Attack of the B's!

Shivers (1975), David Cronenberg


A new man made breed of parasite, spread any number of ways, turns the inhabitants of an island into stark raving mad sex fiends! It doesn't matter if you're male, female, black, white, young, or old- these little guys are equal opportunity. This film predated the AIDS epidemic by several years, pretty powerful foreshadowing if you ask me.

At first, I thought the bugs looked like penises. But as the movie went on, I realized that they're more scatologic than phallic, so no symbolism there. (Or is there?) The scene with Barbara Steele in the bathtub really played on a common fear amongst females; something very unwanted, and very, very icky entering your most private of private places. Between this and the bathtub scene in Nightmare on Elm Street, I think it's pretty safe to say I am a "shower-only" kinda girl.

There were some really fucked up scenes that reminded me a lot of The Shining. You know, as we're being shown around the hotel, looking into all the rooms, seeing all the little slice of life things that make you glad the movie is not taking place in that room. The scene with the old man and his daughter, and the scene with the children on leashes, particularly. The latter of which brings up another thought. Do you think Cronenberg could get away with the scenes involving the sexualization of children in 2008? No way. I see why they were included- because otherwise, the audience would be left asking how the parasite affected the children of the island. I am interested to see if the remake touches on this at all.

But I digress. If you can see through the seemingly ad-libbed dialogue and wooden acting, there is a message there. My first reaction after the movie was: "So... what's the downside? I mean, you don't die. You just have a lot of sex." I was just kidding, of course. You can come up with any number of conclusions, I personally think it was about living in excess and becoming a slave to your vices. Zombie movies are always so moralist!

Best Line: "Roger, I had a very disturbing dream last night. In this dream I found myself making love to a strange man. Only I'm having trouble you see, because he's old... and dying... and he smells bad, and I find him repulsive. But then he tells me that everything is erotic, that everything is sexual. You know what I mean? He tells me that even old flesh is erotic flesh. That disease is the love of two alien kinds of creatures for each other. That even dying is an act of eroticism. That talking is sexual. That breathing is sexual. That even to physically exist is sexual. And I believe him, and we make love beautifully. " -Nurse Forsythe

Grade: A-