10 Weird And Creepy Moments In David Cronenberg Films

6. Ralph Fiennes

Outstanding though Jeremy Irons' performance(s) in Dead Ringers may be, there is only one actor whose haunting performance has single-handedly driven a Cronenberg film: that of Ralph Fiennes in Spider. Spider is a very low budget affair (those involved reportedly did not take a salary to make the picture) and is notable for a total lack of horror elements. Yet Fiennes' central performance as Dennis Cleg is utterly harrowing, and undoubtedly the most subtly creepy element of any of Cronenberg's films. Recently released from a mental institution, Cleg is a mumbling, stuttering mess, haunted by traumatic memories and stalking London's underworld with little comprehension of his dank surroundings. Spider appeared in an era when narrative ambiguity and unreliable narration were incredibly popular (see Memento and Mulholland Drive, for example), and it successfully plays on this trend despite its DIY visual style. The story would probably be too complex and mysterious to fully work as a piece of psychological horror-drama if not for the tour-de-force work of Fiennes as the central figure. Every twitchy movement, haunted glance and incomprehensible syllable is filled with a combination of sorrow, hatred, confusion and animalistic rage, making Dennis Cleg one of cinema's most simple but effective psychopaths.
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