Shivers (1975)

 

Shivers posits the idea of medical research creating 'beneficial parasites' that can could be introduced to the human body to supplement or replace malfunctioning organs.  'Beneficial parasites' is of course an oxymoron; parasites are by definition not beneficial.  A more correct term would be 'symbiotes', but either writer/director David Cronenberg didn't know that at the time, or he did not expect his audience to do so.

One member of the team conducting this research believes humans to be "too much brain and not enough guts", and secretly sets out to create a 'parasite' that will make people more sexual and less cerebral.  He incubates these creatures in his girlfriend, Annabelle.  Somehow, he expects this to have a positive outcome.

Surprise!  It does not.  The outcome is an orgy - I use that word very specifically - of sexual predation as the parasites violently attempt to spread themselves to more and more people.

Shivers was Cronenberg's third feature film.  At the time of its release it was the most profitable Canadian film ever made; and also one of the most controversial.  Its sexual and violent content offended many critics of the day, and even led to the film being debated in the Canadian parliament.

Even by today's much more permissive standards of content, parts of this film remain quite confronting.  In particular, some of the violent scenes have a significant sexual element.  There's an attack right near the start of the film for instance, where a young woman writhes, half-clothed, as she is choked into unconsciousness.  It is quite intense.  

If that kind of content is not too off-putting for you, there are some good elements to the film.  For instance, Shivers makes clever use of silence, and of the awkwardness that can exist between people within that silence.  

In other ways, though, it does show its age and limited budgets.  Scenes where the 'parasites' emerge from their human hosts definitely look dated and unconvincing.  They're not helped by the dubious quality of some of the supporting acting, either.

The film also begins with an introductory commercial for the apartment complex where its events takes place. This is hilariously dated: the place looks drab and grim and thoroughly unappealing, and the 'Olympic sized' swimming pool they claim to have is clearly at most half that length.  But perhaps that is deliberate irony: the drabness could be seem as a manifestation of the "too much brain and not enough guts" concept that the 'parasites' are supposed to address.

Overall, I think Shivers is stronger in its build up to the 'parasite' outbreak than it is once the outbreak actually happens.  Once it takes that step, much of the tension leaks out of the film and we mostly just titillation and violence (some of it very poorly staged) instead.

70s cinema was big on "they look like us but they're wrong inside" wasn't it?  This film, Future World, Invasion of the Body Snatchers ... there is a real theme at work.  Shivers is no Body Snatchers, but even at its schlockiest, it is considerably more entertaining than the turgid Future World.