The Cronenberg thread

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

David Cronenberg.
Canada's favourite export.
His films always warrant lengthy discussions,so discuss 'em all here!

[vincenzo]

Shivers and Rabid still have that cold & nasty atmosphere about them. I also loved The Dead Zone (possibly my all time favourite Cronenberg ), Videodrome and The Fly.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Has Crimes of the Future ever been released on dvd Vince?

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by reaper72

Has Crimes of the Future ever been released on dvd Vince?

Never seen the film. Apparently it's available on a 2-on-1 disc with Stereo (his other early short film). Amazon have it here.

[nekromantik]

I only seen 2 Cronenberg movies and they are History of Violence and Videodrome.
I loved videodrome and thought HOV was quite good.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by vincenzo

Never seen the film. Apparently it's available on a 2-on-1 disc with Stereo (his other early short film). Amazon have it here.

Looks a bit shady.....

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

My favourite Cronenberg film has to be Videodrome,even if,after all these I still have no idea what the hell is going on I actually find Scanners quite boring,Stephen Lack has no charisma whatsoever and for me the film is only saved by Michael Ironside's performance as Darryl Revok and the special effects.

[DeadAlive]

I think my favourite Cronenberg would have to be The Fly. Videodrome is a very close second though. Always an interesting film maker, I do prefer his early low budget horrors like Rabid, Shivers and The Brood. There is always something genuinely unnerving about those earlier films. I have to agree with stevoj on Scanners. Aside from some nice gore effects it is a bit of a bore. It was my first exposure to the brilliant Michael Ironside, which is a definite plus and it also gets bonus points with me for having Patrick McGoohan in the cast.

[Splatterdragon73]

Originally Posted by vincenzo

Shivers and Rabid still have that cold & nasty atmosphere about them. I also loved The Dead Zone.

Shivers, Rabid and The Brood are undeniably my all time fave Cronenberg shockers.
One of the things i love about all three cult classics is the bleak and bland Canadian weather on display during the films.
There's very little or no sunshine onscreen and the alternative dull and drab climate conditions seem to go hand in hand with the general downbeat and nilhilistic atmosphere prevalent in the above movies.

Look at the shot in The Brood where two of the titular murderous members are leading young Candy by the hands up a long snow covered roadside. I just find the general coldness of this shot so endearing and it's this sort of visual ambience in Shivers, Rabid and The Brood that i find so striking.

It also has to be said that while dear 'ol Oliver Reed is a formidable presence in TB it's Samantha Eggar that ultimately steals the show imo with a truly impressive and unnerving performance.

One moment that quite disturbs me occurs in Shivers.
When Dr. St Luc is trying to escape Starliner Towers and heads down a staircase we hear what sounds like some people barking like dogs. Our doomed hero then traces the noise to a side door from which emerges two young girls with leashes around their necks, on their hands and knees acting like a pair of canines!
From the way the dog leads are stretched we know that somebody is in control of these two females but we never see just who it is. For some reason just the presence of some undisclosed and no doubt perverted figure around that door frame really makes this a sinister sequence imo.

That horrendous, wince-inducing 'finger amputation by scissors' segment in Rabid also gets me too!

[Rob Strange]

My favourites are The Brood, Videodrome and Crash. But I'm enthusiastic about all of his films. Actually, watching Lars Von Trier's excellent Antichrist, I was reminded of The Brood in some ways.

I still have not seen Dead Ringers, which I've heard is one of his very best.