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#10 |
SCANNERS (1981) |
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CAST
STEPHEN LACK, JENNIFER O’NEILL, PATRICK McGOOHAN, LAWRENCE DANE, ROBERT A. SILVERMAN, MICHAEL IRONSIDE
SCREENPLAY BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
This sci-fi horror classic about warring telepaths is one of the few not to feature Cronenberg’s taste for psycho-sexual interplay. Instead it’s a fiercely violent thriller that features excellent SFX make-up by the legendary Dick Smith and introduced the always badass Michael Ironside to the world via an exploding head!
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#9 |
VIDEODROME (1983) |
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CAST
JAMES WOODS, DEBORAH HARRY, SONJA SMITS, PETER DVORSKY, LESLIE CARLSON, JACK CRELEY
SCREENPLAY BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
Uniquely prophetic in its portrayal of the thin line between the worlds of entertainment and reality, Videodrome is as Cronenberg-esque a film as they come with sex, violence and surrealist horror merging into one disturbing and provocative science fiction movie.
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#8 |
THE BROOD (1979) |
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CAST
ART HINDLE, SAMANTHA EGGAR, OLIVER REED, HENRY BECKMAN, NUALA FITZGERALD, SUSAN HOGAN, CINDY HINDS
SCREENPLAY BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
The best of his early Canadian horror indies, The Brood portrayed the destruction of a family via mental illness and gave rage a disturbing face through the form of mutant children doing the murderous bidding of their master. The murder of a teacher in front of a classroom of kindergarten tots still disturbs today.
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#7 |
SPIDER (2002) |
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CAST
RALPH FIENNES, MIRANDA RICHARDSON, GABRIEL BYRNE, BRADLEY HALL, JOHN NEVILLE, LYNN REDGRAVE
SCREENPLAY BY
PATRICK McGRATH
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
Spider features Cronenberg at his darkest and most restrained with its story of a mental patient (Ralph Fiennes) recently released from the asylum, who recounts the events which made him the man he is today. Fiennes delivers one of his best performances as the grunting, shuffling “Spider.”
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#6 |
DEAD RINGERS (1988) |
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CAST
JEREMY IRONS, GENEVIEVE BUJOLD, HEIDI VON PALLESKE, BARBARA GORDAN, SHIRLEY DOUGLAS, STEPHEN LACK
SCREENPLAY BY
DAVID CRONENBERG, NORMAN SNIDER
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
You know when David Cronenberg directs a movie about gynaecologists that things are going to get messy! So it goes with Dead Ringers, Cronenberg’s most disturbing film to date that features Jeremy Irons in an outstanding performance as twin gynaecologists who fall foul to drugs and a destructive romance with an actress (Genevieve Bujold).
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#5 |
A DANGEROUS METHOD (2011)
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CAST
MICHAEL FASSBENDER, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, VIGGO MORTENSEN, VINCENT CASSEL, SARAH GADON
SCREENPLAY BY
CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
With so many of Cronenberg’s films delving into the psychosis of his characters, it makes sense that he would make a movie about the relationship between leading psychiatrists Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggog Mortensen). Great acting, great writing and great directing from a reserved Cronenberg makes A Dangerous Method one of his best.
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#4 |
EASTERN PROMISES (2007) |
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CAST
VIGGO MORTENSEN, NAOMI WATTS, VINCENT CASSEL, ARMIN MUELLER-STAHL, SINDEAD CUSACK, JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI
SCREENPLAY BY
STEVEN KNIGHT
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
Cronenberg’s second collaboration with uber actor Viggo Mortensen once again delved into the world of crime. Mortensen plays Nikolai, an enforcer for the Russian mob who gets caught up in an internal war and a mystery involving a baby girl. Chillingly authentic and brutally violent, Eastern Promises features Cronenberg perfectly straddling the line between mainstream filmmaking and his particular brand of cinema.
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#3 |
THE FLY (1986) |
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CAST
JEFF GOLDBLUM, GEENA DAVIS, JOHN GETZ, JOY BOUSHEL, LESLIE CARLSON
SCREENPLAY BY
DAVID CRONENBERG, CHARLES EDWARD POGUE
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
A remake of the 1958 sci-fi classic, The Fly saw Cronenberg take his body-horror cinematic style to its highest peak with the story of an eccentric scientist (Jeff Goldblum) slowly turning into a human-fly hybrid after an experiment gone wrong. In the process Cronenberg creates a film filled with melodrama, a deeply felt love story and grotesque horror.
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#2 |
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005) |
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CAST
VIGGO MORTENSEN, MARIA BELLO, ASHTON HOLMES, ED HARRIS, STEPHEN McHATTIE, WILLIAM HURT
SCREENPLAY BY
JOSH OLSON
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
With A History of Violence, Cronenberg stepped away from his usual sci-fi/horror stomping ground and into crime movie territory, while also taking a swing at America’s penchant for violence.
Viggo Mortensen delivers one of his best performances as a small town family man whose past comes back to haunt in the form of the Irish Mob.
As the title promised, plenty of violence to go along with top notch dramatics follows and in the Cronenberg/Mortensen combination one of the better actor-director partnerships was born.
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#1 |
THE DEAD ZONE (1983) |
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CAST
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN, BROOKE ADAMS, TOM SKERRITT, HENRY LOM, ANTHONY ZERBE, MARTIN SHEEN
SCREENPLAY BY
JEFFREY BOAM
DIRECTED BY
DAVID CRONENBERG
Cronenberg’s adaptation of Stephen King’s hit novel The Dead Zone proved to be the perfect marriage of their vastly different styles, and saw the Canadian auteur prove himself as a director just as capable of creating thrilling conventional horror as well as kooky thrillers.
Christopher Walken stars as Johnny Smith, a school teacher who develops psychic powers after a near fatal car accident, only to see his life destroyed by his new found abilities.
With Walken delivering one of his best performances and Cronenberg deftly creating a horror movie with heart as well as scares, The Dead Zone became an instant classic that still holds up today.
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