The Brood

Frank Carveth is afraid: afraid for his ex-wife's sanity, afraid for the effects of her influence on their six-year-old daughter Ruth, afraid for his own life. When Ruth's teacher is attacked by two deformed children in her kindergarten class, he takes the initiative: he wants to find out what the connection is between a mod series, his ex-wife, a radical psychotherapy cult and the mysterious Dr Raskin. Carveth must uncover the true nature of the terrifying, dangerous, childlike creatures before he and his daughter become their victims. ‘The Brood’ is one of the most interesting films from David Cronenberg's early work. The dark, joyless and hopeless horror film is calmly staged, excellently acted and was not stingy with shock and disgust scenes at the time. Even if the effects seem outdated from today's perspective, the film still has a bleak atmosphere that is hard to escape. According to Cronenberg himself, ‘The Brood’ is his most autobiographical film. The well-known film critic Roger Ebert hated the film at the time and wrote: ‘Disgusting in ways that are not entertaining. Are there really people who want to see reprehensible trash like this? I guess so.’ Ebert later became a great admirer of Cronenberg.