User reviews

Based on a novel of the same name, "Shiver" delivers only occasionally. The predictable, derivative screen story gains a little traction from performances, but not enough to keep it afloat. Among these are uneven performances by Danielle Harris (some of her scenes are quite good) as the wallflower office worker Wendy Alden, and John Jarrett as the serial killer Franklin Rood, who stalks her. (But don't expect anything close his creepy performance in "Wolf Creek"). Casper Van Dien and Rae Dawn Chong do quite well in their performances as the detectives on the loony's trail. The central problem is the script, which may not do justice to the novel: the main characters are flat and under-developed; the police and corrections officers are presented as incredibly incompetent. And the rationale behind the crimes is unexplored; evidently a single traumatic event in Rood's childhood drives him over the edge. The camera work is fine, and the editing sharp, though a little jagged. Taken on its own terms the jazz soundtrack is okay, but it seems to belong to another film.

It's too bad that I end up writing an overall negative review for "Shiver", as I truly and honestly wanted to like it! I saw the film at a very small-scaled but charming Festival in my home country, and both director Julian Richards and writer/producer Robert D. Weinbach were present for the screening… Yes, sadly it wasn't lead actress Danielle Harris who traveled to Belgium for a visit. Anyway, they are both very friendly gentlemen and truly proud of their accomplishment. They describe "Shiver" as the first a deeply disturbing serial killer thriller in a very long time and supposedly also one of the first to draw a profound and genuinely realistic portrait of the psychopath. Well, it's good that they're fond of their product, of course, but sadly all I watched was a dull, derivative and tremendously clichéd run-of-the-mill B-movie thriller. John Jarratt, who my girlfriend immediately recognized from his role in the sappy soap series "MacLeod's Daughters", is immediately introduced as the murderous madman Vinnie even before the opening credits appear on screen. So don't pay any attention to the other user comment around here claiming that the trailer reveals the identity of the killer… You're meant to know right away. Vinnie savagely strangles with a steel wire because he had a traumatizing childhood. This gets illustrated trough a flashback in which we witness two bullies crushing little Vinnie's glasses. Now if such a vile act doesn't turn you into a relentless and misogynous serial killer, then what does? Vinnie leaves a big trail of bloody massacres behind in Oregon's Portland, and in spite of his rather rude and careless modus operandi, the dumb police inspector Casper Van Dien doesn't have a clue how to catch him. Then one night, Vinnie breaks into the apartment of cute single lady Wendy Alden. When she narrowly survives Vinnie's assault, he becomes obsessed with her and convinced that they belong together. What ensues is an incredibly tedious and predictable cat-and-mouse game, featuring all the clichés you can think of. Our killer literally pops up everywhere around Wendy, even in places where he couldn't possibly guess she is there, and "Shiver" quickly becomes ridiculous beyond proportions. Near the climax, Vinnie goes on a sickening blood rampage that is actually laughable instead of disturbing, and the final confrontation between him and Wendy is then again quite tame. Horror princess Danielle Harris ("Halloween", "Hatchet") gives a good performance and the make-up effects are pleasingly gross, but the film is far too weak in the scripting and executing departments.

Shiver is one of those straight to stream movies, that you can easily miss, but I try to catch these when I can. 9 times out of 10 they suck but when I saw Danielle Harris was one of the stars, I knew it might be good and I'm pleased to say, her performance, along side John Jarratt, who plays our resident psycho, manages to take a bland story and turn it up a few notches.

They are the strength of this movie and without their solid turns as Psycho Serial Killer vs The Final Girl, this movie would've fallen flat. When they aren't the focus (and thankfully they get most of the screen time in the second and third acts) Shiver becomes boring, with Casper Van Dien (what happened to you Casper?) as the cop on the case, and Rae Dawn Chong (the stewardess from Commando) as his partner, sleepwalking through their parts.

It's a decent horror and the blood and terror builds as the movie goes along. It won't win any awards and I don't see it ending up on any Best Of lists, but the performances of the two lead actors make for an entertaining watch.

I watch a lot of low-budget horror movies on Tubi for fun, so I thought I knew what I was getting into with this one, but it was far worse than I expected. It might honestly be the worst movie I've ever seen - definitely one of the worst, if not reigning champion. It's so bad, in fact, that I almost feel bad writing this review; it feels like kicking a man while he's down. There's not a single redeeming quality to this movie. The car chase scene in particular is BY FAR the most pathetic thing I've ever seen. Another reviewer mentions Danielle Harris giving a good performance - I would like to know what planet that guy's living on. Your average actress from a Swiffer commercial could've done a better job. John Jarrat isn't any better, despite his decent performance in Wolf Creek around the same time this was filmed. It's an absolute cluster from beginning to end, not even worth your time as a joke-movie. Most no-budget amateur films on YouTube are better examples of filmmaking. I'd be embarrassed to even have my name attached to this if I worked on it.

In nearly every respect, Shiver is just another movie about just another demented serial killer. But a viewer who sticks with it, will see that the lead Woman in Peril played by Danielle Harris is far from the typical panicked screaming and annoying victim. Ms. Harris delivers an impressively nuanced performance in a movie that on most respects is totally lacking in nuance. True. Even with another actress in the lead role. Shiver's unpretentiousness would be refreshing (except for the very Carrie-esque final few scenes). But Danielle Harris' performance as an alternately tough, angry and frightened young Portlander is worth a watch purely on its own merits.

I usually watch online movies by first review ing it on imdb. On finding good reviews only then I watch films...but I ignored the review about Shiver...& I paid the price...I wasted nearly one & half hour on a most foolish movie of Hollywood I have ever seen......No storyline...No thrill...So guys go through reviews before watching any Hollywood movie....

I was lucky enough to get to see this movie at a screening and I really don't want to say much about the movie because you need to see it yourself and be surprised. But it is very WELL worth your time to watch. Danielle Harris did an outstanding job with her role and the script was very well written. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and there were a lot of things I was NOT expecting to happen. Overall I would give the movie a 10/10 because it was good. I'm a big supporter of Indie films and respect them so much and I think this has to be one of my favorite B movies along with Stakeland which Danielle also happens to be in oddly enough. So give the movie a watch you won't regret it!

Realistically shows the killer's psychopathic tendencies and lack of empathy very well. Danielle alone deserves 10/10 for her acting. Some bits of almost too realistic gore, apart from heads in jars (re trailer). Enjoyed the film, and the last 10 mins deserves its own movie!

If you've seen any serial killer movie you've seen this film already. It's boring, nothing new and just straight up rubbish. In the U.K. it's called skin collector a title which makes no sense after you've watched the film. I say don't waste your time. If you've made it here because someone told you to watch it slap that person in the face. Lol

It's never a good sign when the very first scene of a movie is so tiresomely heavy-handed that one's immediate thought is that there will be no need to be actively engaged with the remaining ninety minutes. This will sadly prove to be the enduring impression throughout, for in every capacity there is a brusque, blunt, hollow edge that accentuates the inauthenticity. The dialogue and character writing is full of tropes and stereotypes; the scene writing is flat and lifeless; the narrative is dull and bland, copied and pasted from any number of other titles. There's no subtlety, tact, or nuance to be found in the direction, and in turn there is none to be found in the acting despite the best efforts of the cast (then again, sometimes there's no apparent effort at all). Whether a song is presented on the soundtrack within a scene, or especially when it's possibly being performed within a scene, it sounds astoundingly empty, as if it were a parody. Each passing moment and every little inclusion feels like a series of hard, blocky edges butting up against one another - false, contrived, ill-fitting, with every small facet amplifying the lowliest qualities of those around it. 'Shiver' is not good.

There are some good ideas here. I'm unsure if a lot of those ideas are best suited for an earnest horror-thriller or, like the worst ideas, for a parody. The resulting screenplay reflects poorly on screenwriter Robert D. Weinbach, but to be frank, it also reflects poorly on novelist Brian Harper, because the conglomeration is so deeply unsatisfactory and unconvincing that I find it hard to imagine that a screenwriter could mangle a good book this badly. I guess the stunts are decent enough, and the practical effects. The hair and makeup artists did good work. The filming locations are swell, and the art direction. Richard Band's music is decent, if sparing and minimal. I see the skills of the cast that would surely shine through if given an opportunity; would that Julian Richards' direction didn't reduce every every component part to a tawdry, flimsy fraction of what it's supposed to be. There are no thrills to be had, nor any basic excitement; moments that should be creepy, charged, or disturbing are instead almost laughable. In theory 'Shiver' should bear a grim, dark tone; in practice, it's light and almost farcical, if indeed there's any tone at all.

I see what this could have and should have been. It should have been grotesque, exploitative, truly vexing, brutal, and nasty. What it is, instead, is exhausting, boring, boorish, grey, and mostly very trite; it stops just a little short of being a TV movie, in the worst of ways. Nearly all the best possibilities of what this might have been are squashed and squandered, and the relative strength of the last third can't compensate for broad, overwhelming deficiency. Had more care been taken from the outset, in the script and in the direction - even just as much care as had been applied to the back end - then the whole would have come off significantly better. As it is, 'Shiver' is lucky to have risen above rock bottom. I'm glad for those who get more out of this than I did, but unless one is a major fan of someone involved; I just don't see much reason why one should spend time here in light of the countless other titles one could be watching instead.

I watched it despite the reviews, it wasn't great, but I have seen worse. Annoyingly it's listed under shiver here and in the uk as the skin collector. Not the best title when he collects heads...

Shiver, or Skin Collector as it's called on Amazon Prime Video, has got to be the worst film I have ever watched. I don't think I've ever felt so bored! I'm not a person to turn off a film, just in case something significant happens, however that was just not the case with this film. The acting was poor. The budget for the movie was clearly no more than $100, or if it was they didn't utilise their money well. The car chase scene was clearly filmed during the day but to make it appear like nighttime they over compensated with the darkest filter they could find in windows movie maker - it is really that poor! It is not worth a watch. You would have more fun watching paint dry!

Mediocre serial killer horror flick with an established cast

There's a really nasty serial killer (John Jarratt, known from Wolf Creek) going around in Portland. But in his latest victim (scream queen Danielle Harris) he finds an absolutely equal opponent. It remains to be seen which of the two will win in the end!

Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) is solid as the handsome police detective. Rae Dawn Chong (Command), who can currently be admired as US President Clinton's legendary receptionist in the Monica Lewinsky series "Impeachment: American Crime Story 3", plays the tough investigator colleague here.

What is special about this film is the very last screen appearance of action legend Brad Harris (1933-2017): He can be seen very briefly as a demanding police chief. Brad Harris, who is known from many Italian sword and sandal films and from GERMAN ADVENTURE FLICKS, also co-produced the film.

You can definitely watch it just before Halloween.

'Skin Collector' begins with a pre-credits sequence where stunning young Asian waitress Cathy politely declines the advances of a middle-aged hopeful and this results in his subsequent temper tantrum and her brutal murder in a public place, unseen by anyone. I wondered if this unassuming man was to be the film's killer, because although competently played, he doesn't possess any menace, instability or threat.

The hero of the piece Delgado (Casper Van Dien), a police inspector, is as square-jawed, designer stubbled and ruggedly handsome as you could imagine - competent but bland. With these two main players holding things together, this doesn't promise to be riveting viewing, sadly.

Wendy, a bullied (by her unspeakable mother) Portland secretary, is the most appealing character, and through her, things become ever more watchable. She is the most appealing character. Well played by Danielle Harris and constantly in jeopardy or put down by those around her, it is difficult not to empathise as her face crumples in misery as a result of her latest hardship.

Amid the nicely filmed rainy locations and John Jarratt's performance, the unterrifying Rood slowly becomes a fascinating villain because of his child-like politeness and unstoppable nature - an interesting combination. Stick with this and you'll enjoy it. My score is 7 out of 10.