Review of The Brood (1979) by Richard D — 19 Nov 2017

David Cronenberg films are always interesting, even when they are a mixed bag like this one. Leonard Maltin glibly summarized the film as, "(Samantha) Eggar eats her own afterbirth while midget clones beat grandparents and lovely young schoolteachers to death with mallets.

" Needless to say, Maltin was not a fan of the film, but what it's really about is a recently divorced father going through a custody battle with his ex-wife, Eggar, who is in a mental institution under the care of psychiatrist Oliver Reed, who has his patients undergoing an experimental treatment.

Things get weird when the father tries to cut off contact between his daughter and her institutionalized mother after discovering bruises, when the aforementioned mutant homunculus creatures in little hoodies begin killing the various caretakers of the young girl.

As with all Cronenberg films, it's more than a simple straight horror film and contains substance behind the horror, this time tackling divorce, parenting, and possibly an undercurrent of anti-feminism (Cronenberg himself was going through a divorce and custody battle at the time), though I'm not quite sure if the story is an indictment of this one selfish individual female character or if it's an indictment of an entire movement.

Cronenberg films are thematically quite consistent and I haven't noticed any strains of misogyny or anti-feminism in his other films, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Also, as with most Cronenberg films, there are elements of "Body Horror," which for those unfamiliar with this horror sub-genre, is not the same as graphic bloody horror, but is when the horror is derived from unnatural graphic transformation, degeneration, or destruction of the human body (think "Eraserhead," "From Beyond," or Cronenberg's "The Fly").

The body horror elements in this film are pretty repellent and will likely turn off most audience members. The film's rather austere presentation will also alienate most horror fans, who are the ones who'd likely get into the body horror elements, which leaves this film with a pretty narrow band of people who will enjoy off-putting intellectual arthouse horror.

Overall, I don't know that I would recommend "The Brood" to most viewers, but I found it a fascinating and interesting film, despite it's pacing and narrative flaws. FUN FACT! Oliver Reed was arrested by the Canadian police during the production of the film after he made a bet with someone that he could walk from one bar to another without wearing clothes in freezing cold weather.