The Brood (1979) User Reviews

Cronenberg Grows

[Krug Stillo · 7/10 · 9 July 2003]

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).

The Cronenberg Guide to a Healthy & Happy Family

[reelreviewsandrecommendations · 7/10 · 24 October 2022]

Nola Carveth is a patient at the Somafree Institute under the care of Dr. Hal Raglan, a leader in an experimental form of therapy known as 'psychoplasmics.' Frank is Nola's estranged husband, who is battling for custody of their child Candice. Nola gets angry and her mental illness makes her unstable around the child. Meanwhile, a strange series of gruesome murders begins, with the victims all knowing the Carveths well. Deciding to learn more about Dr. Raglan and psychoplasmics himself, Frank begins to investigate, finding himself at the center of a mystery that will change his life irrevocably, in David Cronenberg's 'The Brood.'

'The Brood' is full of the blood, body horror and disturbing images that one would expect of a Cronenberg venture. It is tense and brimming with macabre thrills, chills and unsettling scenes. That is not to say the film is without dramatic or intellectual power, because 'The Brood' has more to offer than your average wild and weird horror. A comment about the effects of child-abuse and mental illness in conjunction with parenting and guardianship is being made through Cronenberg's partially autobiographical screenplay, one that is slightly obscured by the violence around it.

Although the murders add another dimension to the story, they take away from the atmosphere of quiet intrigue surrounding Raglan, the Carveths and the Institute; as well as diminish the power of the aforementioned subtle commentary about mental health and abuse. While they serve a purpose and are important to the plot, something a little less sensationalist would have been more in keeping with the eerie tone established early on in the film. In short, the psychological horror elements are fantastic, while the elements of physical horror seem lacking- or even rudimentary- in comparison.

Less rudimentary is Mark Irwin's cinematography, which is striking and stylish work. The pairing of Cronenberg and Irwin is like that of David Lynch and Frederick Elmes: a fruitful partnership with artistic leanings that has resulted in some visually stunning movies. 'The Brood' is a cold and beautiful looking film, with Irwin's use of space and his chosen composition being especially significant. He and Cronenberg made six films together; each one is texturally rich, undeniably impressive and memorable in terms of visuals.

As in most Cronenberg flicks, special effects and make-up is of tremendous importance to 'The Brood,' and Allan Cotter's work does not disappoint. He creates such disturbing, pulsating creatures and attachments that one with a weak stomach may want to forgo the film entirely. His work is on show primarily in the latter half of the film and will leave an indelible impression on the viewer- for better and for worse.

Composer Howard Shore has worked on sixteen Cronenberg films, with 'The Brood' being his first and 2022's 'Crimes of the Future' being the most recent. Shore's work in 'The Brood' is eerie and evocative, though often mournful and mysterious. It is music that helps inform scenes of tone, but never in an overly grandiose manner. For the film, Shore has created subtle, melodically pleasing compositions that linger in the mind long after the credits have gone up and the cinema is empty.

The performances from the cast are also memorable and strong, with Oliver Reed particularly impressing as Dr. Raglan. Reed had a screen presence like no other, with his remarkable calm and brooding intensity, he instantly draws the eye and keeps its' attention. Due to his reputation as a hellraiser, he received relatively few interesting roles or films from the mid-70's onward, and the ones he chose to do generally wasted his immense talents. Cronenberg doesn't let Reed's skills go to waste, and the actor turns in a powerful, reserved performance that will be remembered fondly by any who see the film.

Art Hindle and Samantha Eggar star as Frank and Nola, facsimiles of Cronenberg and his first wife Margaret Hindson. Both deliver strong performances, though Hindle fades into the background somewhat; one gets the feeling that many other actors could have played that part. Not so with Eggar, she is intensely assured and captivating, making Nola the epitome of the unhinged housewife. She is like a black panther on a moonless night, alluring, understated and unquestionably deadly. It is a fine performance of no vanity that'll be remembered and appreciated for as long as cinema lasts.

'The Brood' is a strange, intense horror that contains delicacies of an intellectual and of a visceral kind. Featuring gory scenes and body horror a-plenty, it also explores the topics of mental health and abuse in an informed and measured way. Cronenberg's direction and screenwriting is impressive, while he makes the most of talented actors like Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar; extracting from them fine, subdued and deeply affecting performances. While it is not perfect, 'The Brood' is an interesting, entertaining film that offers a lot more than your average slasher. If you like your movies on the dark side; it's one you're going to love.

This Is Horror!

[Kashmirgrey · 8/10 · 27 September 2007]

Although I have watched David Cronenberg's "The Brood" a number of times, I still find it unbelievably disturbing. From the beginning until the ending credits, it is unsettling horror at its morbid best.

Under the care of Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed), Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar) is undergoing a radical and controversial form of psychiatric treatment called "Psychoplasmics". Psychoplasmics takes the role-playing of psychotherapy to a new level by training the patient to release his pent-up rage and physically expel that rage from his body. Sounds weird? That is only the beginning. Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) is Nola's estranged husband who suspects his wife of physically abusing their daughter Candace. After vowing to protect his daughter legally, murders committed by strange deformed children begin to occur.

To say anymore would be to stifle The Brood's terror-ific mystique. However, I will suggest that you consider experiencing this film on an empty stomach with the lights on. After viewing, don't be surprised if you feel compelled to make amends with anyone you might currently be at odds with.

An intimate horror movie

[ziggy-24 · 26 April 2000]

The Brood is undoubtedly the most personal movie Cronenberg ever made : we all know the film describes Cronenberg's vision of his own divorce (and the custody of his daughter Cassandra) ; at that time, his then-wife belonged to what he thought was a cult and he did kidnap his own daughter in order to protect her. Thus The Brood is full of rage, vengeance and death wish… It is a truly frightening story and, in its own way, a candid vision of one's personal tragedy. It seems to be a tale from the Grimm brothers, and, at the same time, a reflection on the powerful link between body and spirit. The script is surprisingly complex and rich, even if, in the end, there is definitely something childish in the movie, but in a positive way: the childish belief that "thoughts can kill" only tempered by the final sequence, when we understand that this little girl, so cruelly abused, will eventually reproduce what her mother developed. The image of this mother (Samantha Eggar at her best, revealing her tortured body that evokes a Roman goddess) is one of the most terrifying one in world cinema. The Brood is a key to understand one of the Cronenberg's major themes: the uncanny… How what is closest to us, family, mother, grandparents, might suddenly become the ultimate horror. What frightens us is not outlandish or alien, on the contrary, it's always part of our intimate universe (as in Videodrome).

Maniacal midget with meat mallet misbehaves.

[fidelio74 · 7/10 · 2 February 2007]

Unless you have a strong stomach, steer well clear of 'David Cronenberg's The Brood'. The Canadian 'venereal horror' director's 1979 horrorshow is - as is typical of this truly unique filmic visionary - brilliantly cerebral, graphically violent, and deeply disturbing. This psychological horror film focuses upon the bizarre work of Doctor Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) who practices a controversial new psychotherapy named psychoplasmics, at a clinic named the Somafree Institute (note the Aldous Huxley reference).

Raglan's star pupil is the distinctly off-message Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar), whose rage at her abusive mother and estranged husband literally gives birth to homicidal midgets who enact Nola's violent inclinations with tragic results. Her bewildered husband, Frank (Art Hindle), becomes increasingly troubled by the clinic's highly unconventional methods and suspicious insistence upon secrecy. As the body count piles up, Frank becomes irreversibly drawn into Nola's strange new world, and soon realises that there may be no turning back.

Man, Cronenberg is so relentlessly original; his brood of bedlam is so unlike anything else except, well, his other work. Reed is excellent as Raglan; he exudes an air of quiet menace, and his naturally commanding screen presence works wonderfully here. He immerses himself in the role; there is no trace of the 'What have I gotten myself into?' flavour to his performance. And this serves to make his character all the more believable.

And Robert A. Silverman (credited as Robert Silverman) also appears as the unpleasantly afflicted Jan Hartog; Silverman can be seen in another Cronenberg classic, 'Scanners', which arrived two years after 'The Brood'.

For fans of horror, 'The Brood' is highly recommended viewing. To anyone else, images of a maniacal midget with a meat mallet 'tenderising' a woman to death, and another woman licking lovingly at her own afterbirth, may cause offence. For some reason.

strong early effort from Cronenberg

[Jonny_Numb · 7/10 · 22 April 2003]

David Cronenberg has always possessed a flair for unique and disturbing visions infused with the trimmings of a genre that can be best referred to as "biohorror." "The Brood," his tale of hideous mutant children who do the bidding of mentally disturbed Nola (Samantha Eggar) under the care of new-wave psychiatrist Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed, with a quietly sophisticated Peter Cushing sensibility), is buffered by fine performances that veer away from camp. In a way, one of Cronenberg's achievements is writing such outlandish material and making it entirely convincing and visceral, as opposed to merely settling on B-movie cheesiness, which I admire. As is the case with most Cronenberg films, here 'reality' is made the most atypical place where man can reside, and the clever script is always one careful step ahead of the audience.

7/10

David Cronenberg's masterpiece of grueling horror!

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 10/10 · 29 November 2002]

"The Brood" is one of the best horror movies ever made.Oliver Reed is really memorable as a Dr Hal Raglan who preaches the radical therapy of psychoplasmics which encourages patient's bodies to manifest their suppressed angers.The script is very intelligent,and there are several really creepy scenes.The gore is pretty mild-the scene where Samantha Eggar opens her gown to reveal the sores and baby sac attached to her body and then proceeds to bite into the sack and lick the bloody afterbirth off the baby,is actually the most disgusting bit!All in all if you haven't checked this one yet,try to find it!Higly recommended.10 out of 10!

Brilliant David Cronenberg horror film...

[MovieGuy01 · 7/10 · 6 October 2009]

I really enjoyed David Cronenberg's film called The Brood. It is about a woman who is being cared for by an eccentric psychologist called Dr. Raglan(Oliver Reed). Who uses theatrical techniques to breach the psychological blocks in his patients. When their six year old daughter comes back from a visit with her mother and is covered with bruises the father Frank Carveth attempts to stop his his wife from seeing their daughter. But the psychologist Dr. Raskin will not stop his wife from seeing the girl. whilst this is happening his daughter's teacher is is attacked by two strange looking deformed children. Her father starts to believe that it is to do with Dr. Rankin and a psychotherapy cult which he may have something to do with it. This film was quite disturbing at times. I thought that Oliver Reed played a very good part in the film.

The Dwarfs of Wrath...

[Coventry · 9/10 · 23 December 2005]

Another brilliant early David Cronenberg horror film, subtly stuffed with sexual obsessions and social criticism as it was also the case in "Shivers" and "Rabid", only the idea of this film is even more original and the tension is more overwhelming. "The Brood" quite often is a genuinely terrifying horror-highlight with grueling special effects as well as truly disturbing social themes. Cronenberg's own and intelligently written script once again focuses on humans' defining "inner-evil" (it's his hobby-horse) and blends real-life issues like child abuse and psychiatric patients with adorable low-budget horror topics such as mad scientists and eerie mutant killers. Nola Carveth is one of sinister Dr. Hal Raglan's "Psychoplasmics" patients that unleash their hatred through physical manifestations, like rashes or tumors. But Nola is an extreme case so her outbursts are also far more extreme than the other patients and she produces malicious dwarfs that kill everyone who comes near her husband and 5-year-old daughter Candy. The premise of "The Brood" sounds absurd and incredibly far-fetched but, believe me, it's alarmingly convincing and scary. Roger Ebert was wrong (again) when he claimed this is a boring waste of time. The guy simply doesn't know horror! The last 15 minutes are effectively nauseating, perhaps a little too controversial for some people, and the evil children are petrifying. What is it with little people that makes them so uncanny? "The Brood" is less gore than Cronenberg's previous two films (the aforementioned "Shivers" and Rabid") but the killings are nevertheless nasty and that one sequence inside the kindergarten classroom is more than enough to skyrocket the shock-value of this film. Horror/exploitation veteran Oliver Reed is sublime as the overly ambitious Dr. Raglan. Excellent stuff, David Cronenberg was (and still is) a genius filmmaker!

Sons of Rage

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 20 January 2015]

The unconventional psychotherapist Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) uses a unique technique developed by him to expose the repressed feelings of his patients. Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) brings his daughter Candice (Cindy Hinds) home after spending the weekend visiting his ex-wife Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar) that is interned in Dr. Raglan's Somafree Institute. He finds bruises on Candice's body and he tells Dr. Raglan that he will not bring Candice to visit Nola anymore. Meanwhile Dr. Raglan learns that Nola was abused by her mother and not protected by her father when she was young.

Frank leaves Candice with his mother-in-law Juliana Kelly (Nuala Fitzgerald) to work, but she is attacked by a dwarf-like creature and brutally murdered. Her ex-husband Barton Kelly (Henry Beckman) comes to town for the funeral, but he is murdered by the same creature. However Frank kills the creature and the autopsy shows that it is not a human offspring. Then Candice's teacher Ruth Mayer (Susan Hogan) has an argument by phone with Nola and she is murdered in front of her class by two creatures that abduct Candice. Frank heads to Somafree and discovers the secret of the deformed children.

"The Brood" is among the best horror movies by David Cronenberg. The plot is very well constructed and the gruesome conclusion is disturbing. The idea of Nola licking the fetus was conceived by Samantha Eggar and censored by censors in Canada, United States and United Kingdom. However the Brazilian DVD presents the uncensored version at least of this scene. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Filhos do Medo" ("The Sons of the Fear")

Not as good as I had hoped...

[julito32 · 5/10 · 27 April 2008]

Huge Cronenberg fan, but I gotta ask if i'm not as "disturbed" by this movie as everyone else, what does that say about me? I gotta be real, it was pretty boring. Then when it became "Cronenberg-ish" toward the end, it was sort of too late for me. 10 minutes do not a make a movie, and it was pretty hard for me to stay interested through most of it. The famous scene at the end just doesn't make up for it, sorry. Also it seems people defend it because of the fact that this story mirrored what he was going through in his personal life at the time and is sort of a metaphor with what he went through with his wife. As a movie watcher, I should not care nor have to know about that going into the movie, because it alters your perception of what to expect.

Contains one of the most memorable scenes in film history!

[Vancity_Film_Fanatic · 9/10 · 23 January 2005]

David Cronenberg's "The Brood" is both frightening and shocking. A tale of psychological horror guaranteed to make even the most jaded horror fan recoil in disbelief. The plot in a nutshell - In the care of an eccentric therapist (Oliver Reed), a woman (Samantha Eggar) undergoes an experimental form of anger management; while parallel to her treatment are a serious of bizarre and questionable murders. At the heart of the story is her husband (Art Hindle), who is in desperate search of the truth behind the strange goings on. The film is especially visually appealing; with perfectly framed scenes, cold & stark cinematography, and classy looking 70's costume design. The special effects though minimal throughout the film, are both amazing and disturbing. Cronenberg masterfully stages the murders in a thrillingly suspenseful and brutally violent manner, effectively balancing the terror between what is seen and not seen. It is questionable if filmmakers in today's world would be bold enough to make this film. The eerie musical score by (now veteran) Howard Shore creates an extra degree of tension to the unfolding events. The performances are all convincing, and definitely above par for a horror movie. With a shocking final twist; this movie is not to be missed, a highly recommended 9/10!

The Shape of Rage

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 27 December 2022]

David Cronenberg plainly still carried a lot of baggage about the opposite sex when he embarked on his final film of the seventies. Described as "ludicrous" by David Shipman and designated a 'BOMB!' by Leonard Martin, which makes it sound a lot more fun it actually proves to be. A large cast never really mesh as they just mill about and talk and talk before coming to gory ends committed by ugly little trolls in bright red anoraks. Oliver Reed somehow keeps a straight face as a seriously crazy psychiatrist while it's fun to hear Samantha Eggar talking like a little girl under the influence of regression therapy.

Attack of the pip-squeak killers

[p-stepien · 2/10 · 25 September 2012]

Dr. Hag Raglan (Oliver Reed) offers an eccentric and controversial new psychological therapy, which engages the body into healing the mind. When Frank Carveth's (Art Hindle) daughter Candice (Cindy Hinds) returns home from visiting her institutionalised mother Nola (Candice Carveth) with scratches and bruises, the father attempts his best to avoid further visitations to the institute hideaway. After Frank attempts to gain evidence of harmful methods used by the psychologist, a series of brutal murders start occurring...

Revisiting the theme of new flesh (brought about by psychological forcing) Cronenberg's body horror "The Brood" is probably his most B-class movie rife with borderline campy performances, laughable monsters and a witty, if hyperbolically idiotic premise. After a slow and faltering build-up plodding to the finale with little interest the ultimate vision is still unique and disturbingly brilliant, but as a pure movie experience several ideas can't overcome the overall crudeness of this effort. Possibly Cronenberg's weakest outing, but still worth watching as part of the Cronenberg canon to fully grasp the specificity of his fascination with the duality of the body and the mind, as well as with the fascinating human phobias regarding his own flesh. The movie also features typically Cronenberg frigid characters, somewhat detached from emotion and increasingly troubled as a result of this disconnect.

"The Brood" introduces several themes regarding motherhood and the role of the father, while also directing some badly focused personal vendetta at females (portrayed here are full of anger and destructive intent). Nonetheless these aren't as deep or thoughtful as needed, whilst the overall B-quality horror feel forgives anyone wanting to avoid any deeper analysis into the subject matter.

A great, under-appreciated horror classic!

[Skip McCoy · 17 June 2000]

One of Cronenberg's best films! It has some moments that will stick with you for a while. When the brood first appears and the beatings begin, I was not only disturbed by them, but the way that their faces look was burned onto my brain. I once read that Cronenberg calls this film his KRAMER VS. KRAMER. I think that's very interesting. He's taken the pain that he went through in his own life and manifested it in the physical form of these creatures. I find this kind of creativity to be associated only with some of the more visionary contemporary filmmakers. Cronenberg is that, there is no question. Performances by the late great Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle are perfect for the film. It is scary and disturbing and should be seen by all horror film fans. I find it to be a sadly neglected classic.

Shocking, chilling, and semi-autobiographical..."The Brood" is signature Cronenberg biohorror

[Mulliga · 7/10 · 2 November 2003]

If you haven't seen "The Brood," you should stop reading this and watch the movie; don't let me or anyone else spoil it for you.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS -----------------------------------

The great strength of "The Brood" is its pacing. For much of the first part of the movie before the first murder, it seems like a wrenching divorce drama with some psychology thrown in. You don't get the trademark biohorror grue of Cronenberg until much later on, and I for one think this restrained approach pays off.

It's certainly not the best Cronenberg has done (hell, I liked eXistenZ a little better), but it's very personal and very well executed. The characters are all a little two-dimensional, but Cronenberg movies are always about an idea more than about characters. Here we have the themes of divorce, child abuse, and alcoholism explored via a horror movie.

The standard "jump" scares of the horror genre are here, and they're at least as good as any "mainstream" flick coming out of theaters today. The elements of suspense are more abundant, as evident in the buildup to both the school teacher's murder and the death of Raglan.

All in all, "The Brood" is a strong early example of the path Cronenberg would perfect in movies like "The Fly."

7/10, 8/10 if you like Cronenberg

Boring early on but there is a huge pay-off.

[veganflimgeek · 7/10 · 26 November 2004]

Sometimes writers and directors just have to be given a chance to be boring. Some stories just can not give you the goods from beginning to end. The brood is a film that cannot put all the cards on the table right away. Cronenberg is as always exploring issues within the horror format that are usually ignored for simple baseless gore. While the plot is not going to make a lick of sense to someone without a dark imagination it is very inventive.

I can't say for sure but serious horror fans may note that the later half of this film could easily stand along many the stories in Clive Barker's books of blood. Cronenberg I think can take some credit in inspiring later works from the horror prince who would explore a lot of these issues with a little more supernatural zeal. Isn't great that Cronenberg played a serial killer for Barker in Nightbreed!

The film is slow out of the gates for sure but Oliver Reed puts in a strange and compelling performance as the weird doctor. Samatha Eggar was very brave in her performce as the brood's disturbed mother. While some of the scenes with the brood children alone in the world look silly like everything else in the film there is a pay-off in the last half hour.

If you give up early on this film you will really miss out because the last half hour is where cronenberg packs everything in. Truly vile gore, full on madness of characters and spine chilling terror for the daughter.

For serious horror fans only.

My Favorite Cronenberg Film...

[EVOL666 · 9/10 · 10 May 2006]

Many rank VIDEODROME as Cronenberg's greatest film, and although I agree that it is a great film - I personally enjoy THE BROOD more than any of his other entries. It's creepy in it's build-up, with an ending that is completely over-the-top and unexpected...

The story is pretty in-depth but basically is about a couple, where the wife is involved in some sort of experimental psychotherapy from a shady therapist to deal with anger issues. At the same time a group of dwarfish looking freaks is causing a rash of murders and the woman's husband and their child are caught in the middle. It gradually becomes made known that the wife is at the "center" of the issue, until all is made known in the "shocking" conclusion...

Cronenberg continues with his common themes of transformation, mutation, and body-horror in THE BROOD, and is personally my favorite example - though films like RABID, SHIVERS, VIDEODROME, and several others are close runners-up, as I'm a fan of most of Cronenberg's work in general. A great film with some truly unnerving and shocking sequences...Definitely a "must-see"...9/10

They're here and they're very angry....

[leorican · 7/10 · 4 October 2005]

OK first I have to say, I watched this movie thinking how bizarre thanks in part to Oliver Reed's sometimes campy and in my opinion sometimes over the top performance as a strange doctor of mental health helping patients deal with anger, and childhood abuse. There are moments of unintentional humor most notably is a headline in a news article that appears midway in the movie when whats behind some of the murders occurring is brought to light...no spoilers here...but the moment appears as Art Hindle, who portrays Samantha Eggar's estranged husband, is drinking some coffee and reading the paper. It was just so out there in a way that it made me laugh....This is not to say this movie isn't downright scary. Basic plot is Samantha Eggar is this loony tunes who may or may not be abusing her young daughter and is in therapy. As she lets out her pent up anger from childhood and adulthood in sessions with Reed, playing her doctor, these little mutant children dish out murderous and gruesome vengeance on her enemies. Just why these little monsters are on a killing spree and where they come from is at the top of horror heights and be assured the last 15 minutes of this flick is pretty damn scary and disturbing as father, daughter, and doctor all face mother's rage and a little something else. Lets just say "Alien" ain't got nothing on Samantha Eggar. Creep-out city.....rent this and watch it in the dark....and ignore the noise coming from your kitchen...

Terrific little horror film

[BroadswordCallinDannyBoy · 8/10 · 1 September 2005]

A great early film from the one and only, "Baron of Blood."

A husband is going through a hard time in his life when he must care for his daughter after his wife was sent away to a mental institution. The doctor running the institution is respected in his field, but controversial in his methods and there is a smell of something foul in the air. Things only get worse for the husband when his in-laws are killed some strange little monsters and his daughter winds up with scars after visiting her mother in the hospital. Added to that the doctor refuses to talk about the man's wife and he seems to treat her as somewhat of a prized patient giving her special care. He goes, on his own to investigate and discovers the horror behind everything that happened... The Brood.

The story is told in a very classical sense of the word horror, almost like Poe with a slow beginning, a sense of doubt and confusion in the middle, and a shocker and a kicker of an ending. And, as all good horror, there is some great visceral metaphor mixed in to the story. With this film David Cronenberg put himself on the road to the ranks of the horror film-making elite. 8/10

Rated R: violence, gore, and some profanity

brutal bit of pulp

[Movie_Man 500 · 7/10 · 26 August 2005]

This has to be a cult classic by now; it's so twisted and effectively disturbing. Real blunt violence too, that makes you inhale and wince: the work of a strong director. Baby-making jealousy gone awry. One of the few times Oliver Reed has been bearable on screen. He's a campy presence here, as always. Playing his typical hammy authority figure. I doubt he could ever pull off a nice father role, showing him tossing the football in the back yard... The usual Cronenberg trademarks are all present; body distortion, internal rage and gross blood letting, etc... Decidingly the child actors in the picture probably required therapy after filming. Scarier than both a Grimms fairy tale and a Michael Jackson video

Don't Waste an Hour and a Half of Your Life Watching This One!

[ccunning-73587 · 1/10 · 7 May 2019]

A really sad attempt to make a movie (sic). 90% just plain boring. Disjointed attempts to build drama and suspense failed miserably. Why does hollywood put out this kind of trash? A really sick shrink makes all his 'patients' even sicker. There is no continuity throughout the movie on which to build a plot. The last eight minutes reveals that the wife, apparently abused by her mother and not protected by her father, can produce human mutants by some weird kind of hermaphroditic process. They are all about the same age so she must be able to spit them out at will. These 'child' mutants kill anyone she dislikes so bye-bye mom and dad and another woman she mistakenly believes is competition for her husband. No connectivity. In the end the weirded out daughter has a look in the last scene that opens the 'sequel' door. Our only hope is that this movie is so-o-o bad that no one will attempt to make a sequel.

Creepy, cold and clinical classic from David Cronenberg

[Captain_Couth · 10/10 · 24 September 2004]

The Brood (1979) was a film made by the master of psychobabble clinical horror David Cronenberg. He's the master of this genre, one that he created during the 70's. A genre that's in a class all by itself. The Brood is another one of his cinematic works that delivers the goods. He creates a thinking man's scare film. Like most of his other works, Cronenberg uses psychosis and the medical community to base a terror that only man can create.

Art Hindle stars as a man who's wife (Samantha Egger) is having a multitude of emotional problems. Whilst under the care of a mad genius psychiatrist (Brilliantly portrayed by Oliver Reed who shows a lot of restraint) using a radical form of therapy for his patients. Like all mad geniuses, not everything goes according to plan (or does it). The doctor creates something in his star patient that he ultimately regrets. It has to be seen to be believed!

One weird film. I enjoyed this one very much. What I like about Cronenberg is that he rarely creates truly good or bad characters (well the films that he has completely control over). Everyone has a motive no matter if it's right or wrong. That's what I like about him, he makes you think!

The film was restored a couple of years ago on D.V.D. It's the original uncut version and it is even creepier than the U.S. theatrical release. Check it out!

good stuff...

Highly recommended, but not for everyone.

The Brood

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 5 June 2023]

Oliver Reed plays the sophisticated, secretive psychologist "Raglan" who is treating "Nola" (Samantha Eggar), the wife of "Frank" (Art Hindle). His techniques are either cutting edge or reckless, depending on your point of view - and his peers take the latter view, so he carries out much of his work in a remote facility that appears little better than a glorified cabin. When his young daughter returns from a visit to her mother, "Frank" notices some rather nasty bruises on her back. Concerned, he forbids his daughter from returning, but when firstly his mother, then his father are brutally killed by being beaten to death, he begins to suspect all is not right with "Raglan" and his practices. Now, we are given clues far earlier than "Frank", so I found there to be little jeopardy with the developing plot. David Cronenberg's story, here, is not one of his more complex, or finest for the matter and the ending made me laugh. It isn't that it is nonsense, it's just that it lacks any sense of peril or horror. The Howard Shore score tries hard to create a sense of fear, but we all know (or can easily guess) too much, too early in the proceedings for it to really build-up a head of steam, with the effects - especially at the end being more comical than terrifying. Much more could have been made of the meta-physics themes that underpinned the story, but as it is - it's just a bit half-baked.

Time has not been kind to this movie

[bensonmum2 · 4/10 · 24 August 2005]

• There was a time when I thought that The Brood was one of the more intelligent horror movies I had seen. I recently re-watched the movie for the first time in a couple of decades and I now have trouble seeing it in the same light. I'm no expert in psychology, but all the psycho-mumbo-jumbo sounds like a big bunch of hooey. Pyshcoplasmics? Please! The word is thrown around as if everyone knows what it's all about - never mind that it's all made up. And the whole concept that emotions can create something powerful enough to kill just doesn't cut it for me in The Brood. Again, I say Please! It's all an excuse to build to the one disturbing scene in the third act. (I'll admit that this scene does present an image that is all but impossible to erase from your memory.)

• The acting in The Brood doesn't do much for me either. I hate to pick on a little girl, but the one in this movie is awful. Oliver Reed gives one of his worst performances that I've seen. Part of the problem with Reed in The Brood is that he is terribly miscast. I never once bought his psychiatrist routine. And don't get me started on Samantha Eggar. She's totally unbelievable as far as I'm concerned.

• The supposed scares are anything but. While there are some decent jump scares the first time we meet the midget killers, it soon becomes apparent that this is the only way to make them seem frightening at all. On their own, the little people simply are not threatening. Notice how many of these things it takes to effectively take down a full-grown man without the advantage of surprise. I got the impression that had Reed or another actor moved too quickly or forcefully, the tiny terrors would have been sent flying.

• So why haven't I rated The Brood any lower? While there are a few moments throughout that held my interest, the one extremely disturbing I eluded to earlier is so well done and so effective that it's worth a point or two on its own.