Shiver

source: Shiver

I watched it despite the reviews, it wasn't great, but I have seen worse. Annoyingly it's listed under shiver here and in the uk as the skin collector. Not the best title when he collects heads...

'Skin Collector' begins with a pre-credits sequence where stunning young Asian waitress Cathy politely declines the advances of a middle-aged hopeful and this results in his subsequent temper tantrum and her brutal murder in a public place, unseen by anyone. I wondered if this unassuming man was to be the film's killer, because although competently played, he doesn't possess any menace, instability or threat. The hero of the piece Delgado (Casper Van Dien), a police inspector, is as square-jawed, designer stubbled and ruggedly handsome as you could imagine - competent but bland. With these two main players holding things together, this doesn't promise to be riveting viewing, sadly. Wendy, a bullied (by her unspeakable mother) Portland secretary, is the most appealing character, and through her, things become ever more watchable. She is the most appealing character. Well played by Danielle Harris and constantly in jeopardy or put down by those around her, it is difficult not to empathise as her face crumples in misery as a result of her latest hardship. Amid the nicely filmed rainy locations and John Jarratt's performance, the unterrifying Rood slowly becomes a fascinating villain because of his child-like politeness and unstoppable nature - an interesting combination. Stick with this and you'll enjoy it. My score is 7 out of 10.

Realistically shows the killer's psychopathic tendencies and lack of empathy very well. Danielle alone deserves 10/10 for her acting. Some bits of almost too realistic gore, apart from heads in jars (re trailer). Enjoyed the film, and the last 10 mins deserves its own movie!

So apparently this film finally gets a UK release after 9 years under the name Skin Collector, I knew this only after watching when the credits rolled you saw the name, which wasn't a surprise to me as dozens of UK releases to films from the US have different names, but it was the fact it took nearly a decade to get this one out, which I never knew until now, I thought the film was brand new when I bought it, I thought Danielle Harris looked a bit young... Anyway... the film follows a psychopath who decapitates young women's heads & puts them in jars. That's it. Not much thought to it, other than the women he targets are women he sells jewelry to prior to killing them as his real job by day is working at a jewelers. But aside from that, it's below standard at best & at worst, it's pretty flat. The story while simple doesn't have enough weight to it, it's better than most films which have similar budgets, but it isn't great in itself. It just lacks beefs & body count, not to mention any interest holding to it. It's great to see Danielle Harris in this, a well known Scream Queen in the 3 Hatchet Films (another point regarding how old this film is as on the back of the DVD cover it only mentions the first 2 Hatchet films beside her name) & of course John Jarrett whose known for his roles in the 2 Wolf Creek films. Those 2 actors done well along with the others, but the film itself felt weak & watery near the end & just didn't cut it for me. With a runtime of 1hr & 19mins, it's short, sharp & lean. But sadly the film itself fails to hold my interest sadly. While the performances, gore, eye candy & graphics a were good, the story pacing were off. 2/10

If you've seen any serial killer movie you've seen this film already. It's boring, nothing new and just straight up rubbish. In the U.K. it's called skin collector a title which makes no sense after you've watched the film. I say don't waste your time. If you've made it here because someone told you to watch it slap that person in the face. Lol

Meek secretary Wendy Alden (a fine and sympathetic performance by Danielle Harris) fights back against nerdy and polite, yet still vicious and fearsome serial killer Franklin Root (a strong and unnerving portrayal by John Jarratt) after he chooses Wendy as his next victim. Wendy manages to get away from Root, but he comes back for her. Director Julian Richards keeps the absorbing story moving along at a quick pace, maintains a tough gritty tone throughout, generates a good deal of tension, and delivers several jolting moments of brutal violence along with some nasty bits of bloody gore. The sound acting by the capable cast keeps this movie humming: Casper Van Dien as no-nonsense Detective Delgado, Rae Dawn Chong as Delgado's diligent partner Detective Burdine, Brad Harris as a hard-nosed police captain, and Valerie Harper as Wendy's snarky mother Audrey. Richard Band's spirited shivery score hits the shuddery spot. Zoran Popovic's sharp widescreen cinematography provides a pleasing polished look. An on the money item.

Shiver is one of those straight to stream movies, that you can easily miss, but I try to catch these when I can. 9 times out of 10 they suck but when I saw Danielle Harris was one of the stars, I knew it might be good and I'm pleased to say, her performance, along side John Jarratt, who plays our resident psycho, manages to take a bland story and turn it up a few notches. They are the strength of this movie and without their solid turns as Psycho Serial Killer vs The Final Girl, this movie would've fallen flat. When they aren't the focus (and thankfully they get most of the screen time in the second and third acts) Shiver becomes boring, with Casper Van Dien (what happened to you Casper?) as the cop on the case, and Rae Dawn Chong (the stewardess from Commando) as his partner, sleepwalking through their parts. It's a decent horror and the blood and terror builds as the movie goes along. It won't win any awards and I don't see it ending up on any Best Of lists, but the performances of the two lead actors make for an entertaining watch.

Wendy Alden has a boring job, lack of self-esteem, and a love life that she is reluctant to fully commit to. To make matters worse, a notorious serial killer is killing off women in her area. Wendy encounters the killer and manages to escape from a near-death experience. In order to survive, Wendy is gonna have to outsmart the killer at any cost. I only watched this because of Danielle Harris, I think the woman is immensely talented, even when she is dealing with sub par scripts. There isn't really anything overly original in this one, it's fairly derivative, but it does what it can with the material it has. It has a bit of an old school feel to it and isn't afraid to push boundaries. it also has some decent psychology in it as well. I did think they could have delved further into the serial killer's plight because he just seemed like a typical killer with family issues growing up. While I will give it credit for doing what it can with the material, it's too derivative to be that effective. How many times have we seen a perverted serial killer hack off beautiful women over the years? Its been done to death. There are a couple of questionable plot holes as well. How did the killer survive the car going off a cliff? It isn't fully explained. I wondered how the police could be so incompetent at times. Poor camera work at times is also an issue. Gore hounds should be at least content with the amount of violence. We get a nasty slit throat, and an eye is gouged out. Bloody corpses, gunshot wounds, and severed heads add to the fun as well. The harshest part may have been the scene with the pregnant woman, I thought that was effectively brutal. The acting is decent. Danielle Harris is excellent as our heroine. It was nice to see they didn't fully go the way of the damsel in distress. She is very vulnerable, but the strong heroine you'd expect her to be as well. John Jarrett ranges from hammy to good. There were times where I thought he was outstanding with his work, others where he was too OTT. He was a bit too whiny for me in all honesty at times. Casper Van Dien is OK. He got this weird smirk on his face at the weirdest times. An underrated favorite of mine, Rae Dawn Chong has a small part as well I tried to be as fair as I could with this review. For what it is, I felt it did some good things. It can be suspenseful at times with some great acting (Harris especially) , but there is nothing that special about it. It's just another serial killer film that is carried by Danielle Harris. Harris fans and fans of the genre will find a few things to like about this one 5/10

I've been on a Danielle Harris movie binge watch. She's a great actress, but I noticed many of the movies only use her as a cameo or to trick the audience into watching or paying for a movie where she's hardly in the movie or her talents are underutilized or wasted. This movie truly is a Danielle Harris driven movie. In this movie, Danielle Harris plays Wendy, a secretary with low self-confidence who survives the attacks of a serial killer repeatedly trying to kill her and gains confidence in herself. I lowered my expectations of movies when it comes to the horror genre since many disappoints. So compared to other movies, this was a good horror movie which allowed Harris to shine and show off her acting talent. The movie also stars John Jerratt as the serial killer, Franklin Rood, Casper Van Dien as Detective Delgado, the beautiful Rae Dawn Chong as Detective Burdine, and the late Valerie Harper in a small but memorable role as Wendy's overbearing mother. Good cast, good writing/storyline, good heroine/villain match with Harris and Rood. Wendy starts out as a young secretary working a job she hates, afraid to ask her boss for a raise, an overbearing mother treating her as a constant disappointment, a boyfriend named Jeremy she's not really interested in and obviously trying to get her back to his place to sleep with her, and a mediocre life which seemed like it's going nowhere. Yet after facing death from the serial killer Franklin Rood who murders his unsuspecting victims by strangling and beheading them to death with a garrote wire, Wendy manages to get away unlike his other victims. Instead of finding another target, Rood becomes obsess with killing Wendy and Wendy slowly transforms into a more confident version after surviving death. I thought it was going to be a stupid movie since the killer was revealed in the opening act of the movie but Rood was a compelling, crazy, and almost likable villain similar to Freddy Krueger was to Nancy in Nightmare on Elm Street(1984). It was astounding how he always managed to stay one step ahead of the cops and wasn't afraid of getting caught and leaving them breadcrumbs to find out who he is or who was his latest victim His fearlessness made him a compelling villian. I'm not a feminist but I liked how in this movie, her beta male boyfriend or the cops were not able to save or protect Wendy. Wendy had to find creative ways to outsmart the villian long enough to stay alive and save herself. I liked how she took advantage of every opportunity to save herself and reacted how a normal individual would react when placed in a crazy situation. Wendy's transformation is actually realistic. When faced with a life or death situation, you either developed a flight or fight response. Wendy chose to fight back and by doing so she became stronger, bolder, and empowered in other aspect of her life. She stood up to her overbearing mother who was so shocked by her daughter's transformation she finally shut up and listened to her daughter. She was forced to move on from a unfulfilling relationship of convenience she didn't want and into a new developing relationship with someone possibly more interesting. By facing death, she became more competent and learnt the only person she really needed to depend on was herself. Most horror movie cops tend to be idiots. There were a couple of idiot cops in this movie, but for the most part Dien as Detective Delgado and Chong as Detective Burdine were actually written pretty good as cops in a horror movie. Their reactions were realistic and their investigations into the murder moved the plot forward and we began to learn more about the killer and his motives while Wendy and Rood played their cat and mouse game. I realized enjoyed this movie. The entire cast shine and I liked how the tables were turned in the final scene. Definitely would recommend for someone who wants a decent horror flick compared the myriads of mediocre ones out there .