It’s bonkers how this movie has passed me by all these years. David Cronenberg wrote and directed this nightmare of a film about a father, Frank, who is trying to protect his daughter from the mentally ill wife/mother, Nola. Everything seems pretty normal until the impish deformed children show up and it is revealed that they are the demon spawn manifestations of Nola’s anger.

This movie from the late 70s seems so tame compared to horror films of the past 20 years, but I can imagine people were pretty revolted by this one when it came out. Besides all the horror elements, there is plenty to do with mental illness and divorcing parental separation. I can’t say that it’s saying anything profound as those themes are really more of a backdrop for the setups and payoffs.

No matter what you think of Cronenberg, he’s very capable when it comes to delivering the visceral stories that invade your conscious mind and do things that few directors would dare.

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