Die Brut

David Cronenberg has always possessed a flair for unique and disturbing visions infused with the trimmings of a genre that can be best referred to as "biohorror." "The Brood," his tale of hideous mutant children who do the bidding of mentally disturbed Nola (Samantha Eggar) under the care of new-wave psychiatrist Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed, with a quietly sophisticated Peter Cushing sensibility), is buffered by fine performances that veer away from camp. In a way, one of Cronenberg's achievements is writing such outlandish material and making it entirely convincing and visceral, as opposed to merely settling on B-movie cheesiness, which I admire. As is the case with most Cronenberg films, here 'reality' is made the most atypical place where man can reside, and the clever script is always one careful step ahead of the audience.

7/10

One of Cronenberg's best films! It has some moments that will stick with you for a while. When the brood first appears and the beatings begin, I was not only disturbed by them, but the way that their faces look was burned onto my brain. I once read that Cronenberg calls this film his KRAMER VS. KRAMER. I think that's very interesting. He's taken the pain that he went through in his own life and manifested it in the physical form of these creatures. I find this kind of creativity to be associated only with some of the more visionary contemporary filmmakers. Cronenberg is that, there is no question. Performances by the late great Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle are perfect for the film. It is scary and disturbing and should be seen by all horror film fans. I find it to be a sadly neglected classic.

The Brood is undoubtedly the most personal movie Cronenberg ever made : we all know the film describes Cronenberg's vision of his own divorce (and the custody of his daughter Cassandra) ; at that time, his then-wife belonged to what he thought was a cult and he did kidnap his own daughter in order to protect her. Thus The Brood is full of rage, vengeance and death wish… It is a truly frightening story and, in its own way, a candid vision of one's personal tragedy. It seems to be a tale from the Grimm brothers, and, at the same time, a reflection on the powerful link between body and spirit. The script is surprisingly complex and rich, even if, in the end, there is definitely something childish in the movie, but in a positive way: the childish belief that "thoughts can kill" only tempered by the final sequence, when we understand that this little girl, so cruelly abused, will eventually reproduce what her mother developed. The image of this mother (Samantha Eggar at her best, revealing her tortured body that evokes a Roman goddess) is one of the most terrifying one in world cinema. The Brood is a key to understand one of the Cronenberg's major themes: the uncanny… How what is closest to us, family, mother, grandparents, might suddenly become the ultimate horror. What frightens us is not outlandish or alien, on the contrary, it's always part of our intimate universe (as in Videodrome).

A great early film from the one and only, "Baron of Blood."

A husband is going through a hard time in his life when he must care for his daughter after his wife was sent away to a mental institution. The doctor running the institution is respected in his field, but controversial in his methods and there is a smell of something foul in the air. Things only get worse for the husband when his in-laws are killed some strange little monsters and his daughter winds up with scars after visiting her mother in the hospital. Added to that the doctor refuses to talk about the man's wife and he seems to treat her as somewhat of a prized patient giving her special care. He goes, on his own to investigate and discovers the horror behind everything that happened... The Brood.

The story is told in a very classical sense of the word horror, almost like Poe with a slow beginning, a sense of doubt and confusion in the middle, and a shocker and a kicker of an ending. And, as all good horror, there is some great visceral metaphor mixed in to the story. With this film David Cronenberg put himself on the road to the ranks of the horror film-making elite. 8/10

Rated R: violence, gore, and some profanity

David Cronenberg plainly still carried a lot of baggage about the opposite sex when he embarked on his final film of the seventies. Described as "ludicrous" by David Shipman and designated a 'BOMB!' by Leonard Martin, which makes it sound a lot more fun it actually proves to be. A large cast never really mesh as they just mill about and talk and talk before coming to gory ends committed by ugly little trolls in bright red anoraks. Oliver Reed somehow keeps a straight face as a seriously crazy psychiatrist while it's fun to hear Samantha Eggar talking like a little girl under the influence of regression therapy.