The Brood

A depressing psychological aspect, a chilling mystery, bloody murders, a repulsive physiological deformation of the human body, a shock-therapy controversy. All wrapped up in the delicately intimate, gloomy package of Cronenberg’s genius. The Brood is his most intense horror movie. (29.08.2005)

Cronenberg puts all the horror on the shoulders on the “killers dwarfs” wearing children overalls and wielding hammers, unfortunately, it’s mostly gratuitous and not very scary. You can't deny the chilling, bleak atmosphere, but if you can't take the core of all evil seriously, it can hardly frighten you or arouse any unpleasant emotions. (01.07.2008)

Quality psychological horror by Cronenberg that stands out by its incredibly disturbing atmosphere. The first half is pretty chatty, but right when I was telling myself that this wouldn’t warrant an above-average rating, the film fully caught my attention and the ending is extremely tense. I will remember all those scenes with the child mutants for a long time (they look pretty good), but the most important thing is that they have such an unpleasant evil aura around them that they irradiate uncompromising rawness and tangible malice. Another thing worth praise is the fantastically escalating tension by the end. (18.03.2008)

This time Cronenberg fully subordinated his classical trademarks (gynecology, psychiatry, body deformation) to the effect of self-efficacy. As a means of doing so, he chose little men in winter overalls with hammers in their hands and lots of long-winded chatter. The suspense is solid only up to the first two visits of the hissing kids, then after the finale (typical gradation) there is once again plenty of verbal filler, which is not even helped out by an incorrect scene of a school class standing around a teacher lying in a pool of blood. But I’ll give it 3 ½ stars for the drops of icy sweat on my back. (15.07.2007)

Cronenberg elevates this rather childish horror premise of mutant dwarves capable of murdering their victims with almost anything beyond the prized genre average of the 1970s with intense psychological pressure and a smartly plotted screenplay. Unfortunately, as good as it is to watch even after all these years, and the enigmatic figure of the formidable Oliver Reed (why didn't this guy break into the world of big screen movies?! ) perfectly combines a violent, typically Cronenbergian plane with intimate conversational depth, today it's impossible to shake the dust of obsolescence off the story and ignore the fact that little thin-lipped children aren't scary and don't fill the audience's experience nearly as much as the oppressive atmosphere built by Cronenberg, Shore and the cast deserves. 70% (22.07.2016)

After second screening, The Brood is one of the more sluggish and lesser satisfactory works of David Cronenberg. Once you know where it's all headed, it doesn’t have the same impact (compared to that, for example, Scanners impressed me strongly on the second viewing). Nevertheless, with its ideas, naturalistic imagery, and chilly Canadian atmosphere, it is still an admirable work, the ending of which will surely be remembered by everyone. (18.02.2021)

First disappointment, then dismay at what turns out to be idiocy, finally recognition that a film where a woman gives birth to babies disfigured by huge body ulcers doesn't deserve to go below four stars -) (18.08.2010)

The scene when a woman gives birth to another child is something so disgusting that it permanently stays in human memory. And it is the same when the young actress Candice is attacked by the puppies. I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of that young actress. Someone may feel nauseated by the movie, but its strength is not in visual disgust, but in the disgust of human psyche and what a person is capable of doing to achieve their interests, whatever they may be. (22.11.2013)

Except for the finale, it's only a horror film at times (though it's in those moments that its intensity is massive). As I gradually become more familiar with Cronenberg's films, I am slowly beginning to see the "spiritual" in them, and I honestly prefer it to his favorite explicit nastiness, which perhaps some people find daring, untethered, original, and unconventional, but they are the reason I don’t enjoy Cronenberg that much). What I especially appreciate about The Brood is the thorough and impressive expertise (to write just "analysis" would be insufficient) of the originally pure mother who is separated from her child and must live in forced isolation and estrangement from her family. Remarkable, non-mainstream, distinctive, impressive. (04.01.2011)