Shiver - ****

Directed by Isidro Ortiz. Starring Junio Valverde, Mar Sodupe, Blanca Suárez. Horror, Spanish with English subtitles, 91 mins, cert 15.

Released in UK on DVD by Second Sight on the 17TH October, £15.99.

You know how it is. You’re the new kid in school and wouldn’t you just know it but literally at the same time as you moving into town a serious of murders occur and without any plausible reasoning, except for having rather large canines, you’ve become the main suspect.

Even more disturbingly whatever is carrying out such vicious and fatal attacks on both sheep and disposable elements of the local populace seems to have warmed to you, so no matter how freaked out you get you’re never really in any danger so dry your snotty nose and stop your sniffling!

But all is not lost as a rather attractive girl at your school Ángela (Blanca Suárez) has taken a shine to you (again rather implausible given your looks) and this helps your case greatly as she happens to be the daughter of the cop, Antonio (Roberto Enriques) investigating the murders (who looks too impossibly young to have a daughter of such an age) and of course your mummy, Julia (Mar Sodupe) loves you throughout.

Say hello to Santi (played by THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE’s Junio Valverde) who has all the above on his stacked plate and more. You see Santi and his single mother have been advised by his doctor to move out of the city and into a remote northern village as his condition photophobia is worsening. The lush greenery of the dense forests and Spanish mountains that surround their new home in an old farmhouse help reduce the amount of sunlight that would otherwise disfigure Santi’s skin but also harbor a deadly secret.

Director Isidro Ortiz (Faust 5.0) sustains the thrills and mood nicely all the while ticking off genre standards – how many times have we seen someone go fetch a ball from woods/forest when we the audience know there’s something lurking in the shadows? – and in spite of which ends up with a decent Saturday night’s viewing.

For starters SHIVER looks great but then coming from the production team behind the sensational PAN’S LABYRINTH and THE ORPHANAGE that’s no surprise especially as the production design comes courtesy of LABYRINTH’S own Oscar-winning Pilar Revuelta. The scenery and crisp photography, courtesy of Josep Civit, add layers to the mood and sense of dread as does a rather excellent score.

The plot takes a different direction to what initially plays like there’s a werewolf or vampire lose in the forests however it is completely obvious who is harbouring dark secrets within the local townsfolk.

Valverde pulls off the mean feat of actually looking freaked out by the ghastly goings-on and manages to make his Santi a fuller person that the script deserves. There are a couple of decent jolts to keep you on your toes and a likeable cast to warm to although Santi’s girlfriend does seem rather too accident prone and some comic relief towards the end fails to work – if it was meant to be funny at all.

One can’t help think that if this were originally an American film rather than a Spanish movie with English subtitles whether we’d denounce it for the plot standards it trots out and write it off as generic and by-the-book. To be fair we probably would but there’s something about the delicious visuals, succulent locations and above par acting that make SHIVER worthy of seeking out.

Sean Cockwell.

GORE IN THE STORE
REVIEWS BY FANS FOR FANS
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH