The Brood
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Movie Reviews of The Brood
Movie Review: The Brood delivers quality Cronenberg
Summary: 4 Stars
If you're looking for a gore-fest a-la "The Thing" you might be disappointed with Cronenberg's surprisingly muted "The Brood". Though there is some blood letting in this film, the episodes of violence are relatively few and far between. Only one scene stands out as a true gross-out moment, but you'll have to watch until the film's final minutes to see it.
True fans of Cronenberg's will find plenty of the filmmaker's emerging talent on display here. As in "Dead Ringers" the truly tense and unsettling moments revolve around mental derangement rather than physical mutilation. Cronenberg focuses on a seemingly typical family and the forces that bring about the demise of the family unit, both literally and figuratively.
Frank (Hindle) must care for his maladjusted daughter, Candice, while his wife Nola (Eggar) undergoes a controversial psychotherapy treatment at the clinic of Doctor Raglan (Reed). As Raglan probes the childhood trauma and adult paranoia that led to Nola's deteriorating mental state, her rage manifests itself upon those she blames for her troubles in the form of disfigured child-creatures.
Cronenberg deftly crafts an increasingly unsettling atmosphere and
the solid acting by the cast carries the narrative through the slower segments. Some viewers will be agitated by the long pauses in the action, but others will enjoy the "pyschotherapy" sessions that make up the majority of the interim.
My one complaint with the film is that Raglan's experimental therapy is never sufficiently explained. We are asked to accept it's extraordinary powers of transformation at face value for the film to work, but the concept is tenuously suggested, at best. Also, the familial dysfunction and paranoia which give rise to Nola's enormous anger struck me as relatively pedestrian. Once again, we are asked to simply accept the unreasonable magnitude of her rage or else the story doesn't work.
These are minor complaints in a film that I think deserves a larger modern audience. New initiates to Cronenberg may want to look into "Videodrome" (for his trademark body transformations) or his masterpiece "Dead Ringers" before delving into this one simply because they like other horror movies. However, if you're looking for a more intelligent thriller, then this one is a solid addition to any collection.
Movie Review: Cronenberg takes the externalization of our fears and anger literally
Summary: 4 Stars
The art of horror lies, in part, in the externalization of our demons. In all of his movies, David Cronenberg takes this literally. Whether it is the ties that pathologically bind the Mantle twins in Dead Ringers, the hallucinations of Naked Lunch, or the brain-blowing powers of Scanners, Cronenberg movies make real the monsters that live inside. The monsters do what the characters wish they could do.
This is no more true than in The Brood, in which a radical psychological treatment causes traumatized patients have undergone to let go of their demons. But the demons have to have some place to go.
The problem begins when Frank brings his daughter, Candice, home from a visit with her institutionalized mother, Nola, who is undergoing "psychoplasmic" treatment at the Soma center. Candice is covered in bruises, bites and scratches. However, Dr. Reglan, head of the Soma center, refuses to stop the visits or to let Frank sees his wife. He documents the abuse, but his lawyer is reluctant to challenge Nola's visitation rights.
The treatment consists of Dr. Reglan playing the role of the traumatizer, forcing patients to show him the trauma that they have suffered. In Nola's case, the trauma was caused by her mother, who physically abused her as a child. Dr. Reglan encourages her "to go all the way through," to release the pain that she holds inside. The pain leaves her, and goes after the abuser. Her pain has created a "brood" of deformed children, intent on doing to her abusers what was done to her.
The Brood is a Cronenberg classic, touching on many of his favorite themes of body horror. Definitely required watching for any Cronenberg fan, or anyone wanting an accessible introduction to his movies.
Movie Review: Excellent film that rises above its slasher status
Summary: 4 Stars
The Brood is the lightning in the bottle that director David Cronenberg has never been able to duplicate. While all of his films definitely have his fingerprints all over them, The Brood managed to rise to the top of all of his films. It is absolutely dripping in a sense of dispair and dread. There is a pervading coldness about it - such that you want to wrap up in something warm as you watch it - you want to watch it with the lights on because you're very much afraid of what might be there if you turn off the lights.
The film is a psychological thriller wrapped in a slasher flick. It warrants slasher status simply because of the sheer number of onscreen murders that take place. This is a very bloody film!
Samantha Eggar is nuts and in a weird clinic for people like her. She is being treated by a creepy Oliver Reed (in one of his better performances). Art Hindle is her ex husband and he's worried about how she is treating their young daughter. After a while that is the least of his worries, as these horribly disfigured and (what the Hell are they?) bizarre little children run around killing all the people that have really ticked off Samantha Eggar.
I won't say more, because part of the horror in a Cronenberg film is the pseudo-science that he get you to believe in.
Whereas Cronenberg's Videodrome was weird, but not terribly good, The Brood is one of the creepiest films I've ever seen and a guilty pleasure (can I really call it that?) that I choose to subject myself to every so often.
Really! What ARE those things?!
Movie Review: An unsettling but thoroughly moving piece from Cronenberg
Summary: 4 Stars
It is said by the great man himself that this is the closest he has ever got to making a sort of autobiographical film " and I don't want to come any closer " he feels. And in some respects you have to agree with him. The acting all round is superb and unlike in many of Cronenberg's films where the actors are almost wooden in their performance, none of them here are wooden in their performances. There's a sense of realism in this which you won't get from any other Cronenberg film. There's always a creepy sense " of what might happen " than the " wham bam you're dead " sort of horror movieYou don't really need me to tell you the story of the film since many others have commented on it. But I will say this is that Oliver Reed plays his part well. There's always an underlying threat of menace in his voice even when he's trying to convince Frank that he's on his side ( although you probably wouldn't think it at the time )
And as for those side effects that these people have while in his therapy are truly one of the most revolting things you'll ever see. Even though this film is menacingly restrained yet emotional, it'll take a strong stomach to see one of the more gruesome scenes of the film ( although it ain't as gruesome as Scanners or Videodrome )
However this is a film that has to be watched purely being for the reason that this maybe the only time that Cronenberg makes a highly personal movie.
Movie Review: After Watching "The Brood," You'll Think Twice About Going To A Psychiatrist For Anger Management
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Brood" is a cold, creepy psychological horror film. This David Cronenberg masterpiece was shot against a dreary, snow blanketed Canadian background. Oliver Reed (star of Dan Curtis`s "Burnt Offerings" and a host of Hammer films including "Paranoiac"), Samantha Eggar ("Curtains" and "The Collector"), and Art Hindle (the original "Black Christmas") comprise a stellar 70s cast that provide great performances. There are several graphic, gory murder scenes. One in particular is the controversial clubbing death of a teacher in front of her traumatized kindergarten students.
Oliver is a celebrated, but insane, psychiatrist; his beautiful patient, Eggar, is the subject of his latest experiment. It seems that Oliver has been able to assist Eggar in expelling her pent up rage by allowing it to take on a physical manifestation. A manifestation that proves deadly when everyone around Eggar falls victim to horrible beating deaths. Hindle is Eggar's concerned husband who is not allowed to visit while she is undergoing her "therapy." Hindle begins to investigate his wife's "therapy" when he suspects her of physically abusing their child, Candace.
"The Brood" is a horror classic and required viewing for all David Cronenberg fans. He also directed two of my other science fiction horror favorites, "Rabid" and "Scanners."