Dreszcze

This pessimistic Polish film stars Tomasz Hudziec as a boy whose father is arrested by the Stalinist police. To quell Hudziec's potential rebelliousness, the authorities ship him off to a Pioneer Camp, where he will be "re-educated." Camp life is horrible, but Hudziec goes with the program in order to impress a counselor (Teresa Marczewska) with whom he has become smitten. Eventually Hudziec becomes an ardent Stalinist, so much so that he is barely recognizable to his own father. Shivers there are indeed in Shivers, but not the sort engendered by a fictional horror film; the scariest aspect of the story is its utter plausibility. The film, based on director Wojciech Marczewski's own childhood experiences, was made with full government approval--only to be suppressed when martial law was declared in Poland in 1981. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide