David Cronenberg: All 21 Films Ranked From Worst To Best

20. Stereo

Cronenberg's debut, Stereo, doesn't fare much better than Fast Company. Admittedly, it looks pretty good. The black and white visuals are gorgeous, and are actually fairly anomalous in a filmography that is defined by colours. Many of the themes that would dominate the director's later work are also evinced here, with the story revolving around telepathic sexual experiments. The problem with the film is its abstract nature. It was filmed silently, due to the noisy camera that Cronenberg used, and instead features odd, dry commentary over the top of it. It's like watching a fictional documentary. There's no doubt that some of the shots are lovely, and films such as Scanners certainly reveal the influence of this early work, but it's far from the exciting output that Cronenberg would come to produce.