The Brood (1979)

Time has not been kind to this movie, 24 August 2005

There was a time when I thought that The Brood was one of the more intelligent horror movies I had seen. I recently re-watched the movie for the first time in a couple of decades and I now have trouble seeing it in the same light. I'm no expert in psychology, but all the psycho-mumbo-jumbo sounds like a big bunch of hooey. Pyshcoplasmics? Please! The word is thrown around as if everyone knows what it's all about - never mind that it's all made up. And the whole concept that emotions can create something powerful enough to kill just doesn't cut it for me in The Brood. Again, I say Please! It's all an excuse to build to the one disturbing scene in the third act. (I'll admit that this scene does present an image that is all but impossible to erase from your memory.)

The acting in The Brood doesn't do much for me either. I hate to pick on a little girl, but the one in this movie is awful. Oliver Reed gives one of his worst performances that I've seen. Part of the problem with Reed in The Brood is that he is terribly miscast. I never once bought his psychiatrist routine. And don't get me started on Samantha Eggar. She's totally unbelievable as far as I'm concerned.

The supposed scares are anything but. While there are some decent jump scares the first time we meet the midget killers, it soon becomes apparent that this is the only way to make them seem frightening at all. On their own, the little people simply are not threatening. Notice how many of these things it takes to effectively take down a full-grown man without the advantage of surprise. I got the impression that had Reed or another actor moved too quickly or forcefully, the tiny terrors would have been sent flying.

So why haven't I rated The Brood any lower? While there are a few moments throughout that held my interest, the one extremely disturbing I eluded to earlier is so well done and so effective that it's worth a point or two on its own.

4/10