In honour of the King of Venereal Horror's latest debut, Crimes of the Future & the release of the podcast episode: David Cronenberg & The Mad Scientist Trope, I have assembled a countdown of several other David Cronenberg psychosexual & medical body horror films to watch. Here is a fleshy-tasting menu to nibble on with a crunchy earworm pairing:
6. Existenz
Play it. Live it. Kill for it. (1999)
A virtual reality game called Existenz contains biotechnological consoles referred to as "UmbryCords" and "bio-ports", which involve surgical insertion into players' spines.
5. Rabid
Pray it doesn't happen to you. (1977)
After a motorcycle accident leaves the protagonist, Rose, disfigured, she undergoes an experimental treatment at the Keloid Clinic for Plastic Surgery, which involves morphogenetic neutral grafts on her damaged skin and organs. The procedure ends us creating a mutant phallic organ that subsists on blood.
4. Scanners
10 Seconds: The Pain Begins. 15 Seconds: You Can't Breathe. 20 Seconds: You Explode. (1981)
Doctor Paul Ruth & a shadowy corporate entity, Consec, is experimenting with the use of psychopharmaceuticals on telepathic individuals, also referred to as Scanners.
3. The Brood
The Ultimate Experience In Inner Terror. (1979)
The horrors of divorce and the experimental use of a new age technique of "psychoplasmics" within therapy. Gripping performances by Oliver Reed & Samantha Eggers.
2. Videodrome
Long Live the New Flesh. (1983)
Porn, Piracy, & Sadomasochism take center stage in this heavily psychosexual journey into the question of how porn impacts the body & mind.
1. Crash
Love In The Dying Moments Of The Twentieth Century. (1996)
An adaptation of the famous JG Ballard novel, this film caused quite an uproar when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. One of my all-time favourite films with a mesmerising cast, a car crash fixation & a haunting score by a frequent collaborator: Howard Shore.
