Shiver

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.