An absolute waste of money

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This story is set on an island outside of Montreal, in a high rise apartment complex known as Starliner Towers. It dives into the action right away, as we see an aged man murder a young woman, perform an impromptu operation on her, and then off himself. It turns out that the guy, Emil Hobbes (Fred Doederlein), is a doctor with a radical idea: create a parasite that is at least part aphrodisiac. Well, his guinea pig has been promiscuous throughout the building, and she's infected a couple of guys, who soon are infecting more people.The first major film for David Cronenberg is also a landmark film for Canada and the horror genre. Here, Cronenberg shows that 43 years ago, he was already a man with interesting ideas and a bold willingness to put sexuality and gore on full display in a motion picture. He holds nothing back, and his imagery remains potent decades later. It's endlessly amusing to watch as a wide variety of people, of varying ages and ethnicities, completely embrace wanton desires. Yes, it could be said that, to a degree, Cronenberg was influenced by "Night of the Living Dead", but his penchant for craziness is all his own. In fact, his little film could be seen as one of the earliest examples of "outbreak" films, and he would revisit the same sort of theme for his follow-up, "Rabid". It's easy to see why some individuals would have been dismayed that Canadian tax dollars would go towards making this sort of descent into the bizarre.Of the principal actors, we have a *very* creepy Allan Kolman, the cute Susan Petrie as his distraught wife, foghorn voiced (and rock solid) Joe Silver as an exposition provider, special guest star Barbara Steele as a tenant, and the delectable Lynn Lowry as a nurse. The only disappointment is Paul Hampton, who barely registers as a character; he's just too bland.The gore and creatures are courtesy of an under-rated effects expert named Joe Blasco, whose other credits include "The Clonus Horror", "Johnny Firecloud", and "Track of the Moon Beast". He crafted some really entertaining nastiness for this picture.Cronenbergs' filmmaking at this point may not have been terribly slick, but he was definitely a man with a vision, and he does bring it to oozing, bloody, sensual life.Seven out of 10.

David Cronenberg's first 'proper' movie (outside of his student efforts) is a grim and icky slice of visceral horror that's instantly recognisable in spirit from his later 1980s efforts. It's a cold and compelling story of horror that breaks out in an apartment building due to a failed scientific experiment, and it's full of all the nastiness that the director is best known for. Inspired by NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in parts, it in turn has been hugely influential in the depiction of monstrous slugs parasitising the human body; check out the later likes of NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, THE HIDDEN, and SLITHER, which would offer some very similar creations.Although the low budget is always apparent here and makes the experience sometimes creaky, as a whole SHIVERS works. The gore scenes are look-away nasty, and the characters are well drawn, with a couple of actors standing out thanks to their sheer likability (Joe Silver in particular). The casting of Barbara Steele is a nice touch for horror fans, while Cronenberg builds suspense throughout, leading to some great moments towards the climax. If you like your horror imaginative and rough around the edges, then SHIVERS is the film for you; the director's similar follow-up, RABID, is even better. And if you're in two minds about this film's quality, check out Ben Wheatley's recent HIGH RISE, which has similar horror affecting a tower block, but is by far the inferior picture despite a much bigger budget.

The sci fi film called shivers is an interesting work of fiction because i believe it combines several themes to think about throughout the course of the film. One of the themes is the importance of sex in our lives and how it usually tends to influence our behaviors at a physical and social level Another of the themes are the conventional forms of the nature of Man. It is also able to introduce the fight against these impulsive and destructive desires. And showcase our struggle to resist the temptation.. From a general perspective the film can be viewed from a science fiction standpoint/ in our endeavors to continually cheat death Scientists have developed an interesting solution; the creation of an organism that is able to replace defective organs in our own bodies. This organism would begin to eat the hosts failing organs and take their place all the while feeding off the hosts blood. The change is at first unimportant because superficially the hosts appears to be in a good condition. This however is an erroneous conclusion because the parasite, while feeding off the host is slowly growing akin to a bloodsucking fly whose body begins to grow in proportion to the amount of blood it feeds. And therein lies the problem. A cheating husband living in a hotel who is married to a loving and a caring wife, mistreats her all the while he is secretly engaging in sexual intercourse with a young woman who is infected with this parasite. The husband is having serious health issues that start affecting his life; he coughs up blood has convulsions and is in serious need of medical treatment. The way the parasite is able to spread itself is through this host. The parasite can multiplies itself being able to breed asexually inside the husband. After reaching a mature age, the parasites offspring leave the host in search of new bodies in order to keep spreading. It only takes a couple of hours for this outbreak to become uncontrollable infecting all the guests in the hotel. After that we are treated to many scenes involving highly sexual content, while being careful to not reveal much to the audience Everything that the characters are doing is easily interpreted into the viewers minds. There are scenes which imply acts os sexual orgies,incest,pedophilia,rape and others. From this point on, the film deviates from the original concept of scifi elements and starts going on another route. More specifically into philosophical notions about libertine behavior in society. the belief that one has no need of any legal or moral restraints to live out their lives, encouraging excessive indulgence. It contrasts an interesting allegory between the biblical ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah wherein the inhabitants of those cities were so morally bankrupt and who engaged in acts of human depravity and whose excessively destructive behaviors incurred the wrath of God and put an end to them. Another allegory would be Las Vegas too Add to the fact that the setting of the film is on an island, isolated from the rest of the world or figuratively speaking from the prying eyes of those whose ways are not compatible to the ones who live on the hotel, That is, do as thou please. Freedom to indulge yourselves in extreme excess without worry or care....True enough it is more a far fetched idea on my part but whatever. But the most striking allegory that hit me during the films climactic moment was when everybody started to lose their minds and identities for cause of that scientific abomination that drove normal people to the edge and converted them into sexual monsters concerned with erotic practices, consensual or otherwise, which is the most damning aspect of the film is the complete depravation and debauchery of the nature of man and how quickly we can sink into that state of absolute sexual nature, How, even children can be corrupted quite easily by our own standards and how few people fight to preserve their humanity against such overwhelming odds where it could be easier to give in to the dark side of humanity, yet they fight on until their last breath gives out. And it is this courageous man who is inspirational because it is a virtue being able to not give in to your sexual urges. Knowing the consequences and the evil vices one leaves himself to be exposed to, for an extremely short amount of time for carnal pleasure begs the question....why are we so stupid that we oftentimes make the wrong choice. Infedilty,rap-ism,incest,pedophilia..wtf

Filmed in the beautiful Canadian city of Montreal, Quebec, They Came From Within is a freaky, disturbing and messed up little horror sci-fi that will haunt for forever once you watch it. Unfortunately there are is an excessive amount of sex stuff in it, but there's a point to it, it's not there to be pervy although the footage probably earned the director lots of money from perverts wanting to view the movie.In a high-rise in Quebec, it's seen as a beautiful location for tourists and the elite who can afford to live there. One day a horrific murder happens in one of the rooms. An old man kidnaps a woman, cuts her open and pours acid into her insides to destroy her internal organs. As cops investigate, it turns out that there's been more to the case than just some psycho trying to steal organs. A parasite has been developed that is spread through sexual contact, turning the infected into sex-crazed maniacs just leaping up at people like perverted zombies. Soon a few victims try to stop it before it gets much worse and infects the entire world.I saw this movie with my best friend, and we were both sixteen at the time, and living in Canada we were looking for Canadian horror films (we wanted to see if we'd been to the filming locations, nerdy, huh?) and we came across this one. As it turned out my friend had been to the area that It Came From Within was filmed at (My hometown was the filming location of the 1981 slasher My Bloody Valentine). We figured we had to see this, and we enjoyed it, but both of us agreed that all the sex stuff was really disgusting and over the top. A lot of parents show horror films to their kids these days and I strongly advise you don't choose this one, there are many disturbing, perverted and disgusting scenes. The scene with the woman having her internal organs ripped open is very graphic and disturbing, not to mention she's naked at the time, and the fact that it's a fat old man ripping open her stomach while she's still alive doesn't help the situation any.It does have good soundtrack, beautiful if not dreary at times scenery great acting, gory and realistic special effects and a few comedic moments such as a man leaning out the window and puking all over an old woman's clear plastic umbrella. It's not a bad movie, and if you don't like seeing so many graphic scenes there may be a director's cut available. It's like Eating Raoul combined with Don't Go Near the Park.