83
The A.V. Club by Keith Phipps
Like the creatures in the films, and many of Cronenberg's other films themselves, Shivers is disturbing on an almost biological level.
Shivers
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Canada
- 1975
- · 88m
Director
David Cronenberg
Cast
Paul Hampton,
Joe Silver,
Lynn Lowry,
Barbara Steele,
Allan Kolman,
Susan Petrie
Genre
Horror
A mad scientist engineers a parasitic disease that takes over the host and turns them into a sex-crazed zombie, then gets infected himself. The parasite is unleashed on the unsuspecting residents of a suburban apartment complex, who must desperately fight to stay alive and avoid being infected by their zombified neighbors.
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What are critics saying?
80
CineVue
It was Shivers that laid the groundwork creating the blend of sex, distorted psychologies and horror which became Cronenberg staples and his signature style in the years to come.
80
CineVue by Cleaver Patterson
It was Shivers that laid the groundwork creating the blend of sex, distorted psychologies and horror which became Cronenberg staples and his signature style in the years to come.
75
San Francisco Examiner
Shivers exhibits the major characteristics of Cronenberg's canon, his use of architecture as reinforcement of the film's creepy tone and the deliberate reduction of men and women to a single, compulsively sexual aspect of their identities.
75
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
A paranoid, prurient sexual nightmare.
75
San Francisco Examiner by Bob Stephens
Shivers exhibits the major characteristics of Cronenberg's canon, his use of architecture as reinforcement of the film's creepy tone and the deliberate reduction of men and women to a single, compulsively sexual aspect of their identities.
70
Time Out
Misanthropic, indeed, but the black humour and general inventiveness place it high above most contemporary horror pictures.
70
Time Out by Staff (Not Credited)
Misanthropic, indeed, but the black humour and general inventiveness place it high above most contemporary horror pictures.
63
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
It scares and shocks us because it's so cleverly made; the writer-director, David Cronenberg, uses invention and imagination to replace expensive shock effects.
60
Variety
A silly but moderately effective chiller about creeping parasites that systematically (and comically) 'infect' an entire highrise population with nothing less than sexual hysteria.
60
Variety by Staff (Not Credited)
A silly but moderately effective chiller about creeping parasites that systematically (and comically) 'infect' an entire highrise population with nothing less than sexual hysteria.
50
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Cronenberg's brand of body horror isn't to everyone's taste, but to call him a reactionary anti-sensualist who metes out grotesque punishment for sins of the flesh -- as detractors have -- is to miss the point.
30
The New York Times by Vincent Canby
It's apparent that someone connected with They Came From Within has an impertinent sense of humor even though the film is so tackily written and directed, so darkly photographed and the sound so dimly recorded, that it's difficult to stay with it.
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