The Cronenberg thread

[vincenzo]

Jeremy Irons was good in Dead Ringers (both of him) but the film meandered a bit too much for me.

I always thought Crash was very overrated.

[Rob Strange]

I thought it worked well. But having only watched it last year, I genuinely couldn't understand why the media made such a fuss about it back in the 90s. Other than a bit of nudity and the old in out (which is no big deal), there's very little content that could be described as 'explicit' at all. Still, that's the British press...

I'm certainly glad I watched it away from all the hype and nonsense.

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by Rob Strange

Still, that's the British press...

Very much so. The media controversy over Crash was over the top even by the press's standards. Especially by the Daily Mail (as usual).

Ferman didn't have too much problem passing the unrated print. More info here.

[Angel]

The behaviour of the press towards the BBFC passing Crash was really quite appalling. I'm glad the BBFC stood their ground.

[Rob Strange]

Thanks for that - very interesting that the press essentially caused the delay.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Cronenberg is one of my favourite directors - my favourite films of his being Videodrome, Dead Ringers, The Fly and Shivers. It's difficult to choose just one favourite, as I've been an admirer of his work for years; his films sort of opened the gateway into the realms of obscure horror for me when I was young.

[Vampix]

My Cronenberg faves:

The Fly
The Dead Zone
Shivers
Rabid
The Brood
Videodrome

[Pigasus]

Glad to see Videodrome tops poll, so far...
Much as I still admire boldness of his early films, I think Crony's best work was done in back the 1980s.

I'm a big fan of eXistenZ, but he's gone off boiling point since (and even before that, as his 1990s films were somehow flawed) as subtle horror replaced visceral impact.

Nowadays, with the likes of Eastern Promises (which I thought was very predictable), he seems quite 'restrained' in terms of ghastly shocks and general weirdness. For horror content, History Of Violence was rather tame, if compared to possibilities of the original comic-book.

I was disappointed that he didn't contribute to Masters Of Horror TV series (was he ever invited by producers?), but still hope that one of his 'in development' projects, Cosmopolis (anyone know what it's about?), might be a welcome return to SF-horror.

[Vampix]

Anyone see Cronenberg's strange cameo appearence as a hospital lawyer in the Hugh Grant / Gene Hackman flick, Extreme Measures? Did he have anything to do with the film?

[zoomer1971]

Favourite Cronenberg movies would have to be Videodrome, The Brood, Dead Ringers, Scanners, Rabid, Crash.

Have been really disappointed all of his recent output.