The Brood
The Brood is a 1979 Canadian psychological body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, and Art Hindle. Its plot follows a man and his mentally ill ex-wife, who has been sequestered by a psychiatrist known for his controversial therapy techniques. A series of brutal unsolved murders serves as the backdrop for the central narrative.
Plot
Psychotherapist Hal Raglan runs the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics, where he encourages patients with mental disturbances to let go of their suppressed emotions through physiological changes to their bodies in a technique he calls "psychoplasmics". One of his patients is Nola Carveth, a severely disturbed woman who is legally embattled with her husband Frank for custody of their five-year-old daughter Candice. When Frank discovers bruises and scratches on Candice following a visit with Nola, he informs Raglan of his intent to stop visitation rights. Wanting to protect his patient, Raglan begins to intensify the sessions with Nola to resolve the issue quickly. During the therapy sessions, he discovers that Nola was physically and verbally abused by her self-pitying alcoholic mother while neglected by her co-dependent alcoholic father, who refused to protect Nola out of shame and denial.
More details
author | David Cronenberg |
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contentLocation | Canada |
director | David Cronenberg |
editor | Alan Collins |
genre | drama horror science fiction thriller |
keywords | abuse alcoholic father alcoholic mother asexual asexual reproduction attack bludgeon child custody co-dependence co-dependent colorblind custody deform disturbed child edentulism even force lymphoma murder navel old photograph parthenogenesis parthenogenetically phone call physical abuse physically provoke queen bee session toothless traumatize unexplained verbal abuse verbally abused wheal wheal response |
musicBy | Howard Shore |
producer | Claude Héroux |
productionCompany | Telefilm Canada |
publisher | New World Pictures |
recordedAt | Toronto |
theme | body horror independent psychological thriller science fiction horror urban |