Shiver
Starring: Junio Valverde, Mar Sodupe, Blanca Suárez, Jimmy Barnatán, Roberto Enríquez
Directed By: Isidro Ortiz
Written By: Hernán Migoya, José Gamo
DVD Released: October 28, 2008
Grade: B+

Shiver is a Spanish thriller following a sunlight-phobic teen, Santi (Valverde). This isn’t your average phobia though, because it is not such an irrational fear. The sun actually is great harm to him since he has a disease where the more sunlight he gets the more he is exposed to blindness, cancer, and other diseases. His condition is constantly worsening and it seems that he is never safe. Even at night he has terrifying nightmares where he fails in his desperate attempt to be free from the sun as it quickly burns and deteriorates his skin.

Constantly being hooded and having his sunglasses on, Santi draws attention and not in the best way. From the precautions he has to take and him obviously being different from his classmates, he has become a loner. The one friend he has, Leo (Barnatán) works the night shift with him at an arcade. Santi really has no one else and feels he is living a very empty life. His doctor advises his mother, Julia (Sodupe) to move him somewhere where there is less sunlight, telling her that his life could depend on it. Julia is hesitant but when Santi begs her to do the same, they move to the country where the valley blocks much of the sunlight. They stay in a dark, old house there and Santi starts school. Unfortunately, he seems to get the same treatment from his classmates when he tries to help someone younger who is being picked on.

When Santi helps two others find a ball in the woods, some monstrous creature attacks the boy who was picking on him. This just makes things worse for Santi as the boys’ friends, family, and even the detective (Enríquez) believe Santi to be the killer. Although, his DNA wasn’t found on the victim, when he is found at a second murder even his mother who was so sure of his innocence before begins to doubt him. It seems the only person who truly believes him is Ángela (Suárez), the detective’s daughter and really the only person who has befriended Santi. Soon Santi is haunted by the creature who is killing those around him. He fears that it will rip him apart and suck out his blood just as it did to the others. As his last chance to save his life, Santi works with Ángela and Leo to figure out exactly what this beast is and along the way discover just how dangerous of a hunt they are about to embark on.

The performances were wonderful especially by Junio Valverde as Santi. He brings a loneliness, immense fear, and a desperation to truly have a life. He communicates all of this with great strength even when he isn’t talking. He gives us a sense of really knowing his character and forms a very strong protagonist because of it. Mar Sodupe also does well as his mother Julia. She is worried about him, as she should be, and has to go through some major questioning herself to decide weather she should believe her son no matter the evidence against him or believe that it is possible that she raised a vicious murderer. Blanca Suárez had great chemistry with Valverde. Both of their characters were different and they were okay with that. Ángela wasn’t afraid to stand up for what she thought was right and wouldn’t be bullied by those around her. She saw that Santi was different from those around her in that he was actually a good person who was just going through a lot and he was thrilled that a girl like this would even be able to see this in him. Jimmy Barnatán played the fun, best friend, who was actually pretty knowledgeable on the topic of monsters. Roberto Enríquez was the hard and disbelieving detective that seemed to be causing a bigger mess of the horrors going on even though he believed he was bringing some justice to them.

As a film that deals a lot with the concepts of fear in lightness and darkness, it is no surprise that the cinematography worked a lot with this as well. Award winning production designer, Pilar Revuelta of Pan’s Labyrinth, added great shading and atmosphere to the film. During some of the lighter shots we are given a sense of burning panic and victimization. Sounds are more distant as if the characters aren’t fully there, being too taken away with chaos and fear. This is not just the case for the sun fearing Santi, but for others as well including his mother. There are many shots where the screen goes completely black. These darker shots really represent the unknown and how scary that can be as well. There is a great sense of fear in both of these, suggesting that there simply is no safety; the world is full of danger no matter what the time of day.

The one minor complaint I have about the film is that the storyline feels very different when it ends than it does at the beginning. At the beginning it is all about Santi’s disease that makes the sun so fearful to him and even more so the isolation that this puts him in. As the film proceeds, it is much more focused on trying to prove his innocence and him making sure he is not the next victim of the woodland creature. The film takes on a suspenseful turn when Santi and his friends study and investigate to find out what this creature is, what it is capable of, and why it might be doing what it is. You could argue that the film was at risk of almost being two films within one, but the script very subtly saves it from this. There are a few occasions where Santi is forced in to the sunlight and has to save himself from this as well as the monsters that he is dealing with, as more than one seem to be threatening to his life. One attacks during the day with no fear of being caught, just as determination to kill. The sun issue isn’t completely dropped as it tests his survival limits, but there is just a much larger focus on the living dangers. The isolation is even there for awhile as most kids treat him as a murderer, but he just happens to keep the faith of two friends that help him through everything.

In the beginning of the film, Santi is playing a video game with Leo where he kills monsters. He tells him that he likes it because killing these monsters distract him from the fact that he is one himself. Being a creature of the night and treated so horribly he accepts a monstrosity inside of him. Yet the creature that he deals with later proves to be much more so. Santi has been nicknamed vampire, but this creature actually does suck blood from its’ victims. In a way this is a reassurance that Santi is not what he has been labeled. With the attacks, the story takes on a seemingly more simple storyline. There is great mystery in just wondering exactly what this creature is though. The time that is spend on the discovery of it is not wasted. Even a sense of understanding is given to this creature in the end. It is viewed as a brutal devilish murderer and in many respects it is. However, it isn’t simply left at that. There are things that made it what it is including upbringing and the environment around it, wrongdoings, a plight for revenge, and just the beastly nature that is embedded in it. Shiver is a visually and emotionally defined film that shows that night and day are equally terrifying.