The Brood (1979), David Cronenberg
A shady psychologist, Dr. Hal Raglan (played by an especially creepy Oliver Reed), comes up with a new (and quite dangerous) form of therapy, which he calls "psychoplasmics"; a technique in which people's innermost feelings are manifested in a physical deformity. He works out of a very David Koresh-esque compound, called the Somafree Institute. Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle star as a married couple, Nola and Frank, having issues due to the wife's severe depression caused by childhood abuse at the hands of her mother. She goes off to Somafree in search of relief, but what she actually gets is much, much more terrifying than expected. Think Kramer vs. Kramer if a brood of little demon children were assisting Mrs. Kramer in the divorce proceedings.
This movie starts off really, really slowly. Do not get discouraged. Your patience will be rewarded in the end. The acting is actually pretty superb, which you don't often see in exploitation films. I wouldn't put it among my favorite Cronenberg films. But I think even his less than perfect films are still better than most movies out there. The man is a genius!
Grade: A-
A shady psychologist, Dr. Hal Raglan (played by an especially creepy Oliver Reed), comes up with a new (and quite dangerous) form of therapy, which he calls "psychoplasmics"; a technique in which people's innermost feelings are manifested in a physical deformity. He works out of a very David Koresh-esque compound, called the Somafree Institute. Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle star as a married couple, Nola and Frank, having issues due to the wife's severe depression caused by childhood abuse at the hands of her mother. She goes off to Somafree in search of relief, but what she actually gets is much, much more terrifying than expected. Think Kramer vs. Kramer if a brood of little demon children were assisting Mrs. Kramer in the divorce proceedings.
This movie starts off really, really slowly. Do not get discouraged. Your patience will be rewarded in the end. The acting is actually pretty superb, which you don't often see in exploitation films. I wouldn't put it among my favorite Cronenberg films. But I think even his less than perfect films are still better than most movies out there. The man is a genius!
Grade: A-
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