The Italian Machine (1976)

Truthfully I'm not absolutely certain whether this came before or after Shivers. I see the dates listed but you know how production dates can be and so on. Irregardless it's evidence of Cronenberg exploring ideas and themes that interest him (man and his relation to machines in a modern age, morality, seduction, contemporary culture). The camera work is strong and the dialog is excellent. Cronenberg combines the outrageous with the subtle in really interesting ways, and this film is testament to the fact that he can do it without special effects. There is no gore here, no fantasy elements at all, but the same kind of tense, probing atmosphere his greater works master is achieved here.