Os Filhos do Medo

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

Huge Cronenberg fan, but I gotta ask if i'm not as "disturbed" by this movie as everyone else, what does that say about me? I gotta be real, it was pretty boring. Then when it became "Cronenberg-ish" toward the end, it was sort of too late for me. 10 minutes do not a make a movie, and it was pretty hard for me to stay interested through most of it. The famous scene at the end just doesn't make up for it, sorry. Also it seems people defend it because of the fact that this story mirrored what he was going through in his personal life at the time and is sort of a metaphor with what he went through with his wife. As a movie watcher, I should not care nor have to know about that going into the movie, because it alters your perception of what to expect.

Sometimes writers and directors just have to be given a chance to be boring. Some stories just can not give you the goods from beginning to end. The brood is a film that cannot put all the cards on the table right away. Cronenberg is as always exploring issues within the horror format that are usually ignored for simple baseless gore. While the plot is not going to make a lick of sense to someone without a dark imagination it is very inventive.

I can't say for sure but serious horror fans may note that the later half of this film could easily stand along many the stories in Clive Barker's books of blood. Cronenberg I think can take some credit in inspiring later works from the horror prince who would explore a lot of these issues with a little more supernatural zeal. Isn't great that Cronenberg played a serial killer for Barker in Nightbreed!

The film is slow out of the gates for sure but Oliver Reed puts in a strange and compelling performance as the weird doctor. Samatha Eggar was very brave in her performce as the brood's disturbed mother. While some of the scenes with the brood children alone in the world look silly like everything else in the film there is a pay-off in the last half hour.

If you give up early on this film you will really miss out because the last half hour is where cronenberg packs everything in. Truly vile gore, full on madness of characters and spine chilling terror for the daughter.

For serious horror fans only.

Although I have watched David Cronenberg's "The Brood" a number of times, I still find it unbelievably disturbing. From the beginning until the ending credits, it is unsettling horror at its morbid best.

Under the care of Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed), Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar) is undergoing a radical and controversial form of psychiatric treatment called "Psychoplasmics". Psychoplasmics takes the role-playing of psychotherapy to a new level by training the patient to release his pent-up rage and physically expel that rage from his body. Sounds weird? That is only the beginning. Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) is Nola's estranged husband who suspects his wife of physically abusing their daughter Candace. After vowing to protect his daughter legally, murders committed by strange deformed children begin to occur.

To say anymore would be to stifle The Brood's terror-ific mystique. However, I will suggest that you consider experiencing this film on an empty stomach with the lights on. After viewing, don't be surprised if you feel compelled to make amends with anyone you might currently be at odds with.

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.