The Brood

1979
R
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

36K

YOUR RATING

'The Brood' is a 1979 horror movie by David Cronenberg.

Play trailer2:37

1 Video

99 Photos

Body Horror Horror Sci-Fi

A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

36K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 5 nominations

Videos1

Trailer 2:37

Trailer

Photos128

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
David Cronenberg wrote the film following the tumultuous divorce and child-custody battle he waged against Margaret Hindson. Cronenberg also said that Samantha Eggar's character, Nola Carveth, possessed some of the characteristics of his ex-wife.

Goofs
Just after the first murder, the deformed/mutant child who committed it leaves very large, bloody handprints on the stair railing just near the dead body. These handprints are never mentioned again, in particular by the police, who insist later that they were "never looking for anything that small." It would have been impossible to miss these handprints at the crime scene, and such child-sized handprints would have certainly tipped off the police in a different direction upon discovery.

Quotes
Juliana Kelly: Thirty seconds after you're born you have a past and sixty seconds after that you begin to lie to yourself about it.

Crazy credits
Special thanks to Dr. Denton: Sleepware.

Alternate versions
The 2005 R2 UK DVD by Anchor Bay, features the 92min Unrated Cut (in addition to the 88min UK edited cut). This is the first time the Unrated Cut has been released in the UK on a home entertainment format, and includes an additional 28 seconds of footage from the ripping and licking of the foetus, the mallet murder of the old lady and shots of the dead schoolteacher's battered face.

Connections
Featured in Sneak Previews: The Promise, The Prisoner of Zenda, Saint Jack, Alien, Battlestar Galactica, The Brood, The Passage (1979)

User reviews192

Review

Featured review

7/10

strong early effort from Cronenberg

David Cronenberg has always possessed a flair for unique and disturbing visions infused with the trimmings of a genre that can be best referred to as "biohorror." "The Brood," his tale of hideous mutant children who do the bidding of mentally disturbed Nola (Samantha Eggar) under the care of new-wave psychiatrist Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed, with a quietly sophisticated Peter Cushing sensibility), is buffered by fine performances that veer away from camp. In a way, one of Cronenberg's achievements is writing such outlandish material and making it entirely convincing and visceral, as opposed to merely settling on B-movie cheesiness, which I admire. As is the case with most Cronenberg films, here 'reality' is made the most atypical place where man can reside, and the clever script is always one careful step ahead of the audience.

7/10