Shivers

Cronenberg’s first commercial feature takes up the themes of sex, contamination and the violation of the body that run through many of his films. “Shivers” is set in the antiseptic world of a state-of-the art apartment complex on an island outside of Montreal. It soon emerges that this seeming utopia is threatened by the spread of a parasite that has been implanted in a young woman by the resident doctor, a research scientist conducting experiments on sexual inhibition. Passed during sex between the residents, the slug-like parasite soon lodges itself in the entire population of the building turning them into wanton, violent sex-craving zombies, whose only desire is to sate their carnal desires. Combining horror and social criticism “Shivers” engages with its black humour, visual inventiveness and general creepiness.