★★★★☆ If, like me, you felt modern horror movies had lost the plot, Shiver (2008) - a wonderfully stylish chiller from Spain - may just be enough to restore your faltering faith. Director Isidro Ortiz, the man behind Fausto 5.0 (2001) and Alvaro Augustin, producer of Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and The Orphanage (2007), pit Julio Valverde against horrors, both real and imaginary, in this subtle shocker.
Teenager Santi (Valverde) suffers from severe photophobia, where exposure to sunlight can result in potentially fatal skin disfigurement. Desperate, his mother Julia (Mar Sodupe) takes him to a village high in the Spanish mountains where there is only limited sunlight each day. However darkness brings other terrors to this remote area, which is plagued by a creature that preys each night on local livestock. When people also start being gruesomely murdered, suspicion inevitably falls on the lonely newcomer Santi.
That master of the macabre Peter Cushing once said the...
Teenager Santi (Valverde) suffers from severe photophobia, where exposure to sunlight can result in potentially fatal skin disfigurement. Desperate, his mother Julia (Mar Sodupe) takes him to a village high in the Spanish mountains where there is only limited sunlight each day. However darkness brings other terrors to this remote area, which is plagued by a creature that preys each night on local livestock. When people also start being gruesomely murdered, suspicion inevitably falls on the lonely newcomer Santi.
That master of the macabre Peter Cushing once said the...
- 10/19/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
Shiver
Stars: Junio Valverde, Francesc Orella, Mar Sodupe, Jimmy Barnatán | Written by Hernán Migoya, Alejandro Hernández | Directed by Isidro Ortiz
Moving to an isolated village to try and get away from the sun would probably be a hard thing for a teenage boy, but when people start dying around you and the villagers look to you as the culprit just not going to be a good day. The truth of the murders of course has nothing to do with you but it’s easy to blame the outsider right?
Santi is a boy with issues; the main one is that sunlight is deadly to him. The more he is exposed to it the more danger is in as it will ultimately lead to problems such as being extremely burnt and ultimately cancer. His mother is advised to move the boy to an isolated village where there is more shade and...
Stars: Junio Valverde, Francesc Orella, Mar Sodupe, Jimmy Barnatán | Written by Hernán Migoya, Alejandro Hernández | Directed by Isidro Ortiz
Moving to an isolated village to try and get away from the sun would probably be a hard thing for a teenage boy, but when people start dying around you and the villagers look to you as the culprit just not going to be a good day. The truth of the murders of course has nothing to do with you but it’s easy to blame the outsider right?
Santi is a boy with issues; the main one is that sunlight is deadly to him. The more he is exposed to it the more danger is in as it will ultimately lead to problems such as being extremely burnt and ultimately cancer. His mother is advised to move the boy to an isolated village where there is more shade and...
- 10/16/2011
- by Pzomb
- Nerdly
Continuing what looks to be an exciting Halloween for our friends in the UK, Second Sight Films has added to its seasonal home video line-up the Guillermo del Toro-produced ghost story Shiver as well as William Friedkin's previously absent from DVD The Guardian.
It would seem del Toro isn’t too busy with Hollywood projects like The Hobbit to lend his name to up and comers, and judging from the description given below, Shiver could be similar to 2001's The Others mixed with some spooky Spanish folklore.
From the Press Release:
From the producer of Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage comes Shiver, the latest chilling horror from Spain. Written and directed by Isidro Ortiz (Fausto 5.0) and starring Julio Valverde (The Devil’s Backbone), this nerve-jangling chiller premieres on DVD on 17 October 2011 from Second Sight Films.
Santi (Valverde) is a teenage outcast who suffers from photophobia, a...
It would seem del Toro isn’t too busy with Hollywood projects like The Hobbit to lend his name to up and comers, and judging from the description given below, Shiver could be similar to 2001's The Others mixed with some spooky Spanish folklore.
From the Press Release:
From the producer of Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage comes Shiver, the latest chilling horror from Spain. Written and directed by Isidro Ortiz (Fausto 5.0) and starring Julio Valverde (The Devil’s Backbone), this nerve-jangling chiller premieres on DVD on 17 October 2011 from Second Sight Films.
Santi (Valverde) is a teenage outcast who suffers from photophobia, a...
- 8/6/2011
- by Aaron Williams
- DreadCentral.com
Currently in production and set in a "distant time but in a reality very near our own", writer Alejandro Hernández (Eskalofrío, review) and director Isidro Ortiz bring us a thriller, and what looks like a mystery.
Returnos tells the story of Alvaro, a man who after exile his village for ten years, returns to attend the funeral of his father. Once there, he tries to reconcile with his brother and to recover his daughter Mar. Everything get's complicated when Alvaro finds a prostitute dead in the road, her name is Lydia, and she is[was] a friend of his daughter Mar. Álvaro, fearing for the safety of his daughter, begins an investigation in a village in which nothing is what it seems and everyone has something to hide.
And here's a Spanish to English version:
With a script by Alejandro Hernández ("Ants in the Mouth", "Bad Seasons"), based on an argument...
Returnos tells the story of Alvaro, a man who after exile his village for ten years, returns to attend the funeral of his father. Once there, he tries to reconcile with his brother and to recover his daughter Mar. Everything get's complicated when Alvaro finds a prostitute dead in the road, her name is Lydia, and she is[was] a friend of his daughter Mar. Álvaro, fearing for the safety of his daughter, begins an investigation in a village in which nothing is what it seems and everyone has something to hide.
And here's a Spanish to English version:
With a script by Alejandro Hernández ("Ants in the Mouth", "Bad Seasons"), based on an argument...
- 7/10/2009
- QuietEarth.us
Year: 2008
Release date: October 28th (R1 DVD)
Director: Isidro Ortiz
Writers: Isidro Ortiz & Hernán Migoya & José Gamo & Alejandro Hernández
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
While not a bad little film, Shiver suffered from some sputtering about a quarter of the way in. The sputtering came from a complete change in story direction, away from the spectacular beginning of the boy Santi, who suffers from a photosensitivity disease, running through the city as the dawn chases him. This was great, and it seems the storyline directions were endless, but that it would probably end up being something vampire-like as a visit to the doctors shows his disease progressing, and his canines growing. But no, after a short while, they head to the country, and toward a much simpler story line, one which suffers from a severe lack of ingenuity.
Santi has a diseases which makes him sensitive to the light,...
Release date: October 28th (R1 DVD)
Director: Isidro Ortiz
Writers: Isidro Ortiz & Hernán Migoya & José Gamo & Alejandro Hernández
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
While not a bad little film, Shiver suffered from some sputtering about a quarter of the way in. The sputtering came from a complete change in story direction, away from the spectacular beginning of the boy Santi, who suffers from a photosensitivity disease, running through the city as the dawn chases him. This was great, and it seems the storyline directions were endless, but that it would probably end up being something vampire-like as a visit to the doctors shows his disease progressing, and his canines growing. But no, after a short while, they head to the country, and toward a much simpler story line, one which suffers from a severe lack of ingenuity.
Santi has a diseases which makes him sensitive to the light,...
- 10/28/2008
- QuietEarth.us
“Small village, big hell.”—old Basque proverb.
Frequent startle jolts in Isidro Ortiz’s Eskalofrío (Shiver) are determined to make you yelp outloud, even if perhaps a little too obviously. Yet another film that I first heard about on Twitch, Shiver premiered in the Panorama section of this year’s Berlinale to tepid critical response. Expectation factored heavily as audiences went into the film assuming it to be a horror flick when, in truth, it’s more a competent thriller with some horror tropes deferentially approached though never fully developed. Few disagree that the film is professionally mounted, the performances solid, and that it respectfully carries on the tradition of Spanish “horror” films like The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage, borrowing—in fact—teenage actor Junio Valverde from Backbone, Labyrinth‘s Oscar-winning set designer Pilar Revuelta, and The Orphanage‘s composer Fernando Velázquez to firm up its genre pedigree.
Frequent startle jolts in Isidro Ortiz’s Eskalofrío (Shiver) are determined to make you yelp outloud, even if perhaps a little too obviously. Yet another film that I first heard about on Twitch, Shiver premiered in the Panorama section of this year’s Berlinale to tepid critical response. Expectation factored heavily as audiences went into the film assuming it to be a horror flick when, in truth, it’s more a competent thriller with some horror tropes deferentially approached though never fully developed. Few disagree that the film is professionally mounted, the performances solid, and that it respectfully carries on the tradition of Spanish “horror” films like The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage, borrowing—in fact—teenage actor Junio Valverde from Backbone, Labyrinth‘s Oscar-winning set designer Pilar Revuelta, and The Orphanage‘s composer Fernando Velázquez to firm up its genre pedigree.
- 9/26/2008
- by Michael Guillen
- Screen Anarchy
We've been following this horror flick out of Spain for a while now and even got a review from Eiff earlier this year, and now, it's finally getting a release here in the states courtesy of Dark Sky. It's going to drop on DVD on October 28th with both English subs or an English language option (I personally go with the subs). The film is about "Santi, a lonely adolescent who moves to a far-off village lost in the mountains with his mother. A series of odd events will shock the place and he will become the main suspect. The only way to prove his innocence will be disclosing the terrible secret the wood hides." The new trailer is on the official website, so check it out.
- 9/2/2008
- QuietEarth.us
Dark Sky Films has released the final DVD art (on your right) and a brand-new trailer (linked below) for Isidro Ortiz’s Shiver, which they will be releasing on October 28th, 2008.
Produced by Alvaro Augustin of Pan’s Labyrinth fame, Shiver is the story of young Santi, a boy who suffers from photophobia: a severe sensitivity to light. Because of his condition he’s forced to move with his mother to a far-off village to avoid sunlight. Santi quickly becomes the main suspect when the local livestock start dying horribly, and the only way Santi can prove he’s not responsible is to unleash the terrible secret hidden in the woods.
Dark Sky will be doing special Shiver screenings throughout September and October; we’ll have more details for you as they release them. For now head over to the official Shiver site to see the new trailer and learn more about the film!
Produced by Alvaro Augustin of Pan’s Labyrinth fame, Shiver is the story of young Santi, a boy who suffers from photophobia: a severe sensitivity to light. Because of his condition he’s forced to move with his mother to a far-off village to avoid sunlight. Santi quickly becomes the main suspect when the local livestock start dying horribly, and the only way Santi can prove he’s not responsible is to unleash the terrible secret hidden in the woods.
Dark Sky will be doing special Shiver screenings throughout September and October; we’ll have more details for you as they release them. For now head over to the official Shiver site to see the new trailer and learn more about the film!
- 9/2/2008
- by Johnny Butane
- DreadCentral.com
Dark Sky Films has announced an October 28th DVD release date for their Spanish horror film Shiver, which follows Santi, a bullied teen who suffers from a rare and violent allergy to sunlight. When his condition worsens, he and his mother are forced to move to a remote village in the mountains. His arrival marks the beginning of a series of brutal slayings. Something is alive deep in the shadowy forest. Can a frightened outcast find safety in the darkness or does the ultimate terror wait in the most unexpected place of all? Francesc Orella and Mar Sodupe co-star in this chilling Spanish horror thriller from acclaimed director Isidro Ortiz (Fausto 5.0) and featuring art direction by Pilar Revuelta, Oscar® winner for Pans Labyrinth.
- 8/31/2008
- bloody-disgusting.com
Isidro Ortiz did the fantastic film Eskalofrío (Shiver) which we reviewed here and it seems the Spanish horror site Aullidos just got the scoop on his next project. The film is based on a book by Amelie Nothomb in which a reality show called "Concentration" picks up random people off the street and dumped onto a big tanker out in the ocean from where the viewers at home get to watch them fight between each other and the guards (presumably). It looks like it's getting ready to roll, but apparently Ortiz is trying to pick up none other then Asia Argento to star in it. Yeah, I'll watch it! Art after the break.
- 8/28/2008
- QuietEarth.us
Dark Sky Films has picked up Isidro Ortiz’s Shiver, about an adolescent whose relocation to an isolated village with his mother is tainted when he becomes the main suspect in a series of shocking events. We’ll be seeing it soon then (it’s playing during HorrorHound Weeekend, if you’re going), and today Aullidos got word on the director’s next outing, Naumón.
Based on the controversial novel by Belgian author Amelie Nothomb Sulphuric Acid, Naumón will follow a faux reality show called “Concentration”, in which random people are picked up off the streets and dumped onto a freighter drifting through the ocean. Their fates are decided by the viewers at home, and needless to say, few of them make it out alive.
The title refers to the name of the boat the contestants will be on, which is evident from the concept art Aullidos got its hands on.
Based on the controversial novel by Belgian author Amelie Nothomb Sulphuric Acid, Naumón will follow a faux reality show called “Concentration”, in which random people are picked up off the streets and dumped onto a freighter drifting through the ocean. Their fates are decided by the viewers at home, and needless to say, few of them make it out alive.
The title refers to the name of the boat the contestants will be on, which is evident from the concept art Aullidos got its hands on.
- 8/28/2008
- by Johnny Butane
- DreadCentral.com
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