Well, it’s the spooky season once again. I’ve been gone for a while here, but that happens when you’re busy with life, work, play, and everything in between. I was trying to figure out who I should tackle next in this Season of (tries to do a Vincent Price improv) ... “This is Halloween!”, and I think I found one Canadian director who fits the bill: David Cronenberg, not “Cronemburg.” I kept wanting to add an “M” in his last name for some reason.
Now, my history with Cronenberg is sparse with me exploring more of his work recently. The first work was probably one of his best: the 1980’s remake of The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. I don’t know how Fox 54 out of Huntstville got away with playing that on a Saturday afternoon in the late 90’s, but I bet someone would’ve been surprised. I remember that they got quite a bit past the censors, and I think my folks were out for the day. It’s a classic horror film which is why it isn’t being discussed for now. I also remember that he directed an episode of Friday The 13th: the Series, aka Friday’s Curse. No, it isn’t connected to Jason Vorhees… I think. For my Star Trek family out there, he appeared on Star Trek Discovery as the mysterious Kovich.
I was going to look at just 4 films from each decade, but I looked at a few more and decided that this will be a 2-parter. First up is his original Crimes of the Future from 1970. It isn’t much of a horror but kinda is. Next up, it’s The Brood from 1979. The next film on the list will be Scanners from 1981. My last film on this post will be Videodrome from 1983.
Crimes of the Future (1970)
The original Crimes of the Future was one of Cronenberg’s first films and a bit of an art film that he shot at his college. The film is pretty much silent and narrated by Adrian Tripod (Ronald Mlodzik ), the head of a clinic called the House of Skin. In the short movie, Tripod lives in a dystopian future where a virus wipes out any woman past the age of puberty. He’s on the search for his mentor, Anton Rouge, the one behind this disaster. During his journey, he runs across a bunch of other men who are also pretty depraved and into all sorts of weirdness. He ultimately runs across a group of horrid men who want to restart the human race with a child… I’ll leave it at that.
“This is weird…,” I said in my Letterboxd review. You can honestly say this about all of Cronenburg’s work, but it really says it here. The original Crimes isn’t a horror movie as much as it is a sci-fi arthouse movie. Don’t expect any gore because it’s 1970 and probably shot on a budget of $100, but it does have this unsettling feel to it. The soundtrack, which is literally a bunch of sounds, also makes it unsettling and actually annoying as well.
A virus wiped out sexually mature women, so the men in this film have to express themselves in other ways. Tripod, our main lead and the only person speaking in the film, is a bit of a foot guy. Unfortunately, he runs across more depraved men in his journey. Nothing bad is shown unless you really don’t like looking at feet. If the story doesn’t weird you out, the rest of the movie will do that with his long lingering pauses where nothing is happening and the bag crinkling that’s used for the music. I can say that it’s shot well with Cronenburg trying his best to evoke something. Still, if you need something to put yourself to sleep, the original Crimes of the Future fits that bill… though I personally would find something else to put me to sleep on YouTube.
The Brood
I skipped his first two big screen movies for The Brood which was released in 1979. The movie is about a family going through a separation due to mental illness. Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) starts to get worried about the psychiatric treatment that his ex-wife, Nola (Samantha Eggars) is getting from the hands of Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed). It turns out that Dr. Raglan has developed a procedure that uses his patient’s hidden rage to manifest on a physical plane. Like there’s one patient who breaks out in big red splotches over his body when he’s angry. Frank really starts to get worried when his daughter, Cindy, comes home from Nola’s with bruises on her. While he fights to get custody of Cindy from Nola, a string of attacks and murders start to occur in their small town from these small people who look similar to Cindy.
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| This is as far as I will go with showing Nola. Seriously, it's a nasty scene. |
This was a fine movie overall. It plays as more of a family drama which does give it a slow burn, but when the horror comes, it doesn’t stop. The first scene gives you a taste as Raglan causes a patient to manifest these red sores on his skin by channeling his rage. All I can say is keep Bruce Banner away from this nut! Cronenberg pulled from his own family life when writing the Carveths, and that gave the film a bit of familiarity. You definitely feel for Frank, Cindy, and even Nola even though the cause of the horror is coming from her. That reveal of how she “makes” these dopplegangers is really horrid. Don’t look it up, y’all!
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| That girl sold the fear. |
The acting is good for the most part. You do get a bit of overreacting from some people like Nola and one other patient. The horror itself plays right out of a slasher at points with the mini-murderers going around and harming different people. As I said above, the movie can get a little slow at times. Also, the writing isn’t the best at times. I still had a hard time believing that the doctor and others didn’t get what was going on until the very end. Still, this is a decent horror flick.
Scanners
Scanners was released in 1981 and features a couple of familiar faces. In the movie, Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) is a homeless vagrant with psychic abilities who’s taken in by a company called ConSec. Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan) tells Cameron about his condition (he’s a “scanner”) and helps him gain some control over his abilities. Dr. Ruth then sends him out to find and stop Daryl Revok (Michael Ironside), a rogue Scanner who is trying to recruit more of his kind to start an army. As he’s trying to find Revok, Cameron runs across another Scanner, Kim Obrist (Jennifer O’Neill), and starts to realize he may be missing a lot of details.
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| I don't know if Ironside's reaction is acting or if he really is freaking out at the effects. |
This was an okay outing from Cronenberg. The concept of these scanners existing in society and carrying on hidden wars is a cool concept and feels like it was pulled from the comics like the X-Men. As an action film, it kind of rocks. Seeing these powers get used is one part cool and one part horrifying. The action we get is pretty solid. The effects are good if you like exploding heads and people burning. The music, while a bit too analog for my tastes, is good and kinda underrated. While the acting from everyone isn’t good, it’s decent especially from McGoohan and Ironside.
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| Mr. Lack, you look quite cool in that coat, but good looks can only go so far. |
Unfortunately, I can’t give the movie a lot of accolades. One of the biggest problems comes from its main lead, Stephen Lack. That's probably the worst surname for an actor because he lacked a lot in that role. He’s probably a fine actor, but the dialogue didn’t help out much, honestly. The plot can be a bit haphazard at times with loads of exposition being thrown at us. Even the ending has a bit of an exposition dump that I wish came earlier in the flick. The powers were also pretty inconsistent with how they worked especially with technology. I will say that Cameron blowing up a computer room using telephone lines was pretty awesome though. While the movie isn’t that good, the pros did outweigh the cons here. I see why someone revived the Scanner concept in the 90’s for direct-to video.
Videodrome
Videodrome was released in 1983. James Woods stars as Max Renn, the head of a seedy Canadian television station who’s trying to find the next best thing to put on his station. He and one of his techs come across a signal of a pretty depraved TV show called Videodrome. He thinks it could be the hippest thing for his station and his lover, Nicki (Deborah Harry), agrees. She even decides to go audition for the show. Things get thrown into doubt as Max learns more about Videodrome and Nicki disappears. He also starts to experience horrid hallucinations.
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| If some rich dude tells you to wear some Daft Punk-ian device in a David Cronenberg movie, just say NO! |
I can see why some see Videodrome as one of his best films. I can’t exactly say that, but it is a solid one. James Woods puts on a good performance as Max Renn. Yes, he’s kind of a seedy guy, but you find out that even he’s not all in on the depravity. Even though she has a small role, Deborah Harry (the lead singer of Blondie) is good in the role as the straight-laced but somewhat depraved Nicki. The story is good for the most part as Max tries to piece together what Videodrome is. Once he figures it out, it truly starts to be too much.
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| 2 Things: 1. You know you have to be nuts to freak out James Woods. 2. Deborah Harry works that red hair. Nice. |
The social commentary is on full display here, and its messages unfortunately still matter today. Cronenberg is hitting all sorts of subjects like how media can rewire the brain, sex, and the weird line between fiction and reality. The special effects are so weird but well done. It’s rare to see a VHS wiggling around or have a TV come alive. That’s also on the tame side, so if you’re not into weird gore, you may have to skip this one. I don’t have many problems with this one. It does take a while for things to get going and the writing isn’t always perfect. I’m not a fan of the ending either even though I get the intent. Overall, Videodrome is good, but it’s one messed-up time.
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Well, I got to cut this off somewhere. I can only recommend the last three movies with some caveats. If you’re not into gore or just weird stuff in general, you may need to look elsewhere. Still, there are some interesting movies. As for the original Crimes of the Future, go all Mystery Science Theatre 3000 on it. Next time, I’ll be looking at a classic from Cronenberg and some of his modern horror-ish movies. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.
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