In celebration of Crimes of the Future, a new film by David "Mr. Canada" Cronenberg that will open in North American movie theaters on Friday, June 3, we're looking back at his distinguished career this week.
Filmmaker David Cronenberg recalls getting a phone call from someone asking if he was interested in directing Revenge of the Jedi, as it was then titled. As he told EW in 2018:
"But, anyway, I was asked if I would be interested in considering that, and meeting with everybody, and I said, with the arrogance of youth -- relative youth, anyway -- I said, 'Well, I'm not used to doing other people's material.' And there was like a stunned silence and then 'Click' -- hang up. Basically, that was as close as I came to that."
Cronenberg explains that he wasn't opposed to the idea of working in Hollywood itself, which he proved by agreeing to come on board an adaptation of a novel by Stephen King. Hired by Dino De Laurentiis, he worked with producer Debra Hill and writer Jeffrey Boam.
Click through the gallery below to read comments on each of the films by myself and other Screen Anarchy writers. You can also watch the trailers! Come back tomorrow for a look at Cronenberg in the current century.
The Dead Zone (1983) The film is now streaming on HBO Max.
The film screened at the Grimm Up North festival in Manchester, UK, where Matthew Lee wrote about it in our pages back in 2011:
"Like an episode of TV blown up to feature length there's precious little subtext here, just sledgehammer morals and easy melodramatic tropes. … Yet while Cronenberg has no opportunity to indulge his signature moves, the director proves he can do almost as well at straight-ahead entertainment as he can mood or think-pieces."
(Read his review in its entirety.)
More recently, Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray, prompting our own Michele "Izzy" Galgana to write:
"The genius in this adaptation is multifold with Cronenberg at the helm, assisted by Hill and bankrolled by Dino DeLaurentiis. He sets the melancholy tone early, with Michael Kamen's perceptive score and use of lighting and color.
"He also infused a real humanity and warmth into the film, and as a result, Walken shines in what is probably the warmest role of his career. Cronenberg, too, is far warmer than his usual clinical gaze, no doubt informed by King's text and the brilliant adaptation by Jeffrey Boam."
Read her entire review, including comments on the "fantastic 4K restoration.")
The Fly (1986) The film is available to buy or rent from a variety of VOD platforms.
"Be afraid. Be very afraid."
Speaking for the audience, Geena Davis says those words to an unwary woman who has stumbled into the web cast by Jeff Goldblum. Improbably, the largest commercial success of David Cronenberg's career is also, arguably, his best film, one that has stood the test of time. (It also boasts Academy Award-winning makeup, marking the sole Oscar won by any of his films.)
Cronenberg came to the project after doing extensive work on the script for Total Recall, ultimately disagreeing with producer Dino De Laurentiis on the tone and casting. Producer Stuart Cornfield joined with producer Mel Brooks (?!) to make the remake, based on Charles Edward Pogue's script, which Cronenberg rewrote.
It's a film that moves quickly from its science-fiction premise into a character-driven romance that transforms, like Seth Brundle, into a melancholy horror picture.
Dead Ringers (1988) The film is available to buy or rent from a variety of VOD platforms.
Our own J. Hurtado wrote about the film's then-upcoming release on Blu-ray in 2016:
"Cronenberg’s 1988 film Dead Ringers, is among his strangest, and that’s saying something from a director who turned a man into a fly and had parasitic monsters using vaginal armpits as transport in some of his work. This film, the story of identical twin gynecologists and the bizarre love triangle they create, is a masterpiece of understated strangeness.
"Scream Factory is presenting the film in two different framings, both 1.78:1 and Cronenberg’s preferred 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Home video geeks will know that Dead Ringers is one of the most controversial films on DVD and it has never had a truly comprehensive edition, but Scream Factory appears to be ready to remedy that, and I’ll be happy to trade in my old discs for one set that does it all."
Jeremy Iron gives two incredible performances as twin brothers with an unhealthy dependence upon one another, and Genevieve Bujold is terrific as a woman who gets caught up with them to an unhealthy degree.
Naked Lunch (1991) The film is available to rent from a single VOD platform in Canada, but not in the U.S.
Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Monique Mercure and Roy Scheider star in an adaptation that was written and directed by David Cronenberg from William S. Burroughs' novel. It's the first of three Cronenberg films I've not seen yet.
Naked Lunch did not gain much love from popular audiences during its initial release, though its artistry has been warmly noticed by critics. Currently, it's not available on any VOD platforms in the U.S., and only one in Canada, but it is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Criterion, with a good selection of special features as well.
M. Butterfly (1993) The film is available to buy or rent from a variety of VOD platforms.
David Cronenberg reunited with star Jeremy Irons for an adaptation by writer David Henry Hwang of his own stage play. The story of a French diplomat who falls in love with a Chinese opera performer sounds defiantly non-commercial.
Neither audiences nor critics responded very well to the film, which naturally piques my own interest. Shout! Factory released M. Butterfly on Blu-ray late last year.
Crash (1996) The film is available to buy or rent from a variety of VOD platforms in Canada, but not in the U.S.
What I remember most is that the film stirred up a lot of concerns in the mainstream press at the time. Our own Matt Brown reviewed the Criterion Blu-ray at the tail end of 2020. As always, his reviews are worth a revisit:
"Crash is both drily time-and-place, permanently stuck in the '90s from whence it hails -- Peter Suschitzky's dread-blue night photography bouncing off late-20th Century roadsters careening through the streets of Toronto back when cell phones still had those spring aerials on the back windshield -- and yet it feels precisely, almost uncannily, contemporary. …
"I don't know if I'm glad I watched it, or angry; but I know that I saw Crash, as if for the first time, when doing so now."
I urge you to read and share Matt's review in its entirety.
eXistenZ (1999) The film is available to buy, rent or stream (with ads) from a variety of VOD platforms.
Upon its release on Blu-ray from UK label 101 Films in 2018, our own J. Hurtado recalled his first viewing of the film during its initial theatrical release:
"While I'm not 100% sold on the film, I'm glad I got to see this one the way I did. eXistenZ marks an ending for Cronenberg; this would be the last of his fabled body horror films, after this he'd t rade in his unique science fiction for more literal readings of the anxieties of the day. It is a story that foreshadows much of what has become commonplace today in terms of the melding of the virtual and real worlds.
"1999 was a time when it looked like virtual reality was going to take over the entertainment industry - here we are nearly 20 years later, and we are still inching closer to that uto/dystopia - and eXistenZ was Cronenberg's way of addressing the distance being created between face-to-face communications and competing virtual relations. It's kind of shocking how close the film got to our present reality. …
"All that being said, it has very fun moments, and some great creature and goo effects to enjoy when the film and the writing gets a bit eyeroll-y."
Again, Mr. Hurtado's review is well worth reading (again).