The Horror Pod Class Episode 113: Shivers with Director Jeff Brown
…man is an animal that thinks too much. An over-rational animal that has lost touch with its body and its instincts,” […] “too much brain and not enough guts,” so what he came up with to help our guts along was a parasite that›s “…a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease that will hopefully turn the world into one beautiful, mindless orgy-Shivers
Live from the Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial High School AV Room
Welcome to episode 109 of The Horror Pod Class. My name is Tyler and I run Signal Horizon a magazine dedicated to exploring genre fiction in and out of the classroom.
Orrin: And I’m Orrin Grey, Monster Ambassador and general gadabout here at Signal Horizon.
Tyler: Tonight on the Horror Pod Class we are going to spend some time talking about what we have been watching and reading, we will help you find some free genre content on the internet and finally we will spend the remainder of the episode with our Special Guest Jeff Brown discussing the deeply weird and equally problematic film Shivers. We have a new segment to offer up this year. We have curated the most important horror news of the two week period and will discuss the pressing issues of the day. Before we get there. Orrin what have you been up to.
Orrin:
Tyler: Shadow in the Cloud. Possessor.
News:
CINESTATE AND RUN HIDE FIGHT. Holy shit its so fucking gross. Don’t go see it
Dark Corners of the Web
No Sleep Podcast-Christmas edition. Great Elves story. “Raw Material”
Essential Question: how does David’s Cronenberg Shivers address issues of Gender and Sexuality.
Tyler: Jeff Brown is a rising director to keep an eye on. His debut feature The Beach House garnered heaps of praise with Brian Tellarico of Roger Ebert.com calling it perfectly suited for this moment in time before Shudder picked it up as one of its own. The Beach House is a spot on mix of body trauma, and lovecraftian horror. Jeff picked Shivers to discuss tonight and after watching it I can see why,. Lots of oooy gooey ness. Jeff Welcome to The Horror Pod Class. We are stoked to have you.
Written and Directed by David Cronenberg
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
 | Paul Hampton | … | Roger St. Luc |
 | Joe Silver | … | Rollo Linsky |
 | Lynn Lowry | … | Nurse Forsythe |
 | Allan Kolman | … | Nicholas Tudor (as Alan Migicovsky) |
 | Susan Petrie | … | Janine Tudor |
 | Barbara Steele | … | Betts |
 | Ronald Mlodzik | … | Merrick |
 | Barry Baldaro | … | Detective Heller (as Barry Boldero) |
 | Camil Ducharme | … | Mr. Guilbault (as Camille Ducharme) |
 | Hanna Poznanska | … | Mrs. Guilbault (as Hanka Posnanska) |
 | Wally Martin | … | Doorman |
 | Vlasta Vrana | … | Kresimer Sviben |
 | Silvie Debois | … | Benda Sviben |
 | Charles Perley | … | Delivery Boy |
 | Al Rochman | … | Parkins |
History of Cronenberg
“But because of our necessity to impose our own structure of perception on things we look on ourselves as being relatively stable. But, in fact, when I look at a person I see this maelstrom of organic, chemical and electron chaos; volatility and instability, shimmering; and the ability to change and transform and transmute.”-DC interview with BOMB
Existenz-He is VERY into orifices.
https://www.rogerebert.com/features/david-cronenberg-shivers-45-years
https://www.cinema76.com/home/2019/5/23/cronenberg-on-sex-and-gender-shivers-1975
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1225595?seq=1
Anonymous Letterboxd User
“Otherwise as far as how he uses some women in the film, it’s pretty dated to put it nicely. “Oh, I couldn’t let your dinner burn! Teehee.” Bro, you just almost got raped!
And I just couldn’t care less of what happened to the main guy.
Had to laugh at “I’m hungry….. Hungry for love!Horny on the timeline and for what”
Next Week we will be joined by the author Matthew Bartlett as we discuss Session 9
Tyler has been the editor in chief of Signal Horizon since its conception. He is also the Director of Monsters 101 at Truman State University a class that pairs horror movie criticism with survival skills to help middle and high school students learn critical thinking. When he is not watching, teaching or thinking about horror he is the Director of Debate and Forensics at a high school in Kansas City, Missouri.