Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
David Cronenberg
Cast
Oliver Reed,
Samantha Eggar,
Art Hindle,
Henry Beckman,
Nuala Fitzgerald,
Cindy Hinds
Genre
Horror,
Science Fiction
After noticing bruises and welts on his daughter after a mother-child psychiatric session, a recently divorced man investigates the new-age psychologist treating his institutionalized ex-wife. His attempt to uncover the psychologist’s practices coincides with a series of brutal murders seemingly committed by a brood of mutant children.
David Cronenberg's first truly great display of his knack for blending horror and viscera with psychological drama and social commentary. A great movie, but it does not make me want to be a part of the director's family--nobody has ever processed their divorce onscreen quite like this. Like many Cronenberg films it peaks in a final sequence that contains several indelibly horrifying images.
IndieWire
Cronenberg has become known as a purveyor of body horror, in which the monstrous arises from within rather than without. The Brood cunningly turns this motif into a metaphor for psychotherapy itself, which seeks to dredge up and cast out the monsters haunting the unconscious.
IndieWire by Jed Mayer
Cronenberg has become known as a purveyor of body horror, in which the monstrous arises from within rather than without. The Brood cunningly turns this motif into a metaphor for psychotherapy itself, which seeks to dredge up and cast out the monsters haunting the unconscious.
CineVue by Daniel Green
The Brood sees the undisputed king of body horror honing his visceral eye, whilst at the same time offering up several truly iconic images that have quite clearly endured.
Empire by Kim Newman
Genuinely disturbing horror but with Cronenberg producing a slightly deeper edge in his portrait of a troubled family.
The New Yorker by Michael Sragow
Cronenberg’s movie was an early showcase for his tense formal style and intellectual Grand Guignol. He displays a true shock-meister’s instinct by saving the worst for last. The result is a cinematic bad dream that generates recurring nightmares.
TV Guide Magazine
Powerful and disturbing on both a physical and mental level, The Brood is the first Cronenberg film to use name actors, and marked a significant progression in the director's exploration of biological horror.
Slant Magazine by Eric Henderson
Undoubtedly [Cronenberg's] best from this period and also the most troubling.
TV Guide Magazine by Staff (Not Credited)
Powerful and disturbing on both a physical and mental level, The Brood is the first Cronenberg film to use name actors, and marked a significant progression in the director's exploration of biological horror.
Variety
A horror entry which casts children in the role of malevolent little monsters, The Brood is an extremely well made, if essentially unpleasant, shocker.
Variety by Staff (Not Credited)
A horror entry which casts children in the role of malevolent little monsters, The Brood is an extremely well made, if essentially unpleasant, shocker.
Time Out
It's a strong theme, unfortunately undercut by faulty pacing and odd lapses in the tension. Still worth seeing for its latently political story and its gory special effects.
Time Out by Staff (Not Credited)
It's a strong theme, unfortunately undercut by faulty pacing and odd lapses in the tension. Still worth seeing for its latently political story and its gory special effects.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
The Brood is an el sleazo exploitation film, camouflaged by the presence of several well-known stars but guaranteed to nauseate you all the same.
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