Shivers
A sealed luxury apartment complex becomes a nightmare ecosystem when experimental parasites turn its residents into sexually driven flesh-eating predators.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- foreboding
- grotesque
- transgressive
- late night horror marathon
- cult cinema viewing
What critics said
Critics increasingly regard the film as an elementally effective and profoundly unsettling early David Cronenberg work, despite its initially divisive exploitation-horror reception.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Genetically engineered organisms enter residents as experimental organ-transplant parasites and transform the apartment complex into an infestation zone.
The Starliner Island apartment complex functions as the film's primary enclosed environment while residents become infected and isolated.
The parasites spread through orgiastic sexual behavior, merging erotic attraction with epidemic transmission and predatory violence.
The opening murder, acid destruction of internal organs, parasites, and flesh-eating hosts foreground physical violation and bodily disgust.
Films like Shivers, and why
Dawn of the Dead
Shares isolated-building infection, flesh-eating attackers, escalating outbreak panic, and visceral social horror.
The Brood
Shares sexually charged body horror, invasive parasites, grotesque transformation, and Cronenbergian biological anxiety.
The Crazies
Shares intimate epidemic horror, graphic biological imagery, and a contained community threatened by infection.
Movie Details
- Director
- David Cronenberg
- Release Date
- 1975-05-16
- Runtime
- 88 min
- Rating
- 6.4 / 10 (737)
Cast
- Paul Hampton
- Joe Silver
- Lynn Lowry
- Allan Kolman
- Susan Petrie
- Barbara Steele
- Ronald Mlodzik
- Barry Baldaro
- Camil Ducharme
- Hanna Poznanska
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Cultpix, MovieSphere+ Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Shivers about?
- A sealed luxury apartment complex becomes a nightmare ecosystem when experimental parasites turn its residents into sexually driven flesh-eating predators.
- What is Shivers like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Shivers as brisk, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Shivers violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Shivers as graphic.
- What did critics think of Shivers?
- Critics increasingly regard the film as an elementally effective and profoundly unsettling early David Cronenberg work, despite its initially divisive exploitation-horror reception.
- Which films are like Shivers?
- Films with a similar feel include Dawn of the Dead, The Brood, and The Crazies.
- How long is Shivers?
- Shivers runs 88 minutes.
- Where can I watch Shivers?
- In United States, Shivers streams on Cultpix, MovieSphere+ Amazon Channel.
