Shaky Shivers Review

PLOT: Fearing a witch’s curse is going to make her turn into a werewolf, Lucy heads to an abandoned camp with her friend Karen to wait out the full moon. But lycanthropy may be the least of their problems.

REVIEW: The horror comedy Shaky Shivers takes its title from a cold, sweet concoction created by ice cream shop worker Karen (VyVy Nguyen), but we never actually learn what ingredients she has put into this treat. The movie itself is quite a blend of sub-genres, featuring lycanthropy, zombies, a witch, cultists, a Trapper Keeper Necronomicon, a Bigfoot enthusiast… and maybe even an appearance by Bigfoot itself.

Karen works at the aforementioned ice cream shop with her pal Lucy (Brooke Markham), and when a witchy woodsy woman called Mama Nature (played by Erin Daniels of Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses) comes in after closing time, wielding an odd puppet and asking for food, Lucy tries to turn her away. She pays the price for that decision, as Mama Nature places a curse on her that she says will turn the ice cream disher into a “devil wolf”. Not liking the sound of that, Lucy decides to go out to a remote, abandoned camp with Karen to wait out the full moon, fearing that she’s going to transform into a werewolf. But whether or not she’s a werewolf soon starts to seem irrelevant, as the friends get their hands on a book of spells that can resurrect the dead in various ways, Mama Nature is found to be lurking in the wilderness with a cult, and there’s indication that there might be some Bigfoot activity in the area as well.

From that description, Shaky Shivers sounds like it should be a non-stop blast of insanity… but even though it manages to pack all of those elements into a running time of just 83 minutes, it’s never quite as fun or exciting as it seems like it should have been. Instead of being high-spirited and fast-paced, it’s oddly slow. It feels like it only managed to reach 83 minutes because every scene is stretched to the breaking point. Most of the time is spent on the characters bouncing dialogue off of each other rather than creature sequences. But it still delivers an enjoyable viewing experience, because some of the jokes do land and the creature sequences are fun to see when they come along. Especially the zombie scenes, because special effects artist Gabriel Bartalos and his crew were able to make these zombies look very cool and unique.

The primary selling point for a lot of viewers may be the fact that this marks the feature directorial debut of actor Sung Kang, best known for playing fan favorite character Han in the Fast & Furious franchise. While the film is set in the 1990s, it has been said that Kang was aiming to capture the spirit of the ’80s classics that he grew up adoring. He didn’t quite achieve that goal, as this didn’t really bring any ‘80s classics to mind for me, but his movie does have its moments. Kang also gave himself an oddball cameo that ends the movie on a somewhat awkward note – but what his movie comes across as more than anything is a showcase for the talents of VyVy Nguyen and Brooke Markham. Every scene is carried on their shoulders, as Kang clearly loved watching them interact. Like I said before, there are scenes that take longer than necessary, but it comes off like Kang was so enamored with Nguyen and Markham’s performances that he didn’t want to cut them down… And also didn’t want his movie to end up being too short.

Thankfully, Nguyen and Markham do strong work in the film, even if their characters can sometimes be grating. And they have a small but solid supporting cast that includes Herschel Sparber as their boss Bob, Jimmy Bellinger as their co-worker Eric, and Skyler Day as an annoying customer.

Shaky Shivers was written by the duo of Andrew McAllister, whose previous credits came on dramas and documentaries, and Aaron Strongoni, who does have some horror cred: Dark Medicine, Furnace, Madhouse, the often ignored Return of the Living Dead sequels Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave, and even the Full Moon production Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust. Some of those aren’t the best credits to have, but Shaky Shivers turned out better than the lesser ones.

This is a weird little movie with a surprising lack of liveliness, but it’s worth a look to see the creature designs, to watch Nguyen and Markham in action, and to satisfy your “what if Sung Kang directed a horror comedy?” curiosity.

Cineverse and Fathom Events are teaming up to give Shaky Shivers a theatrical release on September 21st.

Sung Kang

GOOD

7