***MAJOR SPOILERS*** Having felt that man has not lived up to his potentials since he's restricted by the laws imposed on him by society Dr. Emil Hobbs, Fred Doedrlein, has developed this parasitic type earthworm. The parasite when entering the human body, orally as well as sexually, will cause the person to drop all his or her inhibitions, as well as their pants and skirts, and let it all hang out attacking and raping anyone they come in contact with.

Having implanted his new "invention" on one of his patients Annabelle, Kathy Graham, Dr. Hobbs soon realized that he had created a Frankenstein monster! In a wild frenzy Dr. Hobbs strangled Annabelle in his suite at the Starliner Apartment Complex before , feeling a deep sense of guilt, slitting his own throat.

It turned out to be too late for the guilt-ridden Dr. Hobbs to stop the sexually transmitted plague that he created. It soon becomes evident that the parasite left the dead Annabelle's body and started infecting everyone in the apartment complex. Traveling though the air-condition ducts garbage disposal and plumbing systems of the apartment complex the parasite has easy excess to everyone living there. By the time the movie is over everyone living and working in the apartment complex had become a victim of the attacking parasite.

Both young and old, from pre-teenagers to senior citizens, people that were infected by the parasite became so horny and sexually aroused that they went on a full scale wild orgy by the time the movie ended. These uncontrollable sexual acrobatics not only spilled into the surrounding neighborhoods but city's and towns as well.

Even though the movie "They Came from Within" or "Shivers" was made some five years before the emergence of the deadly AIDS epidemic in the early 1980's its striking similarities to that both sexually and blood transmitted disease is absolutely amazing. The deadly parasite, like the AIDS virus, enters it's victim and causes him or her bodily defenses to totally collapses: It's there where the similarities between the AIDS virus and parasite ends.

The parasite soon causes its infected host to go out looking, like a vampire looking for blood to survive, for new victims and strikes out at anyone uninfected in a wild sexual frenzy. This ends up with the infected person implanting the parasite in his or her victims body to start the whole cycle, person to person transmission, all over again.

The film is a lot like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" in that nobody knows who's been infected, like the people who's bodies were taken over by the body snatchers, by the parasite until it's too late.

The resident doctor at the apartment complex Dr.Roger St Luc, Paul Hampton, gets the lowdown to what exactly is going on there from his colleague Dr. Rollo Linsky, Joe Silver. Rollo had been working with the late Dr. Hobbs before he completely cracked up and killed, along with Annabelle, himself. It's later that Rollo himself falls victim to the deadly parasite when he's attacked by Nicholas Tudor, Allan Kolman, a resident at the apartment complex. Tudor had been infected by the parasite when, cheating behind his wife' Janine's (Susan Petie) back, he had a sexual tryst with Annabelle.

Trapped in the complex with its sex-crazed residents trying to both rape as well has induct Roger into their ranks has him make an desperate attempt to escape the fate that awaits him there. Roger tries to cross the causeway, connecting Starliner Island to the mainland, making a wild dash to both freedom safety.

*****SPOILERS****** It's then that Roger realizes just how helpless his both escape attempt and him warning the general public is! The cat, or parasite, is out of the bag, or plumbing system! And with it being able to greatly intensify man's most darkest and suppressed, through laws and religion, thoughts and taboos there's nothing on God's green earth, military medically or psychologically, that can stop it!

If compiling a list of favourite directors, David Cronenberg if to be honest wouldn't be on it (having only properly started seeing his work fairly recently). If compiling though a list of the most fascinating and unique directors, he would almost certainly be on it and high up the more work seen of his. A vast majority of his films disturb in his use of imagery and make one feel uncomfortable with his tackling of challenging subjects, but as said in some of my other reviews for his films there is much more to his work than just full on horror as seen with him moving away from it in later years.

Cronenberg's feature film debut 'Shivers' is nowhere near among his best work (though nowhere near among his worst either),but for a film debut with limited resources despite flaws 'Shivers' is pretty impressive. The rest of the films that are part of his filmography are far more refined visually, explore their themes/subject much deeper and are far better written and acted. But every good/great director has to start somewhere and this impresses and interests, and even with the low production values it's fairly ambitious in its subject and for low budget. In terms of content, 'Shivers' is one of Cronenberg's more disturbing films.

There are issues with 'Shivers'. If there was an award for the worst-looking Cronenberg film, 'Shivers' in my mind would be an easy win. With the exceptions of the suitably freaky special effects and eerie apartment setting, this does fare pretty badly in the visual department and reminiscent of a very low budget television film. The camera work and editing are both rather slip-shod and like the makers were still experimenting when shooting and editing without having put much thought into what to do and when to do it. The sound is also amateurishly handled.

Another weak point is the acting. There are two exceptions, Joe Silver, who really does give it his best shot without over-compensating, and particularly Barbara Steele, whose experience in Hammer films is obvious. Other than that, 'Shivers' contains some of the worst acting in a Cronenberg film even for mostly non-big names. Paul Hampton is especially awful, who looked like he wasn't interested in the film at all (even Stephen Lack in 'Scanners' wasn't this bad). The script does have some very clunky moments.

However, despite all of this it is difficult to be too hard on 'Shivers'. As said the special effects are freaky, surprising as one does expect for minimal budget for the effects to be the worst part when it comes to production values, the apartment setting has real eeriness and Silver and Steele do well with what they have. Cronenberg gave himself a lot to take on and does so admirably, even if his style had not fully formed yet. Yet his style can still be found all over 'Shivers', with the famous themes and ideas often re-visited in later films present but much deeper and with more subtlety later on. Other parts of the script are darkly humorous and intriguing, like the flesh monologue.

What is particularly good here though in 'Shivers' is the atmosphere and the horror. Even by 2019 standards, 'Shivers' is still genuinely scary and even now is one of Cronenberg's most disturbing, old and new. The starkness evokes genuine chills, something that would be seen in his later films but much more technically advanced in them. There is a real sense of dread, with a lot of tension and suspense. The parasites are not seen a lot but really chill the blood when they do appear. A lot of the imagery is stomach churning, especially the bath scene which is one of the most frightening scenes of any early Cronenberg and overall Cronenberg perhaps for that matter. The claustrophobic climax is also unforgettable.

Summarising, very flawed but did give me the shivers. 7/10

It's an apartment complex with all the amenities on an island in Monteal. Dr. Emil Hobbes is doing deadly experiments to substitute organ transplants with parasites. He kills young Annabelle Brown and then himself. He had infected Annabelle with the parasites which causes uncontrollable sex drive. She had infected others in the apartment which continues to spread. Roger St. Luc is a doctor at the complex who investigates the work of Dr. Hobbes.

David Cronenberg has an idea with good potential. It allows for creepy parasites and some sexuality. There are good horror set pieces from Cronenberg. The movie lacks good acting and that seriously holds it back. The directions and camera work are still amateurish. It probably should have concentrated solely on the Dr. Hobbes and Annabelle for the first act. It could have been more bloody and grotesque. It should explain the parasites more at the beginning. The exposition to St. Luc is clunky. It becomes a series of attacks which has some good moments. It's a nice step up for the young Cronenberg.