They Came from Within [Shivers (1975)] - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 6, 1976

I have a very vivid memory of being deeply and profoundly unnerved and grossed out by the poster for They Came from Within when it was displayed at the Alameda 3 Theatre. What was up with that dark, murky bathwater. Was it dirty? Was something in it? Was the water itself alive? I was deathly afraid to find out.

Those questions would be answered when, while living in Hong Kong, I was able to finally see the film, under its original title: Shivers. By this time I had seen both Scanners and Videodrome on the big screen, the former being my formal introduction to David Cronenberg, and Rabid on home video. I had also read the essay about Cronenberg by Martin Scorsese that had been published in Fangoria. So I knew what Shivers was all about.

Despite all that advance cultural and critical knowledge, I was still good and rattled by Shivers. It was cold, weird, and disturbing as only David Cronenberg seems capable of being. I loved it then and love it now.