The Brood is one of those iconic classic horror films that I have never gotten around to watching. Written and directed by David Cronenberg (The Fly, Scanners) it features some of his concepts he is well known for, in this case body horror. While rough around the edges, this stood out due to its pint sized killers.
After Frank (Art Hindle - The Void) discovers bruises on his young daughter's back (Candice played by Cindy Hinds - The Dead Zone) he becomes determined that she isn't to visit her mentally ill mother, Nola (Samantha Eggar - Hercules animated film) any more. Nola is a patient of Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed - Oliver!, Gladiator) whose controversial scientific methods has resulted in the ability for his patients mental illness to physically appear on their bodies as unnatural growths. With Nola he has achieved something unexpected when her paranoia and anger results in the arrival of deformed and evil children, who kill anyone who Nola believes to be a threat to her happiness.
Having known so much about this movie before watching it I really cannot tell if it is actually a twist that the deformed killers here come from Nola. I haven't included a spoiler warning as I felt that it was apparent, the first murder sequence is intercut with scenes of Nola in therapy with Dr. Hal, talking about how much she hates her mother, of course it is her mother who becomes the first victim. In my head I had gotten parts of this mixed up with The Changeling and so kept expecting moments that never came. For much of this I was wondering where the typical Cronenberg style horror had gone to. The psychological horror is here throughout, and by the end some of his body-horror has appeared, in a notable scene involving Nola. The effects were pretty good when it comes to the look of the mutant child and for the growths. The murders themselves at first glance might not seem as effective. The fact that the murderer is a child though makes these scenes more disturbing, especially one that takes place in front of a classroom full of young children!
There were some strong performances here, in particular Reed whose intense psychiatrist character stealed much of his scenes. Including a very odd, yet bizarrely captivating prologue in which the Dr. does a strange demonstration of his therapy with one of his patients on a stage. Hindle was fine as the protagonist, there wasn't that much to his character, Hinds was less interesting, the character looked a bit dazed and really didn't seem to have much emotion to her. Another stand out actor was Eggar, she may just be playing the part of a crazy person but there was zeal to the delivery of her lines that I appreciated. I felt the story could have been set out a little better, there seemed like a logic skip when Frank discovers the true nature of the child causing so much misery. It all leads to a thrilling blood soaked nightmare of a finale that was something to behold.
I am glad I finally got around to watching The Brood, but I can't say I thought it was a perfect film, especially where elements of the plot are concerned. A classic horror film from an iconic and legendary director, one that deserves a watch. The Brood can currently be viewed on Amazon Prime Video.
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