The Brood

Movie Name: The Brood
Year of Release: 1979
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Art Hindle, Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Henry Beckman, Nuala Fitzgerald, Cindy Hinds, Susan Hogan, Gary McKeehan
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
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Synopsis and Review:

Following "Rabid", David Cronenberg tackled a few different projects, which coincidentally came out in the same year, firstly the little seen "Fast Company" with John Saxon, and "The Brood", which featured a more well known and recognizable cast, headlined by Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar. The film follows the story of Frank Carveth, a man who is going through a difficult separation from his wife, Nola. Nola is actually in a mental institute, being treated by a renown psychotherapist by the name of Hal Ragian. When Frank gets his daughter Candice from one of her visits with Nola, he realizes she has bruises and scratches. He decides to pursue a termination of the visitation rights, at least until the situation of who did that to the child is clarified. As he leaves Candice with her grandmother, the woman is killed by what appears to be a small child, who leaves Candice untouched. As Frank tries to understand what is happening, he gets some assistance from Barton, Nola's former stepfather, and Ruth, Candice's schoolteacher. However, both Barton and Ruth are met with grizzly deaths, always at the hands of those small creatures. As one of them is killed, the police reveals of series of bizarre things about these creatures. When Candice is taken, Frank has no choice but to go to the Institute and confront Nola about the bizarre incidents and Candice's disappearance.

"The Brood" is another great example of the uniqueness of the universe director David Cronenberg has always created throughout his films. This time around, under the guise of these monster-like creatures, which are a manifestation of someone's pain and anger, there's at its core, the dissolution of a relationship, of a connection between two people and of a family unit. There's simultaneously a humane aspect to the pain that this event inflicts on people, and a clinical aspect, in the sense that Nola, channels her pain, anger and past trauma, through the creation of this army who acts on her behalf, trying to control everyone in her universe, near of in the periphery of it. It's a narrative that much to the director's credit, is tempered with a sense of unease and fear, further enhanced by the fact that the menacing creatures are never truly visible. Much like his early films, "The Brood" has an economical aspect to its narrative, exposing the main characters rather quickly and in broad strokes, in order to get to the core of the feature. It's original, unique, and much like "Scanners", "Rabid" and "The Fly" to name but a few, it once again demonstrates how the human body is a field for the director to explore, and demonstrate how much it can mutate itself. The cast is solid, with Art Hindle, Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar all creating great characters. The cinematography from Mark Irwin is impeccable as is the score of the alway fantastic Howard Shore. Another great film from a truly unique voice in cinema.