Review of The Brood (1979) by Eduardo C — 24 May 2007

David Cronenberg films are always works of art that invariably end up accused of being sleazy exploitation. This one is no exception. However, this is the first Cronenberg film I can remember that was so markedly flawed, had such crippling miscalculations. This can be attributed to the fact it is one of his earlier films, but the direction is as strong as ever. I imagine this is one of the earliest scripts he wrote, and one he may not have revised with the best of eyes, as it is here where most of the film's flaws lie.

It is very well photographed and directed, but it has serious pacing problems. There is a bit too much exposition (very strange, for a Cronenberg film) and the film's structure seems at odds with itself. Its attempts to set this film in the real world (police invervention, autopsy) grind it to a screeching hault because their reactions are not concurrent with what is happening. They seem to be there to tell, so Cronenberg (budget problems?) doesn't have to show. The score is annoying (save for the final piece, which is very good and highlights perfectly without intruding), and if we add to this a weak performance by Art Hindle as the lead and a surprisingly clunky first kill and we are already not looking at a masterpiece.

But then...the last 15 minutes, while stagey, are pure Cronenberg. Oliver Reed delivers a great turn (as if he doesn't always) as the manliest psychiatrist in the history of cinema and some of the film's running themes are made clearer. The ending is surprisingly moving for a film that is so cold, detatched, clinical. The final shot is a heartbreaker.

The film clearly has script issues, but it is very intelligent and certainly has a message. A lot of it feels ahead of its time, but so much of it feels exactly OF its time, or even dated by the time it was released.

It is a 'good' film, more smart than it is good, but looking back it almost feels like a lost opportunity. The film's premise is ingenious, vintage Cronenberg, but the execution leaves much to be desired.