Buy posters from this movie

The "they" of the title refers to a horde of little creatures that strongly resemble mobile turds, which are running riot in an apartment building. These runaway turds do not actually kill anyone; they transform their victims into sexually ravenous maniacs eager to infect others with the same affliction. It's potentially a real envelope-pushing premise, but Cronenberg--whether wisely or not--keeps the sexual craziness to a minimum. Still, there's weirdness aplenty to be found here.

There's much to complain about here, what with the less-than-brilliant acting (the male lead's Joe Friday act is priceless), occasionally goofy dialogue, and awkwardly handled exposition. But dull it is not, and Cronenberg comes up with more than a few compelling sequences before the movie's unforgettable orgy-in-the-swimming-pool climax. It's the career high point for petite female lead Lynn Lowry (maybe best known as the prostitute who gets mauled by a panther in "Cat People"), and perhaps for Cronenberg himself, who has led an erratic if undeniably interesting career since this early effort.

(Note That Will Hopefully Forestall Confusion: "They Came From Within" is the same movie that has been recently re-released in the U.S. as "Shivers," the title it is already best known by in much of the world. Therefore: Shivers=They Came From Within. QED.)

Despite obvious defects, this is Cronenberg at his best, and a far more interesting movie than anything yet to come out of the Kevin Williamson School of Teen Horror.

link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=3020&reviewer=223
originally posted: 08/31/00 16:23:56
 printer-friendly format