31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 27 Shivers

 

TITLE-Shivers

SOURCE-Vestron Video Blu Ray

Finally after teh DVD of Shivers being out of print for 20 years we got another and better home video release. The print looks and sounds great. It is loaded with extras,only had a chance to check out the director's commentary. And this was fairly cheap. I found my copy at Walmart for 13 bucks.

Shivers is David Cronenberg's first feature length film. Made with some funding from the Canadian governement the film was one of the first government funded films to make a profit.

Set in an apartment complex. A slug like virus gets out and anyone infected with it becomes a sex starved maniac. And being a Cronenberg film you know the body horror elements are in the forefront.

The FX work is good for the time and budget of the film. Sure some of the blood has that "hey is that red paint" look. But hell that is a common thing in 70s horror. 

The acting is what makes this film stand out. Besides the lead male,played by Paul Hampton,the rest of the leads are all soooo good. You got the horror legend Barbara Steele in a great role. The scene with her in the bath tub being attacked by the virus stands out as thrilling to watch while at the same time horrifying.

 Lynn Lowry is her normal odd but entertaining self. She has this odd look and way of acting. She isn't an ugly woman. But she isn't classically pretty either.

Before watching this blu ray I hadn't seen Shivers in at least 20 years. While I do like Cronenberg's films this is one of his I just never got into. 

Shivers gets a B.

2016 Comic Challenge 257 Charles Burns' Black Hole

TITLE-Black Hole
PUBLISHER-Fantagraphics

I am pretty sure I reviewed the first issue of this series earlier this year. Got a copy of the collection of all 12 issues and been reading it over the past few days.

Holy fuck. I have been a fan of Charles Burns for a long time now. And this is the best thing I have read from him.

Really it is hard to explain this series. The bare basics is a virus is out. It only seems to infect teens. And if you get infected it causes your body to mutate. Some get lucky and have a mutation they can hide. The others end up living out in the woods.

But there is so much going on under the basic plot. Lots of stuff I am still trying to puzzle out.I am thinking this virus is really what all of us go thru the first time we have sex.But then it might be the stuff we all feel as teens,how we don't fit in and feel like we are a totally different species.

The great black and white artwork is stunning.Where as Frank Miller used this style of b/w art to recreate the mood of film noir,Burns seems to be using it more as a way to get you to focus more on the story. Not that the art is bad,hell it is better than 90% of the crap that is coming out from the big 2.

Black Hole gets a BUY!