The Brood

A depressing psychological aspect, a chilling mystery, bloody murders, a repulsive physiological deformation of the human body, a shock-therapy controversy. All wrapped up in the delicately intimate, gloomy package of Cronenberg’s genius. The Brood is his most intense horror movie. (08/28/2005)

Except for the finale, it's only a horror film at times (though it's in those moments that its intensity is massive). As I gradually become more familiar with Cronenberg's films, I am slowly beginning to see the "spiritual" in them, and I honestly prefer it to his favorite explicit nastiness, which perhaps some people find daring, untethered, original, and unconventional, but they are the reason I don’t enjoy Cronenberg that much). What I especially appreciate about The Brood is the thorough and impressive expertise (to write just "analysis" would be insufficient) of the originally pure mother who is separated from her child and must live in forced isolation and estrangement from her family. Remarkable, non-mainstream, distinctive, impressive. (01/03/2011)

Quality psychological horror by Cronenberg that stands out by its incredibly disturbing atmosphere. The first half is pretty chatty, but right when I was telling myself that this wouldn’t warrant an above-average rating, the film fully caught my attention and the ending is extremely tense. I will remember all those scenes with the child mutants for a long time (they look pretty good), but the most important thing is that they have such an unpleasant evil aura around them that they irradiate uncompromising rawness and tangible malice. Another thing worth praise is the fantastically escalating tension by the end. (03/18/2008)

The scene when a woman gives birth to another child is something so disgusting that it permanently stays in human memory. And it is the same when the young actress Candice is attacked by the puppies. I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of that young actress. Someone may feel nauseated by the movie, but its strength is not in visual disgust, but in the disgust of human psyche and what a person is capable of doing to achieve their interests, whatever they may be. (11/21/2013)

Cronenberg elevates this rather childish horror premise of mutant dwarves capable of murdering their victims with almost anything beyond the prized genre average of the 1970s with intense psychological pressure and a smartly plotted screenplay. Unfortunately, as good as it is to watch even after all these years, and the enigmatic figure of the formidable Oliver Reed (why didn't this guy break into the world of big screen movies?! ) perfectly combines a violent, typically Cronenbergian plane with intimate conversational depth, today it's impossible to shake the dust of obsolescence off the story and ignore the fact that little thin-lipped children aren't scary and don't fill the audience's experience nearly as much as the oppressive atmosphere built by Cronenberg, Shore and the cast deserves. 70% (07/22/2016)