 |
| Dark, strange poster for David Cronenberg's The Brood |
QUICK REVIEW:
A worried husband suspects that his wife, who is admitted in a psychiatric institution, is abusing their daughter. However, it turns out SPOILER that it is really the work of the wife's fury, which manifests itself as little homicidal freaks that she gives birth to out of her stomach.
This bizarre, scary story is told with unnerving music by Howard Shore (Se7en (1995)), varying qualities of acting and a lack of effects, particularly regarding 'the brood'. The birth scene towards the end is repulsive, though, and remembered by everyone who has seen the film:
Woman, thy name is repulsive birth-giver, - in David Cronenberg's The Brood
The end, in which SPOILER the daughter has gotten two warts, is anticlimactic and failed.
The Brood is an odd, almost psychedelic serving psycho-terror.
It is one of the first films of Canadian 'body horror' master director David Cronenberg (Scanners (1981)), and he made it while going through his first divorce and acrimonious child custody battle. His embitterment carries on greatly into this unusual horror; the crazy mother in the film is inspired by Cronenberg's then wife/ex-wife Margaret Hindson. The anger behind it is clearly felt, but it doesn't elevate the film as such.
The Brood also holds the distinction of being loathed by both Leonard Maltin (BOMB rating) and the late Roger Ebert (who called it 'reprehensible trash'), America's two most canonical, horror-slighting film critics.
Related review:
David Cronenberg: A History of Violence (2010) or, Who Is Tom Stall?
The daughter attacked by 'the brood' in Cronenberg's The Brood
Watch the trailer for The Brood here
Budget: 1.5 mil. CAD $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
What do you think of The Brood?
No comments:
Post a Comment