The Corner Penthouse

Shivers arrives on Blu-ray as the 18th entry in Lionsgate's Vestron Video Collector's Series, "a line of classic and unique genre films, remastered and numbered, and packed with special features." I have reviewed several other titles in the series.


Shivers (1975), also known as They Came From Within and The Parasite Murders, shows us what happens when the residents of a luxury apartment complex outside Montreal are infiltrated by parasites and transformed into violent, sex-crazed maniacs. It's up to Dr. Roger St. Luc (Paul Hampton) to contain the outbreak from spreading to the city at large.


Shivers is acclaimed filmmaker David Cronenberg's feature-length debut and stars Paul Hampton, Joe Silver, Lynn Lowry, and Barbara Steele - the latter two providing some of the film's nudity and eye candy. Oddly enough, for a film with strong sexual themes, there isn't as much nudity as one would expect. It's mostly a quick shot of breasts here and there. You'll see more in one of those "Skinemax" softcore flicks from years ago. Heck, I can think of several "sex comedies" from the 1980s that are heavier on the nudity. So, if you're looking for a T&A flick; look elsewhere.


Shivers is an old-school low-budget horror/suspense film that feels like it was inspired by Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and would serve as the inspiration for later parasite/slug films Night of the Creeps and Slither, and the "evil STD" film It Follows. While there is some action early in the film, Shivers takes its time building to its climax. It's not particularly scary, as the blood looks like red paint, and the parasites look like sausages. It's a film that definitely looks like a low-budget film from the 1970s, but I think that's part of its charm. What I think the film really has going for it is tension and weirdness. You want the "hero" to make it out of the situation unharmed, but the more things progress, the less likely that seems and the more you feel that all hope is lost. All of the infected residents are affected in different ways, some of which are never explained to the audience. I'm still trying to figure out what the deal is with the children who are being walked on leashes like dogs.


Ivan Reitman, the director of Ghostbusters, was the producer and music supervisor of Shivers. He also performed the same duties on Cronenberg's next film, Rabid (1977). Reitman, who appears in a photo at 2:18 in the Still Gallery on the Blu-ray, paid homage to these two early Cronenberg films in his 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters II. Posters for Shivers (using the They Came From Within title) and Rabid can be seen at the entrance of the theater frightened people run out of during the Flip City montage near the end of the film. You can only glimpse it in the movie, as the people block it most of the time, but you can see it best in the stock footage on Spook Central.


The Unrated Version (comparison) of Shivers is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 1:27:52. On the audio side, there's an English Mono DTS-HD Master Audio track. The film includes English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitles.


Here's a list of all of the special features that can be found on the Blu-ray disc.

• Audio Commentary - with writer/director David Cronenberg.
• Audio Commentary - with co-producer Don Carmody.
• Mind Over Matter (12:01) – A new 2020 interview with writer/director David Cronenberg.
• Good Night Nurse (16:54) – A new 2020 interview with actress Lynn Lowry.
• Outside and Within (12:55) – A new 2020 interview with special make-up effects creator Joe Blasco.
• Celebrating Cinepix (10:05) – A new 2020 interview with Greg Dunning.
• Archival 1998 David Cronenberg Interview (21:16)
• Still Gallery with Archival Audio Interview with executive producer John Dunning (8:37)
• Still Gallery (8:01) - Production photos, behind-the-scenes photos, lobby cards, posters, VHS & DVD covers, and the Ad Campaign book.
• Theatrical Trailers (3:01) - Two trailers, the first as Shivers and the second as They Came From Within.
• TV Spot (1:03) - One ad using the They Came From Within title.
• Radio Spots (2:17) - All three of these spots use the They Came From Within title.

For the first time in the series, a digital copy code voucher is also included in the standard one-disc Blu-ray case. The first print run includes a shiny slipsleeve.


As of right now (updated 9/15/2020), the Vestron Video Collector's Series includes the following Blu-ray releases, all of which contain new bonus materials just like the one I reviewed.



All images were taken from the still image gallery on the disc and/or the IMDB gallery of the film. This item has been provided by Lionsgate for review on this site.