Chromosome 3

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.

David Cronenberg's "The Brood" is both frightening and shocking. A tale of psychological horror guaranteed to make even the most jaded horror fan recoil in disbelief. The plot in a nutshell - In the care of an eccentric therapist (Oliver Reed), a woman (Samantha Eggar) undergoes an experimental form of anger management; while parallel to her treatment are a serious of bizarre and questionable murders. At the heart of the story is her husband (Art Hindle), who is in desperate search of the truth behind the strange goings on. The film is especially visually appealing; with perfectly framed scenes, cold & stark cinematography, and classy looking 70's costume design. The special effects though minimal throughout the film, are both amazing and disturbing. Cronenberg masterfully stages the murders in a thrillingly suspenseful and brutally violent manner, effectively balancing the terror between what is seen and not seen. It is questionable if filmmakers in today's world would be bold enough to make this film. The eerie musical score by (now veteran) Howard Shore creates an extra degree of tension to the unfolding events. The performances are all convincing, and definitely above par for a horror movie. With a shocking final twist; this movie is not to be missed, a highly recommended 9/10!

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

I really enjoyed David Cronenberg's film called The Brood. It is about a woman who is being cared for by an eccentric psychologist called Dr. Raglan(Oliver Reed). Who uses theatrical techniques to breach the psychological blocks in his patients. When their six year old daughter comes back from a visit with her mother and is covered with bruises the father Frank Carveth attempts to stop his his wife from seeing their daughter. But the psychologist Dr. Raskin will not stop his wife from seeing the girl. whilst this is happening his daughter's teacher is is attacked by two strange looking deformed children. Her father starts to believe that it is to do with Dr. Rankin and a psychotherapy cult which he may have something to do with it. This film was quite disturbing at times. I thought that Oliver Reed played a very good part in the film.

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.