#114: The Brood

Release Date: May 25th, 1979

Format: Criterion Collection on Blu-ray

Written by: David Cronenberg

Directed by: David Cronenberg

4 Stars

David Cronenberg’s The Brood seems to me to be the Canadian cousin of David Lynch’s Eraserhead. If Lynch’s nightmarish film metaphorically explores the male fear of having a child, Cronenberg’s nightmarish film metaphorically explores the male fear of sharing a child with a partner that you no longer want to be with. 

To put it more bluntly, I think Cronenberg’s movie is an allegory for what it’s like to date a crazy broad. 

The symbolism works well, and like all Cronenberg movies that I’ve seen, I appreciate his complete disregard for compromising his vision. This is a film that features demonic children in snowsuits killing elderly people in their home, an elementary school teacher pummeled to death with mallets in front of her students, and a horrific birthing scene in which the mother licks blood from her newly born infant. 

It’s some weird, wild stuff. I loved it.

But underneath the graphic imagery, this is a movie that emanates from the fragility of the male subconscious. It’s a movie that’s fearful of powerful women (unstable or not). It’s a movie that’s afraid of emotional vulnerability. It’s a movie that’s afraid of psychiatry. It’s a movie about fear.

So, come to The Brood for the Canadian demon children, but stay for Cronenberg’s uncompromising vision and provoking subtext.