Product Details

• Actors: Jenni Geigel, Todd Sheets
• Directors: Jenni Geigel
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• VHS Release Date: March 1, 2000
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004REL2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,271 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Gory haunted house flick that falls short, June 18, 2000

By 

Michael B. Scrutchin (Pearland, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Todd Sheet's The Shivers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In The Shivers, some teenagers decide to have a party in the old Dread Mansion, a place with a history of violent deaths -- with a name like Dread what did you expect? But, of course, forces of evil are unleashed and gruesome mayhem ensues. Director Todd Sheets' trademark violence and gore are in full effect, but this one's lacking that spark that makes his other films special. The Shivers is bogged down with tiresome clichés (there are plenty of closeups of banging doors and trembling hands on doorknobs) and the characters never come to life. But of course there are some grotesque scenes here that recall the best of H.G. Lewis and Lucio Fulci (whom the movie is dedicated to).

What The Shivers lacks in freshness through most of its first half, it almost makes up for in ambition near the end. The characters travel between dimensions unlocking ghastly secrets, facing off against demons and evil spirits, and eventually come to a final confrontation with Ebon Dread himself. But even ambition can't save this one from its clichéd origins and long stretches of dull.

I'd recommend Todd Sheets' extremely entertaining Violent New Breed over this one any day.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Still looking for the American Jackson or Schnaas, May 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Todd Sheet's The Shivers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I rented this video at the local store after hearing a lot of good things about Todd Sheets on the Internet. I have to say I was sorely disappointed. I'm not hypercritical when it comes to low-budget gore films; I LOVED Andreas Schnaas' "Zombie Doom," despite the fact that it wasn't so strong plotwise (come to think of it, I'm not sure it had a plot.) I watched the movie for the gore, and Schnaas delivered.

That's my primary criticism of "The Shivers." I expect some occasionally bad dialogue, subpar acting, and so on. But it seems to me that if you're marketing a film on the basis of its gore effects, you better make them look halfway realistic. Sheets & Co. didn't even try. The murder scenes are very poorly done, and in one case it was obvious that one of the filmmakers had run down to the frozen meat section of the grocery store to get the "intestines" that were revealed in a stomach-ripping scene.

I think Sheets is able to tell a story, and might have some success in the future. He has talent. But there's a deliberate schlockiness here that he needs to get over. I've heard it took Peter Jackson four years to make "Bad Taste," the all-time classic of shot-on-video horror. Sheets might want to do the same thing: save the money, and make one really good movie, instead of four or five marginal ones.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Haunted House movie that dares to be DIFFERENT!, February 16, 2001

By 

"m_taylor" (Bremerton, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Todd Sheet's The Shivers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It starts off almost normal, people talking around a campfire and theyt tell scary stories about the old Dread Mansion, a place that one of them has just bought. They all eventually get trapped inside in trypical HH fashion and things move along brisk at this point. By the middle, things really take some odd turns and the film kicks into overdrive. Gore flies, the camera zooms and twists and the story goes into some new and exciting places. To tell more would be to give too much away. Things heat up in this one and the pacing increases to a really great finish that had me on the edge of my seat. Great care seems to have been taken on the look of the film because I was really impressed with the atmosphere and the lighting. Sure, some of the acting is poor in spots, but othet acting is incredible (the guy in the wheelchair!) and the effects are very realistic and sick. I give it a 4 and a half. Impressive, entertaining and a lot of fun.