The Brood (1979)

A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, while a series of brutal attacks committed by a brood of mutant children coincides with the husband's investigation.

Director:

David Cronenberg

Writer:

David Cronenberg

Stars:

Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Oliver Reed	...	Dr. Hal Raglan
Samantha Eggar	...	Nola Carveth
Art Hindle	...	Frank Carveth
Henry Beckman	...	Barton Kelly
Nuala Fitzgerald	...	Juliana Kelly
Cindy Hinds	...	Candice Carveth
Susan Hogan	...	Ruth Mayer
Gary McKeehan	...	Mike Trellan
Michael Magee	...	Inspector
Robert A. Silverman	...	Jan Hartog (as Robert Silverman)
Joseph Shaw	...	Coroner
Larry Solway	...	Lawyer
Reiner Schwartz	...	Dr. Birkin
Felix Silla	...	Creature
John Ferguson	...	Creature

Storyline

A man's wife is under the care of an eccentric and unconventional psychologist who uses innovative and theatrical techniques to breach the psychological blocks in his patients. When their daughter comes back from a visit with her mother and is covered with bruises and welts, the father attempts to bar his wife from seeing the daughter but faces resistance from the secretive psychologist. Meanwhile, the wife's mother and father are attacked by strangely deformed children, and the man begins to suspect a connection with the psychologist's methods.

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Plot Keywords:

children | mutant | surrealism | dead children | experimental psychotherapy | 

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Taglines:

They're Waiting... For You!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 May 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Ninhada

Filming Locations:

Magder Studio, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 1,400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC), Elgin International Films Ltd., Mutual Productions Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Cronenberg wrote the film following the tumultuous divorce and child-custody battle he waged against Margaret Hindson. Cronenberg also said that Samantha Eggar's character, Nola Carveth, possessed some of the characteristics of his ex-wife.

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Goofs

When Candy is sent away from preschool by "the creatures", she is wearing her pink snowsuit. However, when Frank drops by their home, desperately searching for his daughter, the pink snowsuit is hanging on the cloak hook at the front door. Then again, a few moments later, Candy is wearing it walking down the street with two of "the creatures".

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Quotes

Juliana Kelly: Thirty seconds after you're born you have a past and sixty seconds after that you begin to lie to yourself about it.

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Connections

Featured in Nightmare in Canada: Canadian Horror on Film (2004)

User Reviews

Cronenberg Grows

A very personal film for Cronenberg who was going through a divorce during the time of its making, The Brood has all the Cronenbergian motifs, plus great characterisation and a great performance from all involved.

Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed) who is experimenting with metaphysical rage runs the Summerfree Institute. There he encourages his patience to indulge in allowing their inner anger to materialise in warts and blisters on their body. One of his patience is the demented Nola (Samantha Eggar) who has taken Raglan's therapy to the next stage. Her rage is apparently so potent that it results in The Brood, a savage group of dwarfs that emerge from the cysts on Nola's body. Unfortunately, Nola has another child, Candy and when her ex-husband, Frank (Art Hindle) finds that his wife is too unstable to look after their child he suppresses parental access. Nola goes even more insane and the brood ventures out to kill all those she believes have or may cause her harm. Although the carnage isn't excessively violent, the scene where Nola produces one of the dwarfs from a bloody sack and licks it clean leaves a nasty aftertaste.

Cronenberg has long been associated with fear of biological change, but is surprising that not many have picked up on his fascination, or dread of organisations. There's the Starliner Towers (Shivers), Keloid Clinic (Rabid), Summerfree Institute (The Brood), ConSec (Scanners), Spectacular Optical (Videodrome), Bartok Industries (The Fly), The Mantle Clinic (Dead Ringers), PildrImage Manufacturers (eXsistenZ).