Shiver is a 2008 Spanish horror film, and it has all the makings of a good scary flick: a Scandanavian setting, a main character that is allergic to the sun, a creature in the nearby woods, and people that speak Spanish. Unfortunately, it falls apart well before it gets interesting, and isn't worth your time. However, this review is definitely worth your time, so read on.

A teenager named Santi, due to his aforementioned heliophobia, moves with his mother up to Lapland (Northern Scandinavia) to a small village where there isn't a lot of sun and everyone miraculously speaks Spanish. I secretly think that his mother moved him so far North because his real father is Santa Claus. Long story. Anyway, in the forest near their new house, there's some sort of creature that guts the local sheep and some kids for good measure. Everyone blames the new pale kid, and the rest of the film goes from there.

Unfortunately, the film's "secrets" are so blatantly foreshadowed that it leaves the whole experience feeling predictable and dry. In the end, the film's loose ends are looser than they should be, and there are some elements that plain just don't make sense. I like my horror films to have a butt-ton of mystery and twists, and Shiver just didn't put all the pieces together in the right way. Given the fact that the last Spanish film I saw (The Orphanage) was all sorts of awesome, it's disappointing that Shiver was so underwhelming.

On the other hand, it's still a step above the drivel that passes for horror films here in the US lately. no comments