The Brood

(David Cronenberg, Canada 1979, 92 min., 35mm)

Birth of Body Horror: Early Works of David Cronenberg. Something’s gone terribly wrong at the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics, where, through intense psychological role playing Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) has been encouraging troubled clients to manifest their repressed emotions and desires as fleshy, distinctly Cronenbergian excrescences that soon appear on their skin. The case of prized-patient Nola (Samantha Eggar), a troubled woman with monstrous mommy issues, however, has become particularly worrying: It appears Nola’s deep-seated rage has begun taking on unexpected—and homicidal—forms. Cronenberg, who had recently undergone a bruising divorce and custody battle, claimed that his shocking third feature was a more realistic Kramer vs. Kramer, a statement that didn’t help deflect criticism that his own film was similarly misogynistic. Other critics have taken a different stance, arguing that the film should be read as a cunning condemnation of the often-sexist psychotherapy narratives popular at the time of the film’s release—an anti–Ordinary People of sorts. Either way, this is one of Cronenberg’s most frightening and controversial works.