THE SHIVERS

THE SHIVERS

Written, Produced, and Directed by Todd Sheets

Staring:
Rico Love
Antwoine Steele
Abe Dyer

Yuck!

I actually said "yuck" while watching this movie. Can you believe that? "Yuck"? Of all the lame things to say, "yuck."

I could handle all the people who were melting before my eyes. That was cake. But when some girl gave herself an abortion and then took a bite out of the placenta…. Yuck!

My stomach churned and I could feel the bile climb it's way through my pipes. The last movie to evoke that reaction was ROT, a twisted little movie where people contracted some sort of mega-leprosy causing them to melt before our eyes. THE SHIVERS has some similar effects, but on a much gooeier level. This movie is one nasty, over-the-top, ooze-fest.

Yuck! I can't shake that baby scene.

Some of Todd's films after THE SHIVERS have a much higher gore quotient. CATACOMBS and ZOMBIE BLOODBATH 3 are little more than excuses to frolic in blood soaked orgies of excess. Chances are if I had seen THE SHIVERS first, the reviews for those two film would have been pretty negative. Compared to the older film, those two are steps backward for a filmmaker just finding his stride. Neither one comes close to the level of THE SHIVERS. The violence here has more lasting impact.

THE SHIVERS is a better movie over all. It looks better. It sounds better. It feels better. Even Abe Dyer didn't annoy me. Hell, I even liked his character of a wheelchair-bound cripple. Deep down, I knew the guy could act. Restraint was the key after all.

Abe isn't the only Sheets staple to return. Most of the faces are familiar, even if they hide behind a bleach job or two. Some actors are obvious first timers, but their roles are limited. For the most part the main cast shines. Everyone finds just the right note to play his or her respective characters. In most cases they seem like they are just being themselves. Of an actor's quest for naturalism, that's probably the best compliment I can give.

The haunted house storyline borrows heavily from H.P. Lovecraft. Of the few films from Sheets that I've seen, they all reference the man in some way. Lovecrafts Greater Gods need enough souls to give them the strength to come to our world. A few vengeful spirits are intent on helping them do so. It's THE SHINING meets EVIL DEAD. Not a bad couple of films to emulate, eh?

Yes, THE SHIVERS is derivative of other movies. I've always thought original has been done. Todd Sheets makes horror fresh. He wants to return horror to it's heyday in the early 1980s and give people the gory goods. I'm all for it.

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