31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: The Brood

The Brood (1979)

Directed by David Cronenberg

Starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle

Frank and Nola Carveth are going through a hard, messy custody battle for their daughter Candice. This is made a little harder because of Nola’s stay and treatment at the Somafree Institute, receiving “psychoplasmic” treatments from Dr. Hal Raglan. The treatments bring out the repressed pain Nola hid most of her life, turning them into something that physically affects her. When the treatments increase in intensity, brutal murders start coinciding with them. Small, child-like tormenters are savagely attacking and killing those who have harmed Nola before and those who would keep Candice from her. With precious little time to act, Frank and Hal are going to have to confront Nola’s issues to stop the children of her rage.

The action is brutal and tense. People are stalked in their own homes and murdered in public during the day. All this is made a little more horrifying because the acts are carried out by what ostensibly are children. Hive minded, deformed, rage manifestations, but children nonetheless. The baggage that comes with children makes the rage babies all the more disturbing. Once you see how these kids are born through the physical manifestation of Nola the movie just sends you well outside of any comfort zone you have.

The use of special effects and makeup is fairly sparse, but what does appear is quite good. The makeup for the evil kids manages to be disturbing while remaining pretty minimal. There are little changes that drastically alter how you see them, like slightly off features and rather nasty looking harelips. Nola’s makeup is terrifying, disgusting, and absolutely spectacular. It’s a truly twisted and perverted form of motherhood and pregnancy.

For the most part, the acting is pretty solid. Oliver Reed makes for quite the pompous Doctor Hal Raglan. Samantha Eggar is creepy in her motherly actions and inability to healthily process relationship troubles. Art Hindle doesn’t really do all that much with the lead role of Frank. Not a lot to rave about on the acting front.

One could make the argument that The Brood condemns feminine power and the role of mothers in the family unit. One could even argue that the movie portrays emotional repression as a virtue, something that becomes dangerous when it’s undone. The fact that David Cronenberg was going through a bitter divorce and custody battle while writing The Brood would certainly bolster both those arguments. But, none of that stops the movie from being really good and a fine example of the director’s work in the body horror sub-genre. Leave it to Cronenberg to turn his own troubles with women into a captivating horror movie.

8 out of 10

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Village of the Damned (1995)

Village of the Damned (1995)

Directed by John Carpenter

Starring Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Mark Hamill, Michael Paré, Meredith Salenger

The small town of Midwich is mysteriously struck with a bout of spontaneous sleep. When everyone wakes, the government is a bit concerned about how and why this happened. It turns out that every woman in town is pregnant, prompting the government to stick around and keep tabs on how the children progress. The kids are all remarkably gifted and look eerily alike with very pale skin, white hair, and piercing blue eyes. They also exhibit supernatural powers like telepathy and mind control. Killing all who oppose them and terrorizing the town into submission, it’s up to a few strong willed adults to stop the children before they leave town.

Given John Carpenter’s track record with remakes of famous horror movies, you expect Village of the Damned to be at least awesome. It’s not, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. The movie is just well made and entertaining, but nothing mind blowing.

Carpenter as always knows how to set up mood and tension. The film is certainly unnerving and builds on each scene to paint a thorough picture of life under the children. You get a sense of this town being choked out by a group of spooky kids with light-up eyes. The effects are pretty decent, both practical and computer generated. At first the glowing eyes of the kids are kind of funny, but that’s quickly remedied after someone starts self-mutilating.

The cast is filled with talented actors doing perfectly adequate jobs. Christopher Reeve does his level best, looking quite concerned and at times very fatherly. Kristie Alley is surprisingly effective as a suspicious, chain smoking G-man type. And the kids all do a great job looking creepy and threatening. No standout performances, but there also aren’t any that really drag the movie down.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with Village of the Damned, but there’s also nothing really spectacular either. It’s only for those who are fans of the original and those curious about Carpenter’s take on the material.

7 out of 10