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Santi has a
rare skin decease which forces him to
stay out of the sun. Since he's being picked on in
school and is having a hard time in general, his
mother decides that they should move to a small
village where the sun isn't up as often. At first
everything seems like it's going to be okay, but
when an unseen creature in the woods starts killing
people, Santi is accused of being a vampire and a
killer. What's really killing the locals?
We all know that Spain knows how to make a great
horror flick but just because it's Spanish doesn't
mean that it's going to be great. Shiver (Eskalofrio)
certainly didn't do much for me at least. Produced
by a Spanish TV company (that's never promising),
Eskalofrio feels technically inferior to other
recent Spanish horror flicks and comes off looking
rather cheap. In fact, the movie has the looks and
feels of a direct-to-TV flick and I'm not surprised
that this didn't perform very well at the local
box-office. The acting is all-around poor, the story
is filled with clichés and is extremely predictable,
the directing won't impress anyone and... well,
you know what, let's move onto the positives shall we?
Shiver has an okay plot where a teenaged boy named
Santi and his mother move to a small village in a
valley since Santi is allergic to the sun. Days after
their arrival, something starts killing animals and
people in the area and the locals quickly assume
that it's the weird kid who can't stay in the sun.
As his mother tries to stop a witch-hunt for her
son, Santi tries to find out what's really going on
and who's behind the horrible murders. I didn't
mind the story itself, it's okay, it keeps you
moderately interested even if it's utterly forgettable.
In fact, the movie all-around was okay, despite
lousy acting and a low-budget, the pace was solid
enough to keep me going. We get a couple of nice
shots of the valley, the soundtrack is decent and
the bond between the main characters doesn't feel
TOO contrived (even if the acting is bad).
The suspense factor in Shiver however is zero and
Santi comes off as rather annoying with poor
decision making and a complete lack of good judgement.
I really think that, since it was produced by a
TV company, they didn't dare to go TOO horror and
instead gave us something rather tame for the whole
family to enjoy. Apart from a few somewhat bloody
shots, this was very Goosebumps-friendly, and you
know how I feel towards Goosebumps. In the end,
Shiver isn't really a bad movie, it's okay and it'll
keep you modestly entertained through and through
but man I swear that I will have forgotten all about
this movie by the time that I wake up tomorrow
because it's so mediocre that it really disappears
in a crowd. Worth checking out if you plan to watch
a horror movie with someone who generally doesn't
like horror flicks.
Some minor gore, an impalement, nothing really special.
It's okay you know, just like the movie, one of the
better aspects of the movie though.
Forgettable and bland horror flick with poor acting
and a low budget. Certainly not comparable with other
recent genre movies from Spain and certainly nothing
that you have to check out. For people who like their
horror a bit less thrilling than most, Shiver is an
okay flick though but I wouldn't waste my time with it.
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