Tuesday

Yesterday I didn't think I had anything to write about, but then I remembered that I've seen five movies since my last post. Quite an oversight. First off, David Cronenberg's first film: Shivers. It's very similar to his second movie, Rabid, which I reviewed here. Both involve parasitic type organisms which spread from person to person, causing panic and death, with some perverse sexual side-effects. Shivers is contained in one place, and its time-line is limited to just about one day. It feels more deliberately constructed, whereas Rabid was more natural, more freely flowing. Rabid seemed to let the story happen, whereas Shivers tries too hard to tell it. Nonetheless, there are not a great amount of differences. They both attempt mild social satire, and their endings more or less point in the same direction. The scope of Rabid sets it apart, however, and there is also something more intriguing there in the difficulty the lead character goes through. We experience with her the terror of the situation, whereas is Shivers we are isolated from it. I wouldn't say either film is brilliant, but they are definitely necessary viewing for fans of Cronenberg (and the zombie genre perhaps), showing his ability from very early on to disconcert.