Five scenes that define David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg has built a distinct career for himself as a film auteur. His films explore bodily transformation and infection, thus making him a pioneer in the sub-genre of body horror. He also enjoys intertwining the psychological, physical, and technological in his story concepts.
According to The Village Voice, Cronenberg should be considered “the most audacious and challenging narrative director in the English-speaking world”. This outlook comes from the director’s graphic and surreal depictions of violence.
These representations have sparked a polar response in critics and film fans. Despite occasional criticisms of his work, Cronenberg has received several awards, such as the Special Dury Price for Crash in 1996. The director earned this award “for originality, for daring, and for audacity”, as evident in his film’s vision.
So what scenes demonstrate Cronenberg and this recognisable vision the best? Here are five scenes that just scream Cronenberg.
Five scenes that define David Cronenberg:
Head Explosion (Scanners, 1981)
Scanners is a testimony of Cronenberg’s love for body horror and technology. This 1980s sci-fi horror follows a man with extraordinary telepathic abilities who is nabbed by a corporation. He learns there are others like him who aim to use their powers to obtain domination.
Scanners’ status as a fine example of psychology and body horror is established early. There is the shocking (and mindblowing) scene where a domination-hungry scanner uses his psychic powers to make a domesticated scanner’s head explode in front of an audience. The scene begins with a tense build-up of uncertainty, completed by a sudden splash of gore created by Dick Smith.
Transformation (The Fly, 1986)
Cronenberg’s most iconic film, The Fly, tells the story of a brilliant scientist called Seth who experiments with teleportation. When a fly ends up in one of the machines during a test run, Seth’s DNA is merged with the insect and brings a nightmarish change.
The Fly is full of disgusting body horror scenes, each one more graphic than the last. The climax shows Seth’s final transformation. His decaying skin breaks off to reveal a monstrous, insectoid-human creature as he attempts to trap his lover in one of the machines. The makeup was created by Chris Walas, who designed the transformation in seven stages.
Baby bath (The Brood, 1979)
A man grows suspicious of the unconventional psychologist’s therapy techniques performed on his wife. Taking place alongside this is a series of brutal attacks committed by a brood of mutant children.
The Brood serves some terrifying horror involving the body and the mind, as a woman gives birth to a group of offspring who are manifestations of her repressed animalistic rage. One shocking scene shows her after giving birth to another. She holds it in her hands and licks it clean of the blood and gunk from the womb, almost like a wild animal.
Crashed photoshoot (Crash, 1996)
After a TV director survives a horrendous car crash, he gets caught up in a taboo subculture of other crash survivors who gain sexual pleasure from getting into more of them. The group re-create tragic car crashes that killed famous figures, one of them being actress Jayne Mansfield.
In the Mansfield scene, the group member who conducted it is seen dead and wearing a blonde wig. Another member captures photos of the scene, calling it “a work of art”, which is most disturbing. He also has the other members pose against the crashed cars, demonstrating the sexual connection between the human bodies and destroyed vehicles.
Long live the new flesh (Videodrome, 1983)
A TV station CEO (Max) discovers a broadcast signal of snuff films. He soon investigates the truth behind the station and discovers that the graphic violence may be more reality than fiction.
In this scene, Max’s flesh merges with Videodrome as a piece of technology. The unsettling makeup and special effects of mutated flesh, created by Rick Baker, symbolise the themes of excessive technology and the surrealist tone. Max also makes the chilling announcement that this is “the new flesh”, implying a new era of humankind.
