All hail the new brunettes: my favorite David Cronenberg movies
Submitted by cramoukji on Mon, 02/21/2005 - 10:36
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- Dead Ringers (fascinating and timeless for all the right reasons: a tight script, a spotless cast, high-quality acting and the disturbing quietness and subtlety of Cronenberg's visuals)
- The Brood (this low-budget horror movie, his third long feature, is partly autobiographical and that only gives it more depth -it also boasts one of the most famous Cronenberg images )Spoiler: Highlight to viewwhen the main female character licks the blood off the bodies of her newborn psychoplasmic offspring
- Videodrome (arguably considered by critics as Cronenberg's apex, this whirlpool of sex, violence and VCRs of a movie has also been so draining for the canadian director that it was his last original screenplay in fifteen years)
- Scanners (Cronenberg's commercial breakthrough probably remains one of the most underrated movies of the early 80's and yes, it features that Spoiler: Highlight to viewclassic and oftentimes copied and imitated exploding head gimmick and a brutal telepathic and telekinetic final fight between estranged brothers
- Shivers (As first movies go, this was more than a valiant effort, it was a real rough gem combining every element that would become staples of the director's works Spoiler: Highlight to viewas exemplified by that orally-transmitted parasite who drives its victims libido through the roof
- Spider (This complex multi-layered movie has divided critics as well as moviegoers and though it certainly requires more than one viewing to be fully grasped it shows Cronenberg in full control of his art for uneasy and disturbing atmosphere)
- A History of Violence (If I may dare using an analogy, I'd say this movie is to Cronenberg's filmography what The Straight Story is to David Lynch's, only Dave C will always be more about sex&violence than Dave L)
- Crash (On a very personal note, this is the only movie that I saw with a full theater audience at the beginning and less than half that at the end... yes, it's filthy and sometimes nauseous in its depictions of deviant behaviours but I love it)
- The Fly (Still Cronenberg's most commercially sucessful movie to date, this great piece remains the easiest way for a casual unsuspecting movie fan to be introduced to this director's universe of "body horror")
- Existenz (Nice and weird, this movie suffered from the backlash from expectations of critics and fans teased by the announcement that it would be Cronenberg's first original screenplay since Videodrome when it was obvious that it could never be as good as Videodrome was)
- The Dead Zone (Cronenberg's least personal movie, this adaptation of a Stephen King novel almost made the director a cherished name in Hollywood before David spurned Tinseltown major studios, went back to Canada and finished Videodrome)
- Rabid (An inconsiderate mistake in the editing room turned this otherwise good horror movie into a mess that doesn't make much sense)Spoiler: Highlight to viewthe one scene in which doctors explain why and how the main female character is turned into a bloodsucking and flesheating creature because of synthetic skin transplants was completely cut because it was a tad long
Author Comments:
I still haven't seen three of his films: the Naked Lunch (I've purchased the DVD and have now finished reading Burrough's novel so I figure to get around to watching the movie quite soon), M Butterfly and Fast Company.
I just rewatched Videodrome this past weekend, and it seems I get more out of the film every time I see it. Have you seen the Criterion edition? Some great extras on it, including the complete "Videodrome" and "Samurai Dreams" outtakes, which are a real hoot.
Have never seen Dead Ringers, but will at some point, and I love Scanners as well.
Enjoyable list...
Johnny Waco
Thank you... I haven't seen Videodrome in a while and only own an old tape recording from TV... and well, I think it's the only way to watch that movie... using grainy worn-out tape and a vintage VCR :p
If you enjoy Cronenberg for the atmosphere of his movies more than for the shock factor of some images (exploding heads, navel-less embryos, mutant fish, videotape-consuming tummies, sex-driven parasites, brundlefly, and so on), I expect Dead Ringers will please you lots and lots.
Thanks for the interest.
That's a great point! Maybe I'll dub Videodrome a few times over onto an old VHS tape and rewatch that way. Could be mind-blowing, right?
A few months ago, I also saw Rabid for the first time. I'd certainly like to see it again to see if it grows on me, but it certainly didn't strike me nearly the way either Scanners or Videodrome did. I agree with what you said about it being an "otherwise good horror film." A decent-enough film, but obviously Cronenberg hadn't completely figured out how to translate his vision to the screen yet. The bucolic setting for the hospital was a good choice though; a modern scientific nightmare in the most natural of surroundings...
Johnny Waco
And, as Cronenberg said himself in the Faber&Faber published book "Cronenberg on Cronenberg", Rabid's biggest flaw is that the scene in which the doctors explain what happened to the lady with that penis-shaped skin implant in her neck that turns her into some kind of vampire was edited out of the movie and left lying on the cutting room floor. Needless to say, Cronenberg regrets misjudging the importance of that explanatory scene and editing out at the time.
Hey Cramoukji, just curious what you thought about Eastern Promises--where would it fit on this list? I haven't seen as many of Cronenberg's films as you have, but I think it is one of his best, maybe top five. I mean, I know Naomi Watts id a blond, but she's a good actress, right?
Johnny Waco
I sadly haven't been able to catch Eastern Promises in the theatres here... But yes, Naomi Watts is a good actress even though she's got gold in her hair... Oh and thank you for posting a comment to one of my lists, my listology account has been incredibly inactive these past months.
No problem on posting the comment. Thank you for posting about Tom Petty. I haven't been on listology much for months and months, but in the last couple of months I've been trying to get back into it. And of course, I've got to get all my old listology buddies involved, right?
I know the "Super Bowl" isn't a big deal in Europe, but did you see any of Petty's halftime performance?
Johnny Waco
Well, as a long-time hardcore fan I did look up on videosharing sites, especially to track down "evidence" of the supposed lip-synching... So I did see Free Fallin' in its abridged entirety, yes... And sorry to shatter any illusions you may have about that but the Superbowl isn't even not a big deal in this here Old World, it's simply no deal at all... I understand only the newscasts in the UK mentioned it, not even the smallest blip on the radar of the other big and small countries making up the EU.