Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalised wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.
Cronenberg's body-horror masterpiece is genuinely distinctive in its central conceit — rage literally manifesting as murderous mutant children born from psychosomatic tumors — a visceral metaphor for divorce, trauma, and repressed emotion that no other film replicates. The Somafree Institute and Dr. Raglan's 'psychoplasmics' therapy give the film an unusually grounded psychological architecture for horror. Acting is serviceable with Oliver Reed delivering a commanding performance, but the leads are uneven. Cinematography is competent and atmospheric without being visually inventive. The plot is deliberately paced and occasionally clunky in structure. The ending — particularly the final shocking reveal — is a genuine gut-punch but the resolution feels slightly rushed. Novelty is the film's clearest strength, sitting at the heart of Cronenberg's emerging body-horror vocabulary and standing as one of his most personal and singular works.