The Brood (1979)

Oh, the wondrous things you can discover while visiting your local library, blogspot readers, as SouthSide has recently done. She found a hidden gem though not really looking for any particular movie that fateful day to check out. Well, in her opinion, it was find of a lifetime that she had heard about but never seen ...until now.

David Cronenberg's 1979 film - The Brood.

This intense psychological horror shock thriller stars the late Oliver Reed as a radical medical psychologist, Dr. Hal Raglan, who treats his patients with a rare form of psychotherapy at a mysterious institute. Right there, blogspot readers, you should be shivering with delight or fright. Yet, it sounds good so far, huh? One of Reed's patients, Nola Carveth (played by Samantha Eggar) is also a mother of a 5 year old daughter  (Cindy Hinds as Candice Carveth )who's being terrorized by demonic beings.

Oh it's really getting creepy now.

Then toss in an estranged husband (Art Himdle as Frank Carveth) as he fights to save his daughter (as well as himself) from the frightening terrors that haunt her ...only to discover the SHOCKING secret involving his wife at the end. And SouthSide truly means - it's a gripping horrorshock that feature one of Cronenberg's  best horror grotesqueness of the OMG kind, blogspot readers, before shocking horror fans with other cult classics like Videodrome, Scanners, Rabid, Dead Ringers and more. 

The Brood, at first runs like two separate movies for your viewing pleasure where you're thoroughly immersed into Reed's intense psychotherapy sessions with Eggar while the next, your eyes are witnessing graphic scenes of murder committed by a little demonic thing ...about the same size as Cindy Hind's Candice character. Yet, as both scenarios move ever so closer together as one as you continue viewing this movie, you're gradually sucked towards one horrifying movie-viewing end that may leave you either scratching your head and wonder OR shaking scared from Cronenberg's gruesome fest.

Got to love Rick Baker the Monster Maker and his talented horror monster-making craft which paved the way for other movie work he did - ie Videodrome and Nightbreed (SouthSide's favorite go-to movie for bumps and chills), blogspot readers. The shocking revelation does give the heart a bit of a jolt  yet that's what Cronenberg and his movies do best. The Brood is the original "shock and awe" type of cinematic masterpiece you'll ever find. And just for that one particular scene (which this reviewer does suggest watching more than once to soak in the full effect of that 'shock and awe') at the end when you discover Samantha Eggar's horrific secret.

If your jaw doesn't drop or your stomach doesn't twist in knots, then something's horribly wrong with you, blogspot readers.

Won't reveal anything else in this review, blogspot readers, you have to find and watch The Brood yourself. SouthSide even dares you to watch it without the lights on ...she did. And it was even more frightening in the dark.

Highly recommend.

Until next time, support your local scene,

SouthSide