The trailer for David Cronenberg's The Brood (1979) begins with this warning:"Now comes a major motion picture event that will take you far beyond anything filmed before. You are about to journey beyond fear, beyond terror, beyond the boundaries of your mind, in a film so terrifying it will devastate you totally."
Believe it or not, this is not an overstatement. I should have taken this warning seriously - I sat down to watch a simple 70's horror flick and had my world rocked. I feel like Cronenberg bitch slapped me for 92 minutes straight. The homicidal humanoid children scared the crap out of me. And beyond the frights was a storyline that will have me thinking back on it for days to come.
I contemplated going through this film step by step as I normally do in movie reviews here on Retrospace, but I don't want spoil a single scene for you. However, I can't help but point out one moment in the film...
...yeah, that right - a Happy Days lunchbox is basically the centerpiece for a few moments. Sort of took me out of the moment temporarily - similar to when Ted Danson appeared out of nowhere in Saving Private Ryan and all I could think about was Cheers for the next 20 minutes.But don't let The Fonz dissuade you from checking this movie out. This is the most chilling mind bending horror movie that I have seen in a long, long time. So, if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch Sanford & Son to counteract the bad vibes and chase the heebee jeebees away.
