A body horror about trauma, that has some shocking violence and gore in a pragmatic way. 

• Gore factor: ★★★★☆
• Psychological factor: ★★★★★
• Body horror factor: ★★★★★
• Disturbing factor: ★★★★☆

The Brood is a body horror that handles childhood trauma in a sort of psychosomatic way. With creepy child-sized creatures who kill with rage, a concerned father, an innocent child and a mother whose therapy is working against her. It stars Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Cindy Hinds. Directed and written by David Cronenberg. 

Duration 1h 32m

Plot

We meet a psychotherapist called Dr. Hal Raglan who has an unorthodox therapy session with one of his patients. He encourages his patients to release their suppressed emotions through physiological changes in their body. He calls this technique psychoplasmics. Emotions express themselves as blisters on this patient’s body. Nola Carveth is also under his care. She is a resident at his facility. 

After her 5-year-old daughter Candice has visited her, father Frank who battles for custody, finds bruises and marks all over her body. While he wants to sort this out and to prevent Candice from visiting Nola, he leaves Candice with her grandmother Juliana, Nola’s mother. That night a child-sized creepy creature dressed in a same sort of ski outfit as Candice enters Juliana’s home and murders her brutally by smashing her head in, leaving behind a shocked Candice.

That is the start of many more encounters with these creepy child-sized creatures, who also turn on Nola’s father and Candice’s teacher. And finally take Candice away. Frank has to find out what is happening and discovers it’s all connected to Nola in a very disturbing way.

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Short Review

It’s a very pragmatic film, about very heavy themes, like child abuse, childhood trauma and bottled up emotions in need for a way to express themselves. Frank’s investigations are rational and to the point and his behavior is the opposite of how Nola’s emotions express themselves. 

The kills are also very businesslike, in the sense that although the creatures are full of rage and charge with power and vigor, it feels like this rage isn’t coming from them but rather as if they are guided, following an order. The creatures are child-sized and from a distance or from the back they look just like children and fit right in, with their colorful ski outfits just like all the other children at Candice’s school are wearing. But once you see them up close or from the front, their faces are hideous and malformed. Their behavior is full of rage and creepy intent. But that makes it all the more disturbing. 

These beings are not only a symbol of Nola’s repressed feelings, but also a real-life expression. While the creatures kill those Nola has a grudge against, she tells Hal all about her childhood, her traumas and negative emotions. The film uses body horror to express psychological horrors, but more in a no-nonsense way instead of adopting an emotional style. That contrast makes the film very interesting. 

The ending explains all that is happening and treats us to more body horror that is very visual and graphic, but also very disgusting and gory. While things might be sorted out at the end and Candice and Frank are safe, the little marks on her arm indicate that trauma causes trauma and is often carried from parent to child, normally in a psychological, mental way, but now also in a physical way. 

The Brood has some good kills, blood and gore, but the themes and things it has to say about trauma and mental illness, bottled up emotions, are taken seriously and combined with body horror it results in a very disturbing drama. 

SPOLIERS:

As Candice is kidnapped by the creepy kids, the brood, Frank goes to the work shed where they live and where Nola takes care of them. When he wants to go in he is stopped by Hal, who wants to help him. While Frank has to calm Nola, Hal can take Candice away. He explains that when Nola gets upset, so does the brood, because they are connected. They act out her emotions. Frank goes inside and after a conversation with Nola, she shows him her belly. It becomes clear that she gives birth to these creepy kids. They grow outside of her body in some sort of umbilical sack. The brood are a product of her trauma, her frustrations, her rage and grow out of her like deformed kid-like things. When she gets upset, the brood act out. That’s why they killed her mother for abusing her, and her father for not helping her. She kills the teacher because she thinks the teacher and Frank have an affair. And the brood take Candice because Nola wants her child. However there’s no reasoning with her. The brood kills Hal and want to stop Frank from taking Candice. Frank strangles Nola to save Candice and the brood dies with her. After Frank drives off with Candice some bumps are shown on her arm. She has the same affliction as Nola and her trauma is already expressing itself. In a way trauma breeds trauma.