The Brood

The Brood Poster BUY THE DVD Poster Art Press Kit Fun Facts File:The brood 3 1979.jpg File:The brood 4 1979.jpg

Also Known As

• Chromosome 3
• Cromosoma 3
• David Cronenberg's The Brood (Canada: English title)
• Die Brut (Germany)
• La Clinique de la terreur (Canada: French title)

Taglines

• The Ultimate Experience Of Inner Terror

• They're Waiting... For You!

Main Details

• Released in 1979

• Color

• Aspect Ratio: (1.85:1)

• Runtime: 92 min

• Rated: R

• Production Co: Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC) | Elgin International Films Ltd. | Mutual Productions Ltd. | Victor Solnicki Productions

• Distribution Co: New World-Mutual (1979) (Canada) (theatrical) | New World Pictures (1979) (USA) (theatrical)

Cast and Crew

• Directed by David Cronenberg

• Written by David Cronenberg

• Starring: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Henry Beckman, Nuala Fitzgerald, Cindy Hinds, Susan Hogan, Gary McKeehan, Michael Magee, Robert A. Silverman, Joseph Shaw, Larry Solway, Reiner Schwartz, Felix Silla, John Ferguson

• Produced by Pierre David, Claude Héroux, Victor Solnicki

• Original Music by Howard Shore

• Cinematography by Mark Irwin (Director of photography)

• Film Editing by Alan Collins

Film Review

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An interesting blend of the classic creature feature with a paranoid social satire, The Brood shrewdly hides a lingering fear of psychological medicine beneath an eerie and disturbingly violent monster movie. What makes it stand apart is that it works so well on both accounts.

Fearing for the safety of his young daughter, Frank Carveth tries to keep her from visiting her disturbed mother, Nola, who just so happens to be a current resident at the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics.

Led by Dr. Hal Raglan (played to the gills by the great Oliver Reed), patients at Somafree let their rage out through bizarre role-playing and intense emotional exercises. Unlike her peers, Nola's inner rage is not only coming to the surface verbally, but through procreation, spawning inhuman dwarves that act out the desires of her subconscious mind and kill those who tamper with her "healing process."

Much like the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, The Brood depicts the harm that can be caused by the unfettered human "id," and poses interesting questions concerning psychiatry and its effect on the mass consciousness.

Although this feature is quite early in director David Cronenberg's career, it keenly depicts his usual fascinations (physical deformity, mind overcoming the body or vice versa, the family unit) and takes what on paper looks like a sordid little tale and transforms it into intelligent, socially pertinent art.

Review by Mdeapo