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10
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
David
Cronenberg's films are probably an acquired taste.
I know this because so many people speak about
his movies with puzzled looks on their faces,
often saying things like "That's disgusting" or
"That's weird!" The one Cronenberg film that a
general audience will know is his brilliant 1986
remake of The Fly
—
and 'disgusting' and 'weird' certainly fit. But
few remember the subtle, restrained film he'd
made right before, called The
Dead Zone. While the Stephen King-penned
story of a man able to see the future might still
be labeled weird, it's definitely not disgusting
or grotesque, and is listed as one of the best
horror films of the 1980s by most genre experts.
Personally, I feel Cronenberg is one of the best
adapters of prose to the big screen working today,
able to keep from forcing his own quirks into
a film by virtue of always choosing stories that
are well aligned to his sensibilities in the first
place. That being said, I still prefer Cronenberg's
original screenplays to his adaptations. The movies
that spring from his twisted mind always have
a sense of existing on an altered or parallel
world very close to our own but with enough differences
to make it seem odd, alien and unnerving. His
ability to find the beauty in horror and the horror
in beauty is unique in English language genre
movies, with only Frenchman Jean Rollin evoking
a similar sense of unreal 'otherness'. While Cronenberg
has become a better filmmaker over the years he
had all the elements of his cinematic style in
place from the beginning. A filmmaker's early
works are often a testing ground for their later,
more accomplished achievements but Cronenberg's
first movies show a talent in full flower, making
strides toward bigger things from the beginning.
The Brood was his
third full-length film; his recurring themes of
'body horror' and veiled alienation are central
to the story. It's a disturbing movie that, once
seen, stays with you for years. No one will ever
deem Cronenberg's first few movies his best, but
they're still good films that bear repeat viewing.
Frank Carveth (Art Hindle)
is going through a tough time with his family.
His wife Nola (Samantha Eggar) recently had a
nervous breakdown and is in deep therapy at an
experimental private clinic. Frank isn't allowed
to see Nola during her therapy but their young
daughter Cindy is encouraged to visit on weekends.
The clinic she's staying in, the Somafree Institute,
is run by brilliant but controversial psychotherapist
Dr. Hal Ragland (Oliver Reed - Curse
of the Werewolf, Revolver).
The doctor's breakthrough therapy is a form of
psychodrama in which Ragland acts out the parts
of various people in the patient's life, so that
they may be confronted and dealt with. Ragland
calls his unorthodox therapy technique "Psychoplasmics";
it seems to make emotional problems manifest themselves
physically on the patient's body. In a
staged demonstration we see Ragland help a man
through a horrible childhood memory that results
in the subject's flesh breaking out in red welts.
Frank has his doubts about Somafree's methods
but goes along with Nora's wishes until he finds
scratches and bruises on Cindy's back after one
of her weekend visits. He's on the verge of taking
legal action to keep Cindy from her mother when
an odd dwarf-like creature appears in Nora's mother's
house and kills her. An attack on Nora's father
by the same type of creature then follows this
horrible incident. Trying to discover if his wife
is hurting their daughter, Frank starts talking
to ex-patients of Ragland. He begins to fear that
something has gone very wrong with his wife's
therapy. After getting nowhere questioning the
doctor, he decides to take matters into his own
hands.
I'll never forget reading the
misleading description of The
Brood in Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide
years ago. That book gave the film its lowest
rating, summing it up with a sentence that intimated
that this was one of the most despicable movies
ever made. I, of course, had to see it. The
Brood remains a fascinating movie two decades
later. It demonstrates very well what I love about
Cronenberg's work. He is very good at setting
mood and allowing the viewers to slowly immerse
themselves in the story. The otherworldliness
in his films filters through everything, so that
the more carefully you slide into the tone the
better the third act feels when it kicks into
high gear. It's this type of ramping up that so
many filmmakers today have abandoned in the drive
to grab audiences attention in the first 30 seconds
so they won't move on to something else. Sadly,
it's Cronenberg's very strengths as a storyteller
that will keep him from being a huge success.
His films require patience. Their very depth of
emotion works against their wide acceptance because
there is never a clearly defined way to feel about
his characters. Most viewers of this film will
expect Reed's Dr. Ragland to be the villain but
by the end he is a sympathetic character trying
as hard as possible to set things right. Also,
with Frank there comes a moment of flirtation
with his daughter's teacher that makes him a bit
less sympathetic in view of his wife's situation.
Cronenberg always carefully layers his characters
to make them more than just plot devices, and
that's becoming fairly rare these days. Or maybe
it was always rare and I just never noticed.
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MGM's
DVD of The Brood is
a welcome addition to my collection. It improves
greatly on the old VHS in both picture and sound
quality, which is no shock. The image is letterboxed
at 1.85:1 (enhanced for 16X9 TVs), looking perfectly
framed. The print isn't flawless, however, so there
are some moments where the film shows its age but
I'm very happy with the presentation. The disc retains
the original mono soundtrack in English along with
optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.
The soundtrack is good, and although some might
wish for a newly mixed 5.1 track I'll always prefer
the simple beauty of the way it was originally recorded.
The only bad news is that the
only extra included is the theatrical trailer. After
listening to Mr. Cronenberg's excellent commentary
tracks for eXistenZ
and Spider I'd hoped
to get his insights into this film. But I guess
that'll have to wait. I'm not sure this is the film
to introduce newcomers to Cronenberg, but overall
it's a great disc and you can't beat the price.
11/05/03 |
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