Themes: Experiments Gone Awry, Doctors and Patients, Out For Revenge
Main Cast: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Cindy Hinds, Henry Beckman
Release Year: 1979
Country: CA
Run Time: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Canadian director David Cronenberg followed his graphic vampire variation Rabid with this multi-layered, speculative horror film which addresses the way the repressed demons of the psyche can force their way to the surface. Psychologist Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed), director of the controversial Psychoplasmic Institute and author of the book "The Shape of Rage," encourages his patients to outwardly manifest their anger and fear (aided by some experimental drugs), which then takes physical shape as actual sores, cancers, or strange new organs. One of Raglan's more successful patients (from his point-of-view, anyway) is Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar), who is undergoing therapy following a painful divorce from her husband, Frank (Art Hindle). When Frank discovers evidence that Nola may have injured their daughter, Candice (Cindy Hinds), he begins to suspect Raglan's techniques but is unprepared for the most horrifying by-product of her rage: a progeny of sexless, dwarflike mutants who are born for the sole purpose of acting out her violent fantasies of revenge. Containing only enough energy to carry out their murderous tasks, the brood is dispatched to kill Nola's parents, then a woman she believes is having an affair with Frank. By the time Frank discovers the origins of the tiny offspring, they have already abducted Candice and taken her to the institute, where Frank must confront Nola in person. Although it contains one of the most visceral and nauseating scenes in movie history (during the film's climax), this nevertheless remains the most subtle of Cronenberg's early horror projects, with a strong subtext about the devastating effects of divorce. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Review
Throughout his career, David Cronenberg has uncovered new, often grotesque ways of externalizing the repression and alienation of contemporary life. Rarely, though, has he taken as restrained a route as he does with The Brood. The director introduces the central premise of his story -- mutation as therapy -- in the first sequence, but its full implications are mapped out only in stages, culminating in a truly chilling finale that veers from stark, otherworldly suspense to set piece gross-out. Shivers, Cronenberg's feature debut, moved at a similarly deliberate pace, but it was full of violence and gore almost from the start. In The Brood, Halloween-style point-of-view sequences build a sensation of lingering unease while jump cuts and cutaways help maintain dramatic tension during the action sequences. Cindy Hinds, as the pale, blank-faced Candice, echoes the scary children of Village of the Damned and anticipates the similarly hapless heroine of Steven Spielberg's Poltergeist. Samantha Eggar's haughty, self-obsessed Nola, meanwhile, establishes the Cronenberg ice-queen archetype that Genevieve Bujold would fill so indelibly in Dead Ringers. Although hardly the most influential of the director's early and mid-period horror exercises, The Brood stands up as a fully realized study of modern discontent given terrifying shape. The stars, special effects, and larger budgets of his later films sometimes give his messy subtexts too slick a sheen, but here the naturalistic production values and affectless art direction complement a storyline of slowly unfolding dread. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Nuala Fitzgerald - Juliana Kelly; Susan Hogan - Ruth Mayer; Michael McGhee - Inspector Mrazek; Gary McKeehan - Mike Trellan; Felix Silla - Creature; Rainer Schwartz - Birkin; Nicholas Campbell - Chris; Robert A. Silverman - Jan Hartog; Christopher Britton - Man In Auditorium; Michael Magee - Inspector; Joseph Shaw - Coroner; Jerry Kostur - Construction Worker; Elijah Siegler - Samson; Larry Solway - Lawyer; Mary Swinton - Wendy; John Ferguson - Creature
Credit
Carol Spier - Art Director, Tom Mather - Boom Operator, Nancy Eagles - Continuity, John Board - First Assistant Director, David Cronenberg - Director, Alan Collins - Editor, Pierre David - Executive Producer, Victor Solnicki - Executive Producer, Howard Shore - Composer (Music Score), Shonagh Jabour - Makeup, Jack H. Young - Makeup Special Effects, Dennis Pike - Makeup Special Effects, Mark Irwin - Cinematographer, Gwen Iveson - Production Manager, Claude Heroux - Producer, Allan Cotter - Special Effects, Bryan Day - Sound/Sound Designer, Joe Grimaldi - Sound/Sound Designer, David Cronenberg - Screenwriter, Jock Brandis - Gaffer, Carlo Campana - Grip, Maris H. Jansons - Key Grip, Peter Lauterman - Properties Master, Libby Bowden - Second Assistant Director, Don White - ADR Recordist, Angelo Stea - Set Dresser
