Review of The Brood (1979) by Douglas P — 21 Feb 2008
Therapy is not always a good thing. Cronenberg comments on how psychotherapy pours gasoline on any suppressed fire between loved ones and family. In this case, the Canadian maestro has created a form of therapy, Psychoplasmics, which penetrates the hate and lament of a broken family and puts the ill feelings towards the flesh (in one case, knobby bumps of flesh, and in the extreme case, a foetus).
Cruel, grotesque and bleak, this film is a fine example of Cronenberg's cinematic fixture - polymorphic horror. And the haunting images of the dwarves in snowsuits still haunts. Oliver Reed hams it up in fine fashion, and Samantha Eggar plays a true psychotic mired in her own latent hate.
The male lead played by Art Hindle is as stiff as board, but somehow it works to benefit the film. Belongs in the top three for Cronenberg.
This review of The Brood (1979) was written by Douglas P on 21 Feb 2008.
The Brood has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
