Re: David Cronenberg
 

I own all of his films and he is one of my favorite directors.
This is a tough one but I will have to go with Dead Ringers.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

I can't pick a favorite from that list. I love nearly all of them. His films, even if they don't totally work at times, are never less than utterly fascinating. And immensly well made. So here's my 5 favorite from that list:


The Fly
Dead Ringers
Videodrome
eXistenZ
A History of Violence

And I agree...eXistenZ is magnificent and works on every level. Jennifer Jason Leigh has also never been prettier and rarely better.

Honorable mention to Scanners which Cronenberg has said was a super bitch to make.

Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

Hi All,

David Cronenberg. Some of his movies I love. Some of his movies I hate. Here's rankings for the ones that I have viewed...

1. The Brood - My hands down favorite. The opening scene is especially powerful, as the villains or antagonists aren't whom you would expect. I also love the setting. It was filmed in Canada and the school always reminds me of the one I went to as a kid...A little nostalgic...And the snowsuits and whatnot are very much of the period that the film was made...Very twisted movie, with some great effects...And you can read into this movie all sorts of ways...I've read various analyses of the movie and they're all rather interesting...

2. The Fly - Took a little bit of time for this movie to grow on me, but I always loved Goldblum's performance (and Geena Davis's, for that matter). Very grotesque at times, but a really great adaptation of the original, that really takes the whole transformation several steps further, with the help of more modern day special effects (many of which still hold up quite well today)...Again, I also loved the Toronto setting...Geena Davis's apartment is so '80s and it feels like you're in a time warp seeing it...

3. Scanners - He was on a roll when he did this and The Brood in the span of two years. Featuring one of the greatest, most disgusting character deaths ever...A little cheesy at times, but Cronenberg really gives it his all and makes you buy into the plot...I really enjoy watching this every couple of years (always as a double-feature with The Brood)...

4. The Dead Zone - Christopher Walked has done many, many great things (The Deer Hunter, King of New York, etc.), and this is one of those. Great work...And Martin Sheen is great as the villain...A really sad movie at times, and Walken does a lot of his best acting just with his eyes...A great Stephen King adaptation that I hope is never ever remade (as a movie, at least; I know they had that TV show for a while...)....

5. Eastern Promises - Was shocked at how good this was, as I absolutely hated his previous movie, A History of Violence (I don't hate it as much now, but it still has way too many plot holes for me to ever truly enjoy it)...Viggo was great and scary as the Russian gangster...And Naomi Watts was (as usual) at top-form...Also loved Vincent Cassel as one of the villains...Really great location shooting in London...Lots of violence...And the dialogue the main villain gives (can't quite remember his name...Armin-Mueller Stahl??? Or something like that) in one certain scene with Naomi Watts is just mind-blowing...One of Cronenberg's most mature movies...

6. Videodrome - Another Cronenberg movie that took probably three viewings before I actually started to really like it. Love Deborah Harry (I'm a huge Blondie fan) and James Woods is usually great (think Cop, Vampires, Indictment: The McMartin Trial, and Casino)...Really bizarre, messed up movie that I've grown enormously fond of, over time...Like most of Cronenberg's movies, this one really makes you think, and there have been all sorts of interpretations as per what Cronenberg was trying to get across...That's one of the main reasons I'm a giant Cronenberg fan...Even when I watch a movie of his I don't like, it still usually makes me think, and triggers discussions with friends afterwards...For each of the movies listed here, I'm sure I have a friend that feels the complete opposite of how I feel...So it's nice that his movies generate those sorts of discussions...

7. Maps to the Stars - One of his most recent. Julianne Moore was on the top of her game in this one...Really great movie that I need to watch a few more times...

8. Rabid - I enjoy this, don't get me wrong. The scene in the mall with Santa Claus is hilarious and horrifying all at the same time...Movie feels sooooo '70s...People smoking in the mall and whatnot...Very much of its era...Marilyn Chambers is good...Not one of my favorite Cronenbergs, but it's pretty good...

9. A Dangerous Method - Was surprised he did this movie; figured it would've suited another type of director. That said, I was pleasantly surprised...Best part was the acting by Viggo and Fassbender...As Freud and Jung, they were phenomenal...Felt like a James Ivory movie...only good and not melodramatic and boring...I think a lot of people probably avoided this and really need to give it a chance...It was very well done...

10. A History of Violence - Okay, her's where things change. I don't like this movie. I think it's okay, but I don't like it. The plot just feels extremely, extremely contrived (especially the parallel plot with the son...that plot line just makes me want to throw up when I think of how stupid and cliche it is)...I was really surprised this was so acclaimed when it came out, as I saw it in the theatres and again, was pretty pissed off with it the entire time...I'll admit the performances are pretty good, but the plot makes absolutely no sense when you actually think about it...The only, only saving graces, in my mind, are (A) the love scene between Viggo and Maria Bello...was very passionate and seemed very real, and (B) William Hurt's return to the screen...I know he never really left, but it had been a while since he had a big role like this...He did a great job, even though, as I said, the movie just really didn't work for me...Maybe it worked as the Graphic Novel it was based on, but as a movie it was stupid...(I have to admit that Ed Harris was also pretty decent)...

11. eXistenZ - I see what he was trying to do, and maybe this would've been better had he made it several years later, when special effects probably could've done this movie a better service...That said, there's very little in this movie that keeps me involved...

12. Naked Lunch - Yes, I've read the book. I applaud Cronenberg for at least attempting to adapt it to film, but it really didn't work for me...I'd compare this to Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which I felt was a stronger theatrical adaptation for such bizarre source material...Again, I like that Cronenberg tried, and I don't know how you'd improve on his version, but this movie left me cold...And I'm pretty sure if you never read the book, you'd just be staring at the screen muttering "What the F***K?" for the entire duration...

13. Dead Ringers - Another movie that really splits audiences. I'm on the side that did not like it. I can appreciate Jeremy Irons' dual performance, but the movie left me cold. Didn't care for the plot...Not sure what the point of it was...But again, it's the type of movie I want to watch again because I want to figure exactly why I didn't like it...And why others really do like it...

14. Cosmopolis - Oh my god. Just bad. Horrible. Robert Pattinson at his worst. I know he's actually done some good stuff, like The Rover and Good Time, but when he's bad, he's bad. And I totally get why he wanted to work with Cronenberg, as a lot of actors do (he was actually really good in Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars), but I wished he had read the script for this one before signing up. Nonsensical plot twists abound...No real characters to relate to or like...Just nothing interesting in this movie, aside from complaining about how bad it is...

15. Spider - Worst Cronenberg film I've ever seen. The only...slightly positive...thing I can say about this movie is Ralph Fiennes was pretty good as a schizophrenic...I can't argue with his performance...But if you want to see an actual good movie about schizophrenia, watch Clean, Shaven...Now that's a good movie...

Anyway, that's all I got...One of the more notable Cronenberg movies I didn't rank is Shivers, as it still hasn't received a proper Region A release...I still look forward to that one...I also didn't rank Stereo or Crimes of the Future, as I still haven't watched those, even though they are extras on some Blu-Ray releases...I also still need to watch Fast Company, which is a movie I've owned for like a decade, but from what I've heard it doesn't even feel like a Cronenberg movie...It's more of a movie he just made because apparently he is slightly obsessed with race cars and wanted to make a movie about them...

Anyway, feel free to reply with your thoughts...

Thanks

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

I'm a huge Cronenberg fan, and though I don't feel I can rank his films fairly (since I like most of them, in some cases equally), here's my brief review of many of them:

Shivers: Fantastic film, and very creepy. Definitely up there as one of my favorite Cronenberg movie even though the effects were crude - due to this being a low-budget '70's movie. Unfortunately, Shivers is unavailable these days on home video. The DVD has been OOP for years. I ended up streaming this a while back, and the print wasn't that great - but it was better than nothing.

The Brood (1979): Great film about our unconcious fears/issues taking physical shape(s) - the little baby?! creatures were well-done for a low-budget film.'

Rabid (1977): Truly horrific film that really plays into the fears many of us have of a plague/virus running rampant in society. Extremely well-done.

Scanners (1981): Hard film for me to watch, but very well done. The Exploding head imagery was something I knew about re: this film years before I actually saw this.

Videodrome (1983): Bizzarre movie; the organic gun/arm was disturbing & grotesque.

The Dead Zone (1983): Wow, what an incredible film - Christopher Walken was excellent in this, and the script was very true to the novel; like De Palma's Carrie, this is another example of a film that truly does the original Stephen King book justice.

Side-note: After re-watching several of the above films back to back, I noted that The Brood, Rabid, and The Dead Zone were all filmed & set during the dead of winter - whether or not this was coincidental or intentional, IMHO this aspect (snow, ice, cold, etc.) added to the starkness of the films.

The Fly (1986): Stomach-turning & brilliant, and quite possibly Jeff Goldblum's best film; IMHO this film is a great example of a re-make out-shining the original. That being said, the fly transformation is probably one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen in a movie.

Dead Ringers (1988): One of the most disturbing of Cronenberg's film. Jeremy Irons is to be commended for making me believe he was two different people - brilliant.

Naked Lunch (1991): Very messed-up (in a good way) film. I can't imagine any filmmaker other than DC even attempting to make this.

M. Butterfly (1993): Well-done film, and I didn't see the ending coming at all.

Crash (1996): Truly horrific; prior to seeing this, I never thought that celebrating?! car crashes & injuries would ever be the subject of a film, but leave it to Cronenberg to make this! I only saw once & will probably never see again. That being said, Holly Hunter & James Spader were great in this.

eXistenz (1999): The first time I saw this, I hadn't seen many of Cronenberg's films at that point and I was dissapointed; because of the video-game/virtual reality angle, I was expecting a CGI-heavy effects-laden film, and this wasn't like that at all. The second time I saw this, I had by then seen more of Cronenberg's earlier films, and really appreciated eXistenz - it was very clever & well-done, and had some obvious?! homages to Videodrome.

Spider (2002): Excellent film that really created an uneasy/unnerving atmosphere; the ending was shocking for me (the first time I saw this).

A History of Violence (2005): Very flawed film. I wish I hadn't read the graphic novel this film was based on before seeing the movie; Viggo M. was great in this, but I felt that Bill Hurt was mis-cast as the vicious gangster; the graphic novel went a lot more into the past of the Viggo character and why he had to leave the city (Chicago?!) and start over again in a small town.

Eastern Promises (2007): Extremely violent gangster drama with a different twist; I liked the England setting & the Russian mafia angle, which set this apart from other gangster films. IMHO possibly Viggo M.'s best role.

A Dangerous Method (2011) - simply amazing. Both brilliant & extremely disturbing at the same time, this was classic Cronenberg. I especially liked the last 5 or so minutes when Jung & Sabina had that brief conversation by the river, and then the film closed with the last shot of Jung just sitting there staring off into space.....very well-done. The final text/blurbs explaining what happened to everyone were also disturbing, especially the final fates of Otto Gross & Sabina.

Cosmpolis (2012?!): Cosmopolis is easily Cronenberg's worst film - I just wasn't that interested in seeing a rich guy travel around in a limo for most of the film. Somewhat dull, IMHO.

Maps to the Stars: Brilliant movie - very well-done condemnation of Hollywood & how it can really corrupt people - especially the young. And, extremely disturbing/sickening at times as well - i.e., classic Cronenberg.

Side-note: Also enjoyed DC's role in Clive Barker's Nightbreed (1990), which was another great, underrated horror movie.

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

1. The Dead Zone (still waiting on BD release)


not a fan of anything else

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

Cosmopolis is the only Cronenberg movie I haven't seen. I'll probably break down at some point, for the sake of completeness. But everything I've heard (including the comments here) make me fairly confident I won't enjoy it.

I respect that Cronenberg tries different things as a filmmaker (while still maintaining his own aesthetic), and has a 40 year run of interesting movies. But my favorites remains his early "body horror" run from the mid 70s to mid 80s. It's tough for me to pick a favorite from that era, but it would be between The Brood, Scanners, and The Fly.

I owe extreme negative reviews of The Brood for pointing me in the direction of Cronenberg as a kid. Leonard Maltin (whose giant review book my parents always bought) gave it a BOMB rating with the following review: "Eggar eats her own afterbirth while midget clones beat grandparents and lovely young schoolteachers to death with mallets. It's a big, wide, wonderful world we live in!" Roger Ebert (who can be generous to horror movies, even the gross ones) also gave it his lowest rating, while asking: "Are there really people who want to see reprehensible trash like this?" Clearly the answer is ... YES!!! :D

You're right ... Fast Company isn't much of a Cronenberg movie. It's a decent 70s time capsule about car racing, and certainly worth watching for fans of Cronenberg (as long as they go in knowing it's nothing like his other movies).

Stereo and Crimes of the Future I found tough sledding. You can see the beginnings of Cronenberg's style and themes here (and for fans of the director, worth watching once just for that). Writer/critic Kim Newman nails it, saying it's a lot more fun to read the synopses of these movies than actually watching them.

You really have to get around to watching Shivers. I consider that movie his "true" debut. Despite the lack of Blu Ray, it's been steadily available (I know I've seen it on steaming services and shown on TCM).

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

This is something I can’t do because I love all his films except for Fast Company. Yes, I also loved Cosmopolis. DC is one of the greatest and most consistent directors. A true auteur who’s themes are in every film no matter what the subject matter, whether it be a drama, crime thriller, horror, sci-fi.

If I had to pick his top 5 INPO, it woul be

Dead Ringers
Crash
Videodrome
The Brood
Naked Lunch

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

This will probably be considered blasphemy but after seeing The Dead Zone for the first time since childhood, I thought of most movies I’ve seen, this is one of the few that I wouldn’t mind seeing a remake of. I never saw the tv show but another film version that fleshed out some of the plot points a little more would be something I’d be interested in seeing.

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

Videodrome and Existenz are probably his best movies.

Goonies85 says the special effects don't hold up on Existenz. I don't recall there being many special effects. That's what I like about it. It's a film about a VR game that uses almost no digital bullshit.

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

The Dead Zone is definitely one of the best horror films I've seen, and one of the Cronenber's best films - horrifying, disturbing, and genuinely creepy. Christoper Walken is superb as the tortured title character, and Martin Sheen is also amazing in this. Though it would have been nice if the film had been slightly longer (to include more that was in the great Stephen King novel), I find the film holds up very well as it stands.

Agreed. eXistenZ is a fucking masterpiece. And, the storyline takes the JJL & Jude Law characters & puts them in various "alternate reality" situations, but there is no distracting digital FX here whatsoever (or very little) - which would definitely date the film, especially now. However, the lack of special FX is exactly why the film holds up so well these days - even though it's almost 20 years old. Hell, someone could watch it 20 years from now and it would still hold up.

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

Appreciate the head's up...I might eventually watch Fast Company, Stereo, and Crimes of the Future, but really only if I've exhausted the rest of my collection and have nothing better to do...Love the comments about his other movies...I know a lot of reviewers were super-harsh on him regarding his "body horror" movies...Even though those same movies are now widely acclaimed...

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

I should also say that while I've enjoyed Crash, I've really only been able to see it on TV in Canada a couple times, so I avoided ranking it...I usually only rank movies when I actually own them and can re-watch them several times...I'd love to see Criterion release that movie on Blu-Ray...not sure if that's a pipe-dream, but one can hope...I remember really liking Holly Hunter in that...

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

Of what I've seen

1. Videodrome
2. The Fly
3. Dead Ringers
4. The Naked Lunch
5. Eastern Promises
6. A History of Violence
7. Scanners
8. Cosmopolis

The only one I haven't liked was Cosmopolis which was an ambitious failure.

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

I should also say this...even for the Cronenberg movies I don't necessarily love, like Naked Lunch or Spider, I nonetheless always love hearing his commentaries...I always find them fascinating...And in my mind, that's the best sign of a good filmmaker...I may disagree with the quality of the movie, but I always love him arguing about why he made the decisions he made...And again, it probably took me three viewings before I really started appreciating Videodrome, so there's a always a chance his "lesser" movies will increase in my esteem...I love that...He's always an interesting talker...and I agree with whoever gave his performance in Nightbreed a shout-out...That movie was filmed in the province I live in, and I recognize a bunch of the scenery...

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

Dead Ringers
The Fly
Eastern Promises
Videodrome
Scanners

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

I was pleasantly surprised when he showed up at San Diego Comic-Con for a signing (I think he was promoting A History of Violence). I was a little apprehensive, not quite sure what to expect. There was a 2-item limit so I brought the DVD covers of Crash and Dead Ringers. Turned out he was very nice. Only wished I could spend more time with him.

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

Can't believe some of you don't own region-free Blu Ray players, 'cause then you could easily get things like the fantastic Arrow SE of Shivers.

Except I can't watch his scenes now without being reminded of the Terrance and Phillip characters from South Park. You know, they ARE supposed to be Canadian. Hmmm.

edit: and actually, you don't even need a region-free BD player; I dropped Shivers into my non-modded Sony, and it played just fine.

Re: Best Cronenberg Movies Ranked
 

What's unintentionally funny about Cronenberg & his films is that when he's interviewed, he looks & acts like a mild-mannered college professor-type. However, the films he creates are quite grotesque & horrific. Very funny - in a ironic, sick way ;)

Here's a review of the Nightbreed Blu-ray director's I posted on another board a while back. Since Cronenberg co-stars in the film, I felt it would be appropriate to post it here:

Recently saw the Nightbreed Blu director's cut. Fantastic! I had seen the film's theatrical cut before, but this Blu was a revelation - incredible PQ, and the additional scenes (which seemed to primarily include more of the creatures) were incredible. This DC was definitely an improvement over the regular theatrical cut.

The make-up/prosthetics on the creatures was superb - both grotesque & impressive. Some of the creatures were so stomach turning it was hard to look at them - sickening.

David Cronenberg as the creepy psychiatrist/killer Deckard was chilling. Disturbing performance.

In any case, this is my favorite Clive Barker film, and definitely one of my favorite '90's horror movies - though it's almost an '80's film, since it was probably filmed in '89. The ambiance/story definitely brought to mind a late '80's horror flick...

Too bad that the film didn't do better theatrically - it was obviously extremely expensive to produce/make, especially given all of the impressive creatures - these looked great even by today's standards, and the film is almost 30 years old!