10 Weird And Creepy Moments In David Cronenberg Films

7. The Brood

The Brood is effectively one long selection of all of Cronenberg's darkest and most horrific thoughts put onto film, and it is utterly brilliant for it. Inspired by his recent divorce and difficult custody battle, it is the director's graphic answer to David Lynch's Eraserhead: a family drama that completely tears apart the notion of a "family". The narrative is typical Cronenberg, with mentally-disturbed Nola Carveth releasing her psychological problems through physiological metamorphosis. Much of Nola's anguish comes from the removal of visitation rights to her young daughter, and so her neuroses manifest in the form of parthenogenetically bred "children" that set about murdering anyone that she blames for her predicament. There are some strong visuals that make this potentially convoluted story work, not least the images of bumps and swellings protruding from Nola's body and her predilection for licking the foetuses that she manifests (like a cat licking its cub to life). Renowned critic Mark Kermode ranks The Brood among the director's best, and it's easy to see why. It is one of Cronenberg's most repulsive films simply because it feels so autobiographical, and it is filled with disturbing moments that go beyond the realms of most horror movies of the time.