David Cronenberg is an art house director best known as the
prime practitioner of body horror, though he has expanded well beyond that in
his 40 years of filmmaking. Shivers (1975) is one of his early films. It takes place in a planned condominium
reminiscent of the high-end enclaves in J.G.Ballard’s novels High Rise and Super-Cannes. In the film a sexually
transmitted parasite runs rampant, causing uncontrollable libido in its hosts
and resultant deviance, chaos, and death. Clearly, the juxtaposition of the
setting and the increasingly twisted sexuality is rife with social commentary;
you can watch and decide for yourself if it’s effective. The character Nurse
Forsythe encapsulates the mood: “Even dying is sexual.” Not unexpectedly, Shivers met with much controversy when
it came out, but Roger Ebert was an early (somewhat hesitant) proponent
and it has come to be mostly well-regarded.
I appreciate Shivers. The
Fly may be my favorite of Cronenberg’s horror films and his most polished. The Brood might be his creepiest. His
psychological horror drama Dead Ringers,
wherein Jeremy Irons plays twin gynecologists Beverly and Elliot, is a truly
unique film and probably the one I most recommend from his early catalog. And
then there are his recent forays: his crime dramas like the great A History of Violence and Eastern Promises and the surreal,
literary Cosmopolis. His is an oeuvre
worth exploring.
You could spend a lot of time diagramming
Cronenberg’s influence, and one branch would lead you from Shivers to the 1986 cult horror comedy Night ofthe Creeps, which also showcases mind-controlling slugs. Both are
directly referenced by James Gunn’s 2006 Slither, a fun film
with a great cast – one of my favorite post-2000 horror films. I’m glad Gunn is
seeing wider success now with Guardians
of the Galaxy.
(Here’s
a Paris Review interview with J.G.
Ballard from 1984.)
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