The BroodRage can manifest in numerous ways. It might appear as a cold, emotional detachment or a violently destructive act of aggression. Rage is spread among those exposed to its expression, and the trauma that follows can itself cause emotional distress--not unlike contracting a disease. Rage can take a physical toll, resulting in anything from self-inflicted harm or brutality to inward developments, like ulcers or more. David Cronenberg's The Brood is one of many films in the oeuvre of the master of "body horror". Here, the film explores the idea of rage as a cancerous outgrowth, and even an extension of the afflicted's twisted psyche.
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Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) is the leading proponent of a revolutionary brand of psychotherapy called "psychoplasmics", which proves to be a literal co-mingling of mind and matter. His technique involves adopting the personae of those who provoke rage in his patients, presumably in the attempt to draw them out of their repression of rage, so that they may pass through into wellness. His patients develop physical welts--and in some cases more--as a result of his treatments, a side effect which is meant to represent how the body is affected by the state of mind. Raglan's favorite patient is secreted away for exclusive treatment; Nola (Samantha Eggar) and her treatment become suspect when her daughter, Candice (Cindy Hinds) returns home with her father, Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) covered in the tell-tale marks of abuse. While Frank attempts to discover a way to claim sole custody in the face of Nola's rage, Nola's sessions with Hal are marked by her fury against her parents. She recalls how her mother, Juliana Kelly (Nuala Fitzgerald) was violently abusive to her--a trait which has stained her psyche--as her father, Barton (Harry Beckman) turned a blind eye. Her therapy also coincides with a series of violent murders perpetrated by a small, childlike figure, later discovered to be something appearing human, but missing key physical attributes--even things as innocuous as a belly button, implying that it was never born. Raglan keeps everyone away from Nola, repeating like a broken record that she is undergoing a critical stage of her treatment. His seemingly obsessive dominance over her and refusal to allow her contact with others is suspicious to Frank, who attempts to recruit others to file a suit against the experimental physician and author of his book on psychoplasmics, "The Shape of Rage". Art's contact with a well-meaning but dubious former patient of Raglan's--Jan Hartog (Robert A. Silverman)--makes him wonder if psychoplasmics can truly cause cancer, or if it is just an unfortunate coincidence. Candy's kindergarten teacher, Ruth Mayer (Susan Hogan) becomes a point of contention for Nola, who happens to be on the receiving end of Nola's verbal wrath after Ruth has the misfortune of answering Art's house phone while watching Candy one evening. This sparks an inferno of jealous rage in Nola, and before long, Ruth's fate is sealed in a bold and shocking scene of violence in her very classroom at the hands of the childlike monsters.
The Brood was David Cronenberg's first work alongside composer Howard Shore; the two would go on to work on several other films later. His haunting, ambient score looms with tension, and is poured into the ears like liquid dread, making settings like a kitchen or playground suddenly loaded with the potential for harrowing destruction. The dwarfish killers connected psychically to Nola in winter coats remind me of the red raincoat-garbed figure from Nicholas Roeg's stylish thriller, Don't Look Now; both films also deal with unassuming killers and skepticism for psychic phenomenon. Cronenberg is no stranger to stories where the body is transformed by the will of the mind--see Videodrome, Scanners, eXistenZ, etc. The Brood presents psychological trauma as physiological, and also expands into the realm of motherhood. Nola's pain comes from her upbringing, and abuse suffered by her mother; she in turn reacts to stress with abuse...even if we never see her do it, it is evident by the literal manifestations of her rage. Her anger is channeled through the act of creation, wherein she creates the instruments of her anger as children which bear an eerie similarity to her own daughter, Candy. If The Brood were attempting to make a claim that psychoplasmics is a viable means of therapy, it does an especially good job at portraying Raglan as an irresponsible practitioner of it. He maintains an air of professionalism--his voice only changes in cadence when "in character"--but it becomes clear that he is aware of the power Nola possesses, and is too weak to stop it before it gets out of hand. Oliver Reed portrays a character who is ambiguous and shifty, but never quite veers too far into the realm of cackling mad scientist. He is concerned about the welfare of Candy when it becomes clear that she is in danger, but should have been more cautious and contemplated the ramifications of his practice on his guinea pigs like Nola. But The Brood is not wholly critical of psychoanalysis; actually, an important scene earlier between Frank and a child psychologist at the police station following Candy's witnessing of a murder talks about how important it is for Candy to deal with her trauma by talking about it with her father, lest it manifest in another way later in life. This is the key moral of The Brood; the violence we inflict upon one another leaves a mark deeper than a bruise, and must be addressed before it becomes a poisonous cancer, infecting and crippling us.
Recommended for: Fans of a tense and brutal horror film which provokes the mind and body, appropriately enough. Ostensibly about psychotherapy and the dangers of is misapplication, it also deals more heavily with the rage we carry around and how it can damage those around us in varied ways.
The Brood was David Cronenberg's first work alongside composer Howard Shore; the two would go on to work on several other films later. His haunting, ambient score looms with tension, and is poured into the ears like liquid dread, making settings like a kitchen or playground suddenly loaded with the potential for harrowing destruction. The dwarfish killers connected psychically to Nola in winter coats remind me of the red raincoat-garbed figure from Nicholas Roeg's stylish thriller, Don't Look Now; both films also deal with unassuming killers and skepticism for psychic phenomenon. Cronenberg is no stranger to stories where the body is transformed by the will of the mind--see Videodrome, Scanners, eXistenZ, etc. The Brood presents psychological trauma as physiological, and also expands into the realm of motherhood. Nola's pain comes from her upbringing, and abuse suffered by her mother; she in turn reacts to stress with abuse...even if we never see her do it, it is evident by the literal manifestations of her rage. Her anger is channeled through the act of creation, wherein she creates the instruments of her anger as children which bear an eerie similarity to her own daughter, Candy. If The Brood were attempting to make a claim that psychoplasmics is a viable means of therapy, it does an especially good job at portraying Raglan as an irresponsible practitioner of it. He maintains an air of professionalism--his voice only changes in cadence when "in character"--but it becomes clear that he is aware of the power Nola possesses, and is too weak to stop it before it gets out of hand. Oliver Reed portrays a character who is ambiguous and shifty, but never quite veers too far into the realm of cackling mad scientist. He is concerned about the welfare of Candy when it becomes clear that she is in danger, but should have been more cautious and contemplated the ramifications of his practice on his guinea pigs like Nola. But The Brood is not wholly critical of psychoanalysis; actually, an important scene earlier between Frank and a child psychologist at the police station following Candy's witnessing of a murder talks about how important it is for Candy to deal with her trauma by talking about it with her father, lest it manifest in another way later in life. This is the key moral of The Brood; the violence we inflict upon one another leaves a mark deeper than a bruise, and must be addressed before it becomes a poisonous cancer, infecting and crippling us.
Recommended for: Fans of a tense and brutal horror film which provokes the mind and body, appropriately enough. Ostensibly about psychotherapy and the dangers of is misapplication, it also deals more heavily with the rage we carry around and how it can damage those around us in varied ways.