Videodrome (1983)

CANADA --- science fiction

Dir: David Cronenberg

Technology has vastly expanded our horizons and imagination in the late 20th Century and on into the 21st Century. The industrial revolution had nothing on the computer age. What was birthed through incremental thoughts of vast communication in the current space age, has become a massive link-line to being able to create a dimension as knowledgeable as the ancient library of Alexandria to man's first doomed accordance of a mission to reach the heavens with the tower of Babel. Now we have the power to link with each other by the swift press of a button, be it by picture, words, and voice. The accelerated rate of technology is somewhat disconcerting to many. Some recent psychologists theorize by bringing us closer together, it actually distances us. An interesting concept. However, having a separate identity in a completely virtual setting is something relatively new to the world. Through the use of video games and alternative identities on the Internet in various forms, the idea of having a new virtual life has come to pass.

David Cronenberg is mostly known for his body horror masterpieces in unique art house science fiction and horror films. He did, however, step into the world of science fiction when it became necessary to compose an essay on a subject matter that tied into his main theme of horrors of the body. Back in the early eighties everyone who was anyone began to notice that technology was beginning to become more and more advanced than they had ever dreamed. The preordained year of "1984" was fast approaching, and it seemed that, while Orwell's dark dystopian novel hadn't quite come to fruition, the foundation for such a future existed. Cronenberg as well as other filmmakers (Terry Gilliam with "Brazil"), found ways to incorporate the idea of "1984" in their own films. "Videodrome" is loosely cut from that vine.

Taking place in contemporary Toronto, the film is about a kinda Al Goldstein-esque cable access television producer, Max Renn, who's always in search for the next bit of sleaze to push on his network for ratings. His CIVIC-TV Channel 83 Cable 12 needs something new, and the soft core porn they do televise isn't enough to keep the viewers. Thanks to a nerdy cohort of his named Harlan, he comes upon a show called "Videodrome" via a snowy satellite transmission from "Pitts"burgh in the U.S. of A. The show features masked men beating and torturing unknown persons in a red room covered in clay. Renn is instantly hooked and has a producer friend of his try to track it down. Meanwhile, he meets the lovely radio talk-show psychiatrist Nicki Brand (played by Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry), who has her own counter-culture demons that, much like "Videodrome", Renn becomes instantly hooked on her too. They meet at the taping of a televised talk show discussing media with a media guru named Prof. Brian O'Blivion (a character based on media theorist Marshall McLuhan); who happens to appear via a  television on the set of the show. Max and Nicki later hook up when she reveals she's into BDSM, and later she tells Max she's taking a vacation to Pittsburgh to check out Videodrome herself.

Not long after, Max' producer friend tracks down some info on Videodrome, and she reveals it is not just a show but real. She gives him a lead with naming Brian O'Blivion as a direct contact. Max heads to a place called Cathode Ray Mission, where homeless derelicts can come in and watch television. Prof. O'Blivion's daughter Bianca runs the place, and Max inquires about meeting the professor to discuss Videodrome, but she insists he will only send him a taped message. Soon later, he does get a tape from O'Blivion, and this is where, as they say "the fun begins".

The rest of the film swings into a high speed technological nightmare for Max Renn, as he witnesses O'Blivion murdered by Nicki Brand. She, however, seduces him through the tape as his television set comes alive and is almost physical in nature as Renn presses his face into the image of Brand's lips on the screen, a scene that would later inspire the "tv witch" Sadako from "Ringu". Max ultimately realizes through O'Blivion's message that Videodrome has caused a physical tumor in the brain which causes him to hallucinate. The hallucinations increase, but to add fire to the gas a corporation named Spectacular Optical are the ones responsible for Videodrome in the first place, and soon Max is drawn into a web of technological conspiracy that will cause him to risk his life "in this world" to survive.

"Videodrome" was and is a cyberpunk masterpiece. It's predictions of cyberspace and even video game interactivity are unnervingly accurate. On the outside looking in, the film is an essay on violence and sex and the result of such on personal reflections on the populace who consume them. However, at the same time, the film managed to go a step further, by predicting through the science fiction elements that pornography and violence could be so interactive that the media would ultimately consume the viewers. Through the use of the Internet, pornography has reigned as king. However, that is only one facet. The communication of being able to have another life through the cyberspace or through games such as "World of Worldcraft" or "Second Life" allows for much much more than that. What began as entertainment is capable of becoming a lifestyle. Cronenberg would return to the notion of video games specifically with his film "Existenz", but "Videodrome" laid the foundation for correctly advising us through cautionary social commentary the dangers of such media consumption on a society that feeds on animalistic nature.

Such tiny predictions such as the use of "windows" throughout the film cement the theme. This actually predated Microsoft's popular program, but other there are other hints such as the characters being bathed in blue light as such we can be from the television sets or computer monitors. Max is subjected to being used like a walking videocassette player, which the villains insert a "program" to utilize him as an assassin. This is more than a little preachy of the times when media was blamed for vigilantism, but looking around in the 21st Century, the programming seems to have continued. No coincidence that Nicki Brand first meets Renn in a red dress, which she calls "stimulating"; as stimulating as the "red" room featured on "Videodrome". She also becomes the sensual commodity of Videodrome to seduce Max into their will, how telling of the "American Idols" or "Top Models" of this generation. Let alone the rampant pornography of the Internet. "Videodrome" has become a quintessential cyberpunk cult classic for many reasons. Much like its predecessor like "Alphaville", it inspired such films as "Tron", "Blade Runner" or "The Matrix". Cronenberg managed to invoke a theme from his first film "Shivers" about "New Flesh", which must be somewhat inspired by the bible. Surely, in this film Bianca O'Blivion even paraphrases the bible in talking about "the word becomes flesh", a passage specifically talking about Jesus Christ. This ultimately reprograms Max Renn as the cyberpunk hero destroy the rising Orwellian power of Videodrome before it's too late.

Cube (1997)
CANADA --- science fiction/ horror

Dir: Vincenzo Natali

We've all seen this kind of minimalist psychological character study. I usually notice most of them are based on stage play with a very small cast and contained space of people. Stuff akin to Samuel Beckett's work, but these are often very well done character pieces designed to get into the human psyche. Alfred Hitchcock gave us "Lifeboat", we also had the excellent "Twelve Angry Men", and even the johnny-come-lately gore porn horror films of the "Saw" series get in the act. I came name more, but one such entry took the inventive and cheap low budget idea and took it into a very creative direction in "Cube".

Canadian director Vincenzo Natali locks us in the "Cube". The opening teaser features a man who attempts to escape a cubical room and is suddenly sliced and diced to pieces. Next we see a group of individuals come together to one room, all trying to find their bearings as they admit to just waking up. They all are dressed in plain grey clothes with their name on them like prisoners. There's Quentin an ex-police officer, Leaven a student, Worth a mysterious young man, Holloway a female doctor, and Rennes a serial escaped convict. Rennes appears to be the veteran of the group as he knows how the place operates, explaining that some of the different rooms are booby-trapped. Quentin is the first to recognize that Rennes is in actuality "The Wren", a kinda Robert Stroud "birdman" of several prisons, so they follow his lead as he tosses boots. Soon, Leaven begins to notice that the rooms are numbered at the hatchways, and they can't be there for no reason.

Ironically, Rennes ends up as the first to die, after jumping into a room that is booby-trapped. The group recover from the death and realize they have to find some kind of order, as Quentin quickly takes the reins as the leader of the group. He elects Leaven as their new guide to decipher the arithmetic meaning behind the serial numbers in the hatchways, and she does eventually discover a logic behind them. Just as they are ready to go forward with ease, a new member falls into their path, an autistic man named Kazan. Some of the group find him to be a burden and others are humane enough to realize it is their responsibility to help him out. As tempers shorten and time seems to be running short, they realize if they do not find the way, they'll all eventually die with no food or water. Quentin becomes increasingly abusive to the group, ultimately going so far as to be responsible for the death of one of them. While Quentin becomes a ticking time bomb, the remnants of the group must find a way to survive their Judas and escape the cube alive.

Clearly shot on a low budget, "Cube" is a tiny little thought-provoking sci-fi masterpiece. As mentioned earlier, it is done in the style of a small ensemble stage play, focusing on character study. This particular piece, however, appears to be directly influenced by a classic episode of the American TV series "Twilight Zone" titled "Five Characters In Search of An Exit" by Rod Serling based on a short story called "The Depository" by Marvin Petal which in turn was inspired by a philosophical play by Luigi Pirandello called "Six Characters in Search of an Author". It is not without it's own inventions, like the fact the characters are all named after prisons. Quentin is named after San Quentin, Leaven and Worth are collectively named after Leavenworth, Kazan after a Russian prison, Holloway is named after a female prison in England,  as too is Rennes after a female prison in France. All in all, "Cube" is an interesting film full of suspense, character arcs, and even a little action.

Scanners (1981)
CANADA --- science fiction/ horror

Dir: David Cronenberg

We are well aware that most of us lowly humans are only using 10% of our brain power. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, and well most of our minds are wasting away anyway. There are beliefs that some ancient cultures did indeed tap into psychic power and astral planes. Ancient "lost" societies like the ancient Atlanteans and Lemurians (or land of Mu) supposedly utilized their psychic abilities in their infrastructure through psychokinesis. Ideas of psychic abilities helping mankind even stemmed into a secret covert groups during the cold war. Some people will take this phenomenon serious, others will not.

The "doctor" of genre cinema returns with "Scanners", his B-movie follow-up to "The Brood". A film that up until that point was his most successful. In this film, Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan) is a self-proclaimed psycho pharmacist working for a shady corporation known as Consec. On the outside looking in, they are a security systems corporations, but behind the scenes, they are up to far more than that. They have been devoted to the use of individuals with telepathic and telekinetic powers known as "Scanners". Dr. Ruth in fact has a homeless man named Cameron Vale (played by a very wooden Stephen Lack) picked up and brought to a warehouse for safe keeping. He happens to be a vagabond "scanner", and Dr. Ruth recruits him for Consec's own purposes. Ruth also gives him a drug called Ephemerol, which allows "scanners" to suppress the invading thoughts of too many people.

Consec holds a conference with interested parties showing the abilities of what "scanners" are capable of. One of the audience members is a man named Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside) who volunteers himself to be "scanned" by the representative "scanner" of Consec. Unfortunately, he doesn't know Revok is a rogue "scanner" himself, and in the most famous scene of this film, explodes his head before the audience. The officials grab Revok and detain him, but he eventually escapes. In light of this, Consec appoints a new director in charge of security, as they know through Dr. Ruth that Revok is an assassin and intentionally killed the representative "scanner". Dr. Ruth suggests that his new recruit, Vale, may be the only way to finding and killing Revok.

Dr. Ruth then shows Vale footage of Revok from the past, and trains him to be more focused into his powers, and sends him to another "scanner" named Benjamin Pierce (played by director pet Robert Silverman) for help. The guy's living as an eccentric artist, but is soon attacked by assassins under the control of Revok. After the attack, Pierce sends Vale to a small group of other "scanners" who are living in hiding. Among them is a powerful "scanner" named Kim Obrist, who after meeting up with Vale, her group is brutally attacked as well, leaving only her and Vale alive to fend for themselves. When yet another assassin is sent after them, Vale probes the mind of this one, and gets a clue to the whereabouts of Revok through a vial of Ephemerol the assassin is carrying. It leads Vale to infiltrate the labs of the company that produces it, which is run by none other than Revok. When Vale and Obrist return to Consec with this information, they quickly realize there's a mole in the corporation working for Revok and that their only resort to confront Revok head on. Ultimately, this does lead Revok to capture Vale and the conclusion does indeed lead to a face off of horrific proportions.

"Scanners" was an interesting concept back in the 80's. After all, we were just coming out of the very introspective state of the 70's. Besides that, this was coming off of the successful Stephen King vehicle "Carrie", which really launched the whole modern horrific "ESP" sub-genre. Well, unless you want to count "Village of the Damned" and it's lackluster sequel "Children of the Damned". Cronenberg kinda misstepped a little with this vehicle, though it continues the theme of most of his "body horror" films, the story is not what it could be. My personal opinion, Vale probably should have been a little younger, like a teenager. For the most part this was a kinda live action X-Men film, well before they came to the silver screen. The film spawned more than a few sequels and spin offs throughout the decade and into the 90's, mostly taking advantage of the billowing Home Video market. Cronenberg may have based his Ephemerol drug on a real-life drug called Thalidomide, which was used in the 50's for pregnant women and caused severe birth defects for most of the children born.

Beowulf & Grendel (2005)

CANADA/ ICELAND/ UK --- fantasy

Dir: Sturla Gunnarsson

The battle between good and evil has been mulled over in myth, legend, religion, and history since before man could formulate a language. The tales of heroes have always found their place in our hearts and minds, and the ancient epic poem of "Beowulf" has had its lasting appeal for that very reason. In this loose adaptation of the poem, director Sturla Gunnarsson does a highly impressive attempt at retelling the legend.

"Beowulf & Grendel" opens with a segment of the poem and almost immediately, the film deviates from it by showing us the grendel's father (a character made up for the film). The scene depicts Hroðgar (or Hrothgar in this film), the king of Daneland, in his youth with a bunch of his soldiers chasing and killing the elder grendel on a mountaintop. However, Horothgar allows the young grendel to live, a mistake he will live to regret. When the soldiers leave, the boy grendel goes to the beach shore, where his father's body lain. Pining for his father, he takes a keepsake; his father's head.

Fast forward years later, we see the adult grendel in a cave with the mummified skull of his father. He beats himself upon the head with stones in a rage, clearly in a fit stirring vengeance against his father's murderers. We see that the grendel espies the warriors camp, and plots his violent one man war against them. The grendel kills twelve of Hrothgar's soldiers one night. We are next introduced to Beowulf, who arrives on the shores of Geatland after being shipwrecked out on the sea. Beowulf gathers a group of Geat soldiers to visit his kin, King Hrothgar, who they have heard is in peril with a troll. When Beowulf arrives to the shores of Denmark, he comes across the seahag first, in the ocean. Then he consults with the hermit witch Selma (Canadian actress Sarah Polley), who begins to help him unravel the mystery of the troll's campaign of bloody vengeance. This is another newly invented character to serve the films updated version of the tale. Soon, Beowulf begins to understand that his perspective in this little skirmage must change in order to defeat the creature on his turf. After some revelations about the grendel fathering a child from the witch Selma, who of course sleeps with Beowulf too, the deviations of the film turn confusing. The addition of the new characters are clearly not needed, and though they do bring some character development to the grendel.

The final battle with Beowulf and the Sea Hag is over way too quick. The performances are well done throughout "Beowulf & Grendel". Gerard Butler is here to fill the stoic hero role and does as well as he can, but not as good as he is in "300". Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård chews the scenery with relish, and that's not a bad thing as he puts in a brilliant portrayal as the fraught stricken King Hrothgar. Polley puts in a competent performance, but of course she's just a little too Western for the film in my opinion. Kudos to Iceland actor Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson for a down to earth performance as the other titular character. He plays the role with enough pathos and genuine primal nuance, you almost believe it's not a man. Gunnarson has a strikingly atmospheric direction. He has properly captured the cold yet beautiful landscape of the Iceland, which seems untouched by time. The major glaring mistake of this film is the use of curse words. It definitely feels completely out of place for these characters to be dropping the "F" bomb every couple of minutes. They could have used better make-up effects on the grendel. Albeit, the prosthetic effects they do use is very believable, and showing the monster in the beginning of the film prepares the audience for a credible version of the tale. Apparently they wanted to portray the grendel as more of a Sasquatch than a troll.

Heavy Metal (1981)
CANADA --- science fiction/ fantasy/ horror

Dir: Gerald Potterton

Fond memories of teenage years (though I wasn't one when this was released), "Heavy Metal" is a cult classic of the highest proportions. It is at once a collaborative, rebellious, raucous work of art toiled over a span of years and countries. For many an American GenX teenager, "Heavy Metal" holds an interesting fond place in our hearts. It was made in a time where animation was deliberately taking risks with more adult fare in cinemas like Ralph Bakshi's x-rated "Fritz the Cat", the dark age of Disney films, even "Transformers: The Movie" dared to kill off Optimus Prime.

National Lampoon magazine had bought North American distribution rights to a French magazine named Métal Hurlant ( translated roughly "screaming metal"). Renamed Heavy Metal, the magazine started in the 1970s and blended everything from dark fantasy, horror, science fiction, and oh yes erotica. Artists from all over the globe contributed their own stories and artwork such as H.R. Giger, Richard Corben, Moebius, and many many more. At this time, National Lampoon magazine saw the success on the big screen with a spinoff film "National Lampoon's Animal House" and it wasn't long before the idea to make a film based on Heavy Metal came to fruition. Produced by Canadian filmmaker Ivan Reitman, the film was to be animated by artists from France, Canada, the United States. The idea to make the film an anthology cemented the highly collaborative and unique hodgepodge style of Heavy Metal Magazine, as they adapt popular strips from that were featured in the magazine, as well as creating some new stories.

The title sequence opens with a story by late screenwriter Dan O'Bannon called "Soft Landing" which shows us an astronaut descending to earth in a 1960 corvette. This basically bridges the titles to the framing story of the film "Grimaldi", where we find the identity of the astronaut as Grimaldi coming home to his young daughter. He's also brought home a glowing green orb in a box. The orb ends up killing the Grimaldi as his daughter looks upon it in fear, just as the orb presents himself as "the sum of all evils." Called the Loc-Nar, the orb begins to show her the following tales in the film.


Based on Spanish artist Juan Giménez's "Harry Canyon", this vignette takes place in a dystopian New York City in the year 2031, focusing on the cynical taxicab driver, Canyon, who narrates. Inspired by a film noir, he reluctantly gets involved with the daughter of a scientist who has unearthed the mysterious Loc-Nar. When he is gunned down by a Casper Gutman-esque gangster, the girl is on the run and Canyon is in the wrong place at the right time. Helping her out, the daughter bargains with Canyon to give the Loc-Nar up to the gangster and split the spoils with him. In the end, Canyon realizes he should've never got involved in the first place. This piece has been highly influential, as you have seen many dystopian futurescapes since, in films such as "Blade Runner" or "The Fifth Element"; they have their genesis here.

The next segment (probably my favorite) is based on Richard Corben's popular strip "Den". Voiced by John Candy, nerdy teen Dan, finds the Loc-Nar and experiments with it for his own personal science project. During a lightning storm this inevitably teleports him to another dimension where he becomes a beefy bald grown man. Now as Den, he espies a group of cultists sacrifice a well-endowed young woman to a god called "Uhluhtc" ("Cthulhu" spelled backwards). After a safe rescue, she tells Den she's in reality Katherine Wells from the British colony of Gibraltar. Soon monster minions of Ard interrupt the couple's sexual acquaintanceship. They are brought to Ard, an effete immortal who puts Katherine in suspended animation and forces Den to steal the Loc-Nar from the Queen who tried to sacrifice Katherine in the first place. Den and Ard's beastly henchmen must infiltrate the Queen's palace and ultimately rescue Katherine. This is actually the second appearance of the character Den in animation. He originally appeared in a 1968 self-produced animated short called "Neverwhere" by creator Richard Corben himself. The backgrounds of this piece live up to the Corben art style, but the art (outside of the gratuitous nudity) don't capture Corben's thick pock oiled art much at all.

The next vignette is a comedic trip into outer space with Bernie Wrightson's classic ne'erdowell "Captain Sternn". We catch up to Lincoln F. Sternn on trial for a laundry list of violations against the law. Sternn insinuates that his attorney that he has an "angle". That angle turns out to be his witness for the defence, a scrawny guy named Hanover Fiste who soon transforms into a hulking brute who chases after Sternn. Turns out, in the end, Sternn really does have an angle. There was supposed to be a segment between this and the following one called "Neverwhereland" by animator Corny Cole which showed the Loc-nar landing on prehistoric earth and being responsible for all the evils throughout time. This was deleted for time management, but can be seen on the dvd.

"B-17" is basically a short EC Comics style horror tale involving a bomber pilot and his crew, when after perishing in a gun fight, suddenly become undead. This one was written by Dan O'Bannon and was originally to showcase a pilot against gremlins. The next segment is another comedic tale called "So Beautiful, So Dangerous" based on Angus McKie's story which first appeared in the October 1978 issue. This one is about an alien spacecraft abducting humans, and a very sentient robot putting the moves on a woman. This sequence is purely played for laughs before taking us into the final piece.

"Taarna" is an original story based loosely on French artist's Jean 'Moebius' Giraud comic strip "Arzach" which first showed up in the pages of Métal Hurlant in 1974. This tale begins with the Loc-Nar crashing into a volcano. The natives nearby are overcome by the Loc-Nar lava, but are mutated into vicious barbarians and as they go out to destroy a peaceful village. The village elders desperately seek their last refuge in summoning the lone survivor of a warrior race called, the Taarakians. They summon Taarna, a silent beautiful young woman equipped to avenge the peaceful race and seek out and destroy the ruthless mutants responsible. She heads out with her pterodactyl to the mountains to put an end to the mutants tyranny, and comes face to face with the source of the evil; the Loc-Nar. The film ultimately ties up with the revelation that this whole frame story with Grimaldi's daughter is tied to Taarna.

"Heavy Metal" is really an animated adult fantasy to end all adult fantasies. There really hasn't been any equal, and more than likely, will never be. Though a sequel was made years later, it still lacked the brash vision of this film. The fantastic score is provided by the legendary Elmer Bernstein, in what many of his fans proclaim is actually the absolute finest film score he ever did. The needle-dropped soundtrack is anything but in the genre of heavy metal, but peppered with soft rock and prog rock performers. The only real metal in the film is from Black Sabbath. Overseen by Ivan Reitman, you can see his influence throughout the film. Besides hiring composer, Elmer Bernstein, he made sure plenty of Second City performers got work in this. Not just in voice acting, but it almost seems the visuals were inspired by performers like Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and Harold Ramis. For further confirmation watch a double feature of this film and "Ghostbusters" back-to-back and view the similarities, especially in the climatic cityhall scene of GB and the press conference scene in the segment "So Beautiful, So Deadly". Currently, there is a live-action Métal Hurlant tv series airing in France apparently under the name "Metal Howling" or "Heavy Metal Chronicles". News also confirms that directors David Fincher, James Cameron, and Guillermo Del Toro plan to produce a new live action anthology film.

The Brood (1979)
CANADA --- horror/science fiction

Dir: David Cronenberg

Does there exist a nether region of the mind that so deeply represses some of our darkest emotions that somehow it can be manifested? Director David Cronenberg explores this question, in what could be one of the greatest films in true psychological horror. It is certainly one of the directors quintessential films. Known for his explorations into a sub-genre he almost single-handledly created in "biological horror", Cronenberg here searches the mind of a woman with repressed issues and the dangers of opening the horrors of the past. Something that was all too prevalent in the introspective "ME" generation of the 70's.

Frank Carveth (played by Canadian actor Art Hindle) is a father and husband in the midst of a bitter divorce as his estranged wife, Nola, (played to the hilt by Samantha Eggar) is undergoing a newfangled kind of therapy at the Somafree Institute. Dr. Hal Raglan (played by the legendary thespian Oliver Reed) runs the center, and is a slightly sinister controlling research psychologist who has developed "Psychoplasmics", a new way of channeling negative emotions and releasing them physically. The Carveth's daughter is a platinum-haired 5-year-old named Candice, who is the quiet observer caught in the middle of her mother's therapy sessions and her protective father. Whenever I see little girls like her or the "Poltergeist" girl I think of "Village of the Damned". Intentional?

After Frank observes one of Dr. Raglan's sessions with a patient in an auditorium, he's convinced his wife is not truly being helped. He's acquired even more disdain for Somafree when he discovers what he assumes are bruises on his daughter. Frank confronts Dr. Raglan about what is happening to his wife and demands to see her, but he only implores the session must not be interrupted by any means, save for their daughters frequent visitations.

Later, we see that Dr. Raglan, in his own way, does question Nola of her possibly hurting Candice, but only gets the revelation of her deep ire for her own mother. Frank takes Candice to stay with her maternal grandmother, who's clearly a chronic alcoholic. This coupled with the little tidbit of back story about Nola's "bumps" creates the rationale for first victim of the film. The grandmother goes to investigate a noise in the kitchen and she is brutally attacked by a diminutive child-like creature in a red parka.

The police later notify Frank of the incident at work and express concern for Candice's calm demeanor after this ordeal. Frank soon tries to find alliances against Somafree. Particularly in a sardonically eccentric former patient of Dr. Raglan's named Jan Hartog. Hartog has filed legal action against Raglan, who he believes may have caused his cancerous growth, thanks in no part to "psychoplasmics".

Meanwhile, Nola's father is in town to bury his late ex-wife. His visit to Somafree to see Nola is unsuccessful, and like his late wife is later murdered by the same dwarf. Raglan's interest in Nola Carveth has increased as the body count goes up. Soon Frank finds Nola's father dead, and the demoniac creature which he takes to the police, which takes him one step closer to the terrifying truth of his wife and her lineage.

Made in the same year as his "out-of-genre" film "Fast Company", "The Brood" was really where Cronenberg found himself as a director. The film is much more polished in its air of mystery and focused on its ambiguous message on what could be seen as a statement on "Women's Lib and the destruction of family". Also the commentary and possibly jealousy that woman can create life and men cannot. This is cemented in a couple of things in the film, mainly Frank's profession as an architect.

This was a personal film for Cronenberg, who was going through a rough custody battle and divorce involving his own daughter. The origin of this kind of film harkens way back to William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" infused with Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde". As opposed to the latter, here dwelling more on a maternal female rather than a male with regressive tendencies and a monstrous second nature. One problem I have with the film is the creatures discovery. Anytime something even the least bit supernatural crosses with something based in realism like police and news media, I personally can't take serious. It takes a good writer to balance it and make it believable. The score is provided by Howard Shore, who with this film was inducted in the Cronenberg repertory. Having come off of being Saturday Night Live musical director , he makes his first attempt at composing a film, and its definitely not his best. This seems too influenced by Bernard Hermann's "Psycho" and other horror films of the zeitgeist to really standout on its own.

The Gate (1987)
CANADA/USA --- horror

Dir: Tibor Takács

Well, this one isn't so ethnic in any direction. It's more American than anything. But I believe it was filmed in Canada. When it comes to kids in horror films, a lot of filmmakers shy away. Especially when we're talking about them being the protagonists. Well, they can easily be victims, and nine times out of ten they will be sexually active teenagers. But kids? As in the prepubscent kind or preteens who read comic books and boys have not yet found interest in girls kinda kids; no not really. Some classics that put kids in harms way have been made in the eighties, in the all-or-nothing pre-Columbine, pre-warning label days like The Lost Boys or tamer fare like The Monster Squad, but they're rare to find nowadays. Unless they're horror-lite like a R.L. Stine kinda film. This rears our attention to a rare little gem I used to watch alot on WPIX channel 11 in NYC as a kid . . . namely "The Gate".

A young Stephen Dorff (BLADE) stars as Glen, a boy who discovers a hole in his backyard made from a meteor. The hole happens to be a portal into a demoniac underworld. Glen's parents of course go away for the weekend when Glen and his friend Terry play some heavy metal backwards. This of course in accordance to Al Gore's wife, truly unearths the demons from the gate. What happens next is a kinda kid-friendly "Evil Dead". Glen and Terry must close the portal as they and Glen's older sister are attacked by droves of tiny demons. The special effects are decent enough to hold your attention and give some thrills throughout. It helps that the film doesn't talk down to the kids and just lets it play out as a nightmarish situation that must be stopped. Find this on DVD and give it a watch, you won't be disappointed.

Rabid (1977)
CANADA --- horror

Dir: David Cronenberg

We all know the dangers of modern medical science. One week some research study suggests something's bad for you, the next week it's good. The fact of the matter is, as the old adage goes, nothing is in exact science, this certainly goes for the practicing medicine. In this early directorial effort and companion piece to his debut film "Shivers", master of horror, David Cronenberg dives into his common theme of body horror once again. A young couple (played by the late Marilyn Chambers and Frank Moore) get into a terrible accident while on a country motorcycle ride in rural Montreal.

Rose and Hart sustain pretty bad injuries, but Rose gets the worst of it when the bike lands on top of her. They are rushed to the hospital, where the doctors must attempt a radical emergency surgery on Rose. The process basically involves taking skin tissue from one healthy part of her body and grafting it to her burnt and damaged skin. Being a new process, one can expect side effects, and this one is the crux of the film. As Rose begins to develop a hunger for human blood in which she sucks through a mutated growth of a stinger under her armpit which penetrates its victims even through clothes and with a simple hug. She in turn leaves the victims in an almost zombie-like state, in which they also begin craving blood. Soon enough, Rose is on a feeding frenzy and unlike "Shivers" where just an isolated apartment building is contaminated, the entire city of Montreal is on alert, and the military gets involved when the province of Quebec is threatened.

This is, of course, essentially the closest we may get to a Cronenberg vampire film. It is also a commentary on sexual disease, something Cronenberg seems to have been a prophet of. Here we get a couple of soon to be trademarks for the director with motorcycles (Fast Company), sex (explored in nearly every film), medical science (again in nearly every film), and of course body horror. Exploitative in nature, Rabid was to originally star Sissy Spacek of "Carrie" fame, but producer Ivan Reitman suggested porn star Marilyn Chambers who would make this her only starring role in a somewhat mainstream film. She was one of the first to do so until Traci Lords years later. Watching this film years later, you see the start of two careers, one of which sky-rocketed the other not so much.

Marilyn Chambers RIP (April 22, 1952 - April 12, 2009)