Exploring Cronenberg

THE BROOD (1979)

The Brood is a breed of horror that simply doesn’t happen anymore. David Cronenberg mastered it during the seventies and eighties with Videodrome, The Fly, and most notably The Brood, in which the horror came from a twisted embodiments of psychological pressures - allegorical horrors if you will. The Platform has recently (as of 2019) tried to revive this allegorical horror, but I only feel like it’s shown the difficulty of attempting this finessed genre. It takes phenomenal creativity and an ability to create worlds that rotate around its allegory subtly.

Because of this The Brood is one of a rare batch of films which revel in the grotesque and use body horror to its most effective, little but intense and close to home. With spoilers, the metaphor in The Brood presents the psychology of parenthood and faith between partners in such a way that reflects not only the ‘what actually happens’ but the ‘how it feels’. I also love the final subtle metaphor for genetic traits and passed down mental issues.

Cronenberg makes you cold with his use of the technical production. Everything is muted, and the sound echoes through scenes just too quietly to be noticeable. The music is cliche for horror films of the time, sounding synonymous with the Friday the 13th soundtrack, but what Cronenberg does well is keeping the same instruments. If it’s an attack scene - low strings with a frantic melody. If it’s a somber scene - low strings with a melancholic melody. There’s this feeling that safety is never definite.

Oliver Reed plays a fascinating Dr Raglan with his trade mark grim coldness and reserved emotion. Throughout the whole movie, until the end you could make a strong case for him being a hero, villain, con-man, a saint, an incarnation of the devil or an incarnation of god. This partly down to the mystery writing, but it is Oliver Reed’s performance that cements it.

Sadly, The Brood isn’t perfect, and like his other screenplays, The Brood is a slow-burn until the finale but the scenes up until then meander and can feel redundant and time consuming until you realise ‘oh I guess that was necessary’. This is why I think The Brood will be much better on second watch. Also, ‘scary children’ horror is hit or miss for, here they start ridiculous and gradually become terrifying movie monsters.

Another gripe I have is that the special effects budget is sparse, only being truly believable for about thirty seconds of footage. It’s like they shot the ending first and over spent. This doesn’t change my rating but it does irritate me slightly to see such an inconsistency.

David Cronenberg strikes a feeling of anxiety that few other directors have. Some directors just get cinema... and this one knows how to use gore.

SCANNERS (1981)

Watching ‘Scanners’ (1981), I devised a summary of Cronenberg’s style and storytelling. He’s the Stephen King of cinema. Ultra-dark sci-fi fantasies that talk deeply about the human psychology, though I feel King’s stories are much better than Cronenberg’s. This film is a blend of ‘Carrie’ and ‘Firestarter’: a world of psychics is imperilled by two sinister forces, one governmental, and the other a revolution of radical psychics.

The first thirty minutes is simply perfect, particularly the introduction of Darryl Revok who, within minutes, is one of the scariest sci-fi antagonists ever. Speaking of, the body-horror and practical gore that sandwiches the film is stunning.

Cronenberg has never particularly focused on character stories with the exception of ‘The Fly’ (1986), but still, of all his films I’ve seen, this has by far the weakest characters. ‘Dr Ruth’ has a strong presence and some great lines, but his character is hollow beyond his position as the mad scientist which is in every Cronenberg flick. Darryl Revok is a great villain, obviously. Our lead is meant to be emotionless so that does help, and the surrounding characters aren’t much outside of a few quirks. Really, the twist towards the end would’ve been better brought further into the middle so it had time to effect the plot, which would’ve given our leads three dimensions.

I’m unsure of what this one was exploring. As it was progressing I thought it was going to go the route of people’s thoughts being governed by the crowd, or an allegory for single mindedness or challenging your mind. In the end it becomes a thematic jigsaw for you to mix and match as you like, though I much prefer something with structure like ‘The Brood’ or at least something that seems intentionally vague such as ‘Videodrome’.

Give it watch especially for its phenomenal, emotionally charged, ending duel and see what you think it’s trying to say, and where ranks amongst Cronenberg’s works.