Keeping with the flavor of the month, a real spine tingle Shiver enters the home entertainment market. This low budget thriller does a pretty good job of creating a spooky and evil monster that lurks in wait for an unsuspecting victim. Using the serial killer theme in tandem with the macabre, the movie lives up to its title.
The story opens 12 years earlier in Sunland, California with Cathy (Natalie Sesko), a diner waitress finishing up for the night. She serves an unusual customer who makes advances toward her and is disturbed by the scary looking man. Lying in wait outside in the dark, the serial killer called the Gryphon attacks and brutally kills her.
Flash forward to modern day. Following a fun night with a friend Wendy (Danielle Harris) arrives home where she lives alone. There she gets attacked by the Gryphon but narrowly escapes. The evil killer becomes obsessed with Wendy and starts spiraling out of control in his determination to make her his lover. When Detectives Lt. Sebastian Delgado (Casper Van Dean) and Mavis Burdine (Rae Dawn Chong) are assigned the case they start running into more bodies. With the death count rising the two concentrates on Wendy their only witness.
Still fixated on Wendy the Gryphon starts taking chances with daring attacks making mistakes. Director Julian Richards is no stranger to horror and terror with several films to his credit. He understands the genre does a good job depicting the novel by Bryan Harper. He acquires a cast that works well with his plan and comes up with a frightening film that should give this genre group some surprising thrills. The words creepy, suspenseful and grisly come to mind as Shiver is all that and more.
The acting by Danielle Harris as Wendy gets very believable in her role as the hunted. I like her interesting performance as the victim who resists and she ups the fear factor with her Gryphon encounters. In support, both Van Dean and Chong make their detective roles believable and increase the tension with their encounters with the wicked killer. But the film belongs to John Jarratt as the Gryphon with his stirring depiction of a character so diabolical that he made me cringe.
While the low budget film does have its drawbacks in lack of artistic special effects, it does provide some nicely honed sets that are very workable. The make-up and model makers are kept very busy creating severed heads and gory scenes that up the value of the production. The film does make for a good night of shock and surprise providing what most gruesome crime flicks are made to deliver.
Shiver has not been rated by the MPAA but does contain extreme violence, gore, attempted rape, language, brutality and dismemberment.
The video presentation with the DVD is very good with hardly any grain. The clarity in the darker scenes is very commendable using some very creepy lighting. As far as the audio quality using the Dolby Digital 5.1, I found it acceptable with very good intelligibility. The dialogue is easy to understand and there’s no need for subtitles. Note: There are no subtitles provided on the DVD for the hearing impaired.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Danielle Harris, John Jarratt, Casper Van Dien, Rae Dawn Chong, Drew Barrios and Valerie Harper
Director: Julian Richards
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Crime
Running Time: 1 hr 31 min
Video Release Date:
Original Film Release Date:
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Subtitles: None
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RJL Entertainment
