Shivers/ They Came from Within

This being Halloween season I keep going back to old horror movies. Especially strange ones I saw as a kid. Which brings me to a “They Came from Within” (AKA: “Shivers”). I saw this movie at the Regency theater in Fernandez Juncos in Santurce, Puerto Rico. At the time, I loved watching B horror movies and the poster for the movie made it clear that we were in B movie territory. It featured a woman in a bathtub being attacked by a strange creature. This meant two things, the movie had gore and the movie had nudity. A fun time was surely guaranteed.

I’m not sure what friend went to see this movie with me. But I imagined he must have been very bored to accept seeing a movie like this. But at the end of the movie, he must have agreed that this was a great one.

I didn’t know at the time that this was a movie by David Cronenberg, a director who would gain great fame in the 1980’s and 1980’s for movies such as “Scanners”, “ Videodrome” and in the 2000’s for the excellent “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises”. But what I realized then was that this was a terrific movie.

In an isolated apartment building in Canada a scientist was doing experiments which resulted in creating a virus that would make people lose all inhibitions, especially sexual ones. The virus begins spreading one night throughout the building, creating all kinds of mayhem. And this being a Cronenberg film and this being the 1970’s, anything was possible. No taboos went unexplored.

The movie featured Barbara Steele in a small role. She had gained some cult fame because of some horror movies she made in the 1960’s, but I was unaware of that at the time. It also featured a quirky looking actress called Lynn Lowry (see photo), who I considered to be extremely sexy. I had seen her in some other B movies and always found her to be beautiful in an odd sort of way. Actually that could be a topic for a separate blog entry.

So, all in all, this was a fun movie. And a couple of years ago I saw it on DVD and had a great time. It still holds up as a good horror flick. I may see it again these days. And I recommend it to people looking for a strange, no holds barred horror flick. It occasionally plays on Showtime and the Movie Channel on cable tv. Check it out or rent it. You’ll be glad you did.