepaths at the Institute for Erotic Enquiry where patients undergo tests by Dr. Luther Stringfellow. In Crimes of the Future (1970) Cronenberg worked in colour and with a larger budget, where we find the House of Skin clinic director (Ronald Mlodzik, returning from Stereo) searching for his mentor, Antoine Rouge, who has disappeared following a catastrophic plague. Cronenberg's early amateur feature films, shot in and around his university campus, prefigure his later films' concerns with strange institutions, male/female separation and ESP, echoing the likes of Videodrome, Dead Ringers and Scanners.
If this picture doesn't make you scream and squirm, you should see a psychiatrist--quick!" shouts the film's trailer. This time the hyperbole is right. Shivers, David Croneberg's debut feature and Canada's first domestic horror film, is an ingeniously engineered modern horror that, like George Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), charts a social breakdown by tearing through our most intrinsic taboos. A genetically engineered designer parasite--part-aphrodisiac, part-venereal disease--created by a modern day mad scientist escapes into a colourless, self-contained apartment complex and goes searching for hosts. This monstrous parasite multiplies and invades the alienated occupants, turning them into a pack of Id-driven sex maniacs. Cronenberg's suffocating vision of modern life turns his budgetary limitations--dreary, bland sets, flat lighting and numb performances--into a severe portrait of society out of touch with its physical and emotional existence. Cronenberg pushed the boundaries of gore in 1974, but more insidious is the way he pushes the boundaries of behaviour: under the influence of this insidious, invasive disease families turn to incest and murder, strangers sexually assault the helpless and finally they band together as a pack of bloodthirsty, libido-driven animals. That taboo-breaking display still has the power to get under your skin. The film has also been released under the titles The Parasite Murders and They Came From Within. Cult horror icon Barbara Steele co-stars. --Sean Axmaker
BEING TERRIFIED IS JUST THE BEGINNING... Initially reviled in its native land (some critics took exception to the fact the film was largely funded by the Canadian taxpayer), Shivers is an intensely claustrophobic, subversive masterpiece and an essential entry in the oeuvre of one of the horror genre s most gifted auteurs. Some 40 years after its release, it still retains its power to shock. Starliner Island is an idyllic community. Cut off from the rest of the world, the luxury apartment block affords its occupants the chance to escape from the hustle and bustle of the big city. But this isolation is to prove fatal when a new breed of parasite a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease which arouses sexual aggression in its hosts is let loose in the building, resulting in an orgy terror and mayhem. Known under a host of alternate titles such as The Parasite Murdersand They Came From Within!, Shivers is the startling debut full-length feature from director David Cronenberg which anticipates the body-horror concerns of his later films such as The Fly and Videodrome.
STEREO: In a scientific institute a group of carefully selected subjects is submitted to experimental surgery various drugs and longterm isolation in order to increase their potential for telepathic communication.CRIMES OF THE FUTURE: Millions of women died from Rouge's Malady - a disease caused by cosmetics and discovered by mad dermatologist Antoine Rouge who subsequently disappeared. In his clinic patients' bodies start producing mysterious functionless organs.
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