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#10
SCANNERS (1981)
Scanners poster

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!

 

 


#9
VIDEODROME (1983)
Videodrome poster

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.

 

 

 

#8
THE BROOD (1979)
The Brood poster

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.

 

 

 

#7
SPIDER (2002)
Spider poster

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.”

 

 

 

#6
DEAD RINGERS (1988)
Dead Ringer poster

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).

 

 

 

#5

A DANGEROUS METHOD (2011)

A Dangerous Method poster

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.

 

 

 

#4
EASTERN PROMISES (2007)
Eastern Promises poster

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.

 

 


#3
THE FLY (1986)
The Fly poster

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.

 

 

 

#2
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005)
A History of Violence poster

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.  

 

 

 

#1
THE DEAD ZONE (1983)
The Dead Zone poster

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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