THE BROOD
United States, 1979
U.S. Release Date: 525/1979
Runtime: 92 min.
MPAA Classification: R
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Henry Beckman, Nuala Fitzgerald, Cindy Hinds, Susan Hogan
Director: David Cronenberg
Screenplay: David Cronenberg
Cinematography: Mark Irwin
Original Score: Howard Shore
Studio: New World Pictures

Happy Halloween! Yes I'm late, but put away your razor blades, poisoned candy, and other misdeeds planned for the kids.

Canadian-native and master filmmaker David Cronenberg is a figure that Hollywood horror doesn’t have anymore. That is, a consistently talented filmmaker, not restricted by genre-limitations, who delivered intelligent and rather mentally frightening pictures. Even my hero John Carpenter can’t lay claim to that.

Unlike most of the director hacks that now waste everyone’s time in Hollywood horror, Cronenberg never was a real film geek. More of a fevering reader of philosophy, sociology, critical thinking, and of literature, Cronenberg, praised or criticized for which, is dedicated to bringing his written ideas and concepts of social commentary onto the big screen. He’s the affluent George A. Romero.

“The Brood” is about a man's wife (Eggar) that is under the care of an eccentric psychiatrist (Reed) who uses innovative and theatrical techniques to breach the psychological blocks in his patients. When their daughter (Hinds) comes back from a visit with mom and she's covered with bruises and welts, the father (Hindle) attempts to bar his wife from seeing the daughter, but faces resistance from the secretive psychiatrist. Meanwhile, the wife's mother and father are attacked by deformed children, and the husband begins to suspect a connection with the psychiatrist's methods, which leads to the shocking finale.

When the inevitable piss-poor remake is produced, it will be a very simplistic and one-dimensional horror shtick flick about new science helping to create a brand new form of evil in our world blah blah blah.

What Cronenberg makes is for a provocative and intelligent genre-entry in which details the installation of a generation’s rage and hatred against each other in the next generation, literally giving birth to mindless drones that only act on the parents’ primal emotions of envy and anger. One could argue that this is a subtle tale of when the enculturation of children by their parents’ society include petty prejudices that manifest into deadly consequences for the rest of humanity.

Cronenberg’s willingness to force movie patrons to philosophically ponder within their skulls is great, but it’s the fact that like Scorsese, he doesn’t shy away from the ugly. The finale itself is quite shocking that we sympathize with the film’s protagonist, as he fails to handle what he is seeing. The weaklings will complain about a disturbing shot of licking that is simply maternal care for one of its own “brood”, but they are partly to blame why American horror movies suck for the most part. In other words, they can piss off.

Yes, the idea of little midgets or children playing the monsters does sound like a low-budget cheesy B movie. However, Cronenberg is able to conceal and only give us tease glimpses of them before they’re unveiled in their full pale glory. In fact, one of my personal favorite shots of all time is when a character sees one of these “children” on a bookshelf, arching itself to leap attack. The way Cronenberg frames his shot; we see the backside of the character’s head which blocks this creature’s main body, but little arms and arms plop out into view.

This creates the uneasy sensation that the audience has when they see this image. What’s there?!? What is that? Is that what I think…..

“The Brood” isn’t the visceral masterpiece of “Videodrome” or the really great monster flick “The Fly,” which will later dominate Cronenberg’s resume. However, for a lesser filmmaker, it would be their career highlight. For Cronenberg, its just a very good genre movie

Final Film Verdict - ***1/2

Great review, RRA! It's been better than 5 years since I've watched this. A rewatch is DEFINITELY overdue.

Well, I rewatched THE BROOD, and here is a polished-up rewrite of my original review.



THE BROOD (1979) - ***1/2



"My version of KRAMER VS. KRAMER" - David Cronenberg on THE BROOD

There is a story supposedly where director Martin Scorsese wanted to meet in person a Canadian filmmaker he had greatly admired, even if he was terrified to do so, intimidated by this guy's rather intense visceral work. He was greatly relieved to find that David Cronenberg was the complete opposite of his reputation in that he was calm, polite, rational, and his head didn't explode like in SCANNERS.

Cronenberg is something that Hollywood Horror sadly lacks anymore, that of a consistent, greatly talented smart freak who was never really a film geek, and more of a feverent reader of philosophy, sociology, literature, futurism, and critical thinking. As a result, he wasn't restricted by genre-limitations (aka "expectations") or only worried about filling up the gore quota, or concerned with ripping off old movies he had seen too many times, and was more dedicated to bringing social commentary onto the big screen. He's the affluent George A. Romero.

He's the anti-Eli Roth.

Cronenberg may be a Canadian national cinema treasure now, a global-lauded master auteur who should have gotten an Oscar nomination for A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, and arguably perhaps one too for EASTERN PROMISES, but this wasn't always the case. Back in his early days, Cronenberg was a controversial figure within his native country, the polarizing issue within Canadian film industry, in part mostly because this notorious "Blood Baron" funded his first few pictures using taxpayer's money, and was derided frequently at the House of Commons. The supposed respectable elites looked down on him while Cronenberg's debut SHIVERS was the first government-aided production to make a profit, and arguably the breakthrough in garnering serious attention for the nation's cinema among outsiders.

Those snobs would get their guy I guess finally in Atom Egoyan, a pity since inbetween the spilled plasma and guts, Cronenberg displayed a unique cerebral insanity unlike anyone else before or since. I mean he made American jaws drop for God's sake! That should have been like a badge of honor. Perhaps what put people off was Cronenberg's willingness in exploring his themes and following them out to their logical, if extreme, conclusion, no matter how grotesque or disturbing they may be. Remember kids, this was back when you got both smarts and gore!

I know, how dare he!

Take his THE BROOD, where a mentally-disturbed woman (Samantha Eggar) is under a new radical therapy under an eccentric psychiatrist (Oliver Reed) called "Psychoplasmics," where he uses innovative and theatrical techniques to breach the subconcious blocks within his patients. After a weekend visit at this reclusive hospital retreat, her daughter (Cindy Hinds) comes back with bruises and welts, and the father (Art Hindle) seeks to bar his estranged wife from seeing their kid again, but faces legal resistance from the celebrity Reed. Meanwhile, the wife's mother and father are murdered by deformed children, and Hindle suspects a connection with the doctor's methods, which all leads to the most shocking finale.

What Cronenberg makes here is a provacative and intelligent genre-entry which concerns itself with the installation and deployment of a person's rage and hatred against those may or may not have wronged her, literally giving birth (and I mean literally) to mindless drones that only act on its parent's primal emotions of jealousy, envy, and hatred. With the storyline about Eggar's childhood abuse at the hands of her mother, and now doing the same to own spawn, THE BROOD may in fact be a subtle parable of the enculturation of values good and bad that children inherit from their parents' culture, especially petty prejudices that can manifest into deadly consequences for the rest of humanity.

Cronenberg’s willingness to make movie patrons philosophically ponder within their skulls is cool and all, but like Scorsese, he doesn’t shy away from the ugly, oh no. Cronenberg's reputation for being fucked up is accredited here, like when the beasts use mallets to bash the brains out of a teacher in front of her kindergarten class. Maybe not as bad, but more gross, is the ending.

We sympathize with Hindle, for we both fail to handle well when we see Eggar's physical transformation. Quite a few weaklings will still wince with disgust, and me with scholarly respect, at the shot of her licking, the bitch giving maternal care to one of her new "brood" pups. I mean this concept absolutely makes total logical sense, and yet many countries had that scene chopped out, and thus many folks seriously got the wrong impression that the woman ate her baby like a dingo this side of A CRY IN THE DARK, which I think is much worse if you ask me.

Now the idea of little midgets or kids playing the albino monsters with no sex organs or belly buttons (thus "never born") does sound like a low-budget cheesy B movie, which it potentially could have been. But Cronenberg is able to conceal them and only give us tease glimpses of them from their hands to a mirror reflection and other tricks before they’re unveiled in their full pale glory, with the pacing aid of terrific brooding(pun!) music by Howard Shore, in his first collaboration with Cronenberg. In fact, one of my personal favorite shots of all time is when a character sees one of these “children” on a bookshelf, arching itself to leap attack. The way Cronenberg frames his shot; we see the backside of the character’s head which blocks this creature’s main body, but little arms and arms plop out into view. What’s there?!? What is that? Is that what I think…..

HOLY SHIT!!!

Off-topic, but anyone ever notice how this blonde girl tormented by violent supernatural creatures schtick was done three years before POLTERGEIST?

Sadly if THE BROOD was remade today, most likely produced by hack-hero Michael Bay, such a story would be incredibly simplified and dumbed down to the point where instead of avoiding lazy scripting-cliche trap doors like Cronenberg tried, it would rush headlong into them, I mean just look at his update on THE HITCHER. We might have the cops suspect the the kid or father after the first killing, or the layers of sophisticated politics be stripped to become yet another "science goes wrong" narrative, or whatever retarded nonsense. Even if he gave us more blood, they would lack the significance or lingering shock value, because we won't give a damn.

I'm sure too he would also toss out Reed's character, which Reed smoothly played as an opportunistic, if not necessarily evil, man who realizes way too late the rotten fruits of his labor. In a way he reminds me of presidential candidate John McCain, a war hero and bi-partisan legislative leader who allegedly in the last few weeks has run a race-baiting campaign. With the crowds at his rallies yelling "Kill Him!" at the mention of Barack Obama or booing him for trying to correct a woman who thought Obama was an Arab terrorist, both times McCain gave a look similar to that of Reed, that pitiful shock reaction of "What have I done?" Anyway, such complexity is allergic for Mr. Bay.

THE BROOD isn't a mind-screwjob like VIDEODROME or even a great monster flick like THE FLY, but for a lesser filmmaker, it would be their career highlight, For Cronenberg, it's just a very good genre job.