Podcasts
David Cronenberg’s ‘The Brood’ is a Bloody End to a Troubled Marriage [The Lady Killers Podcast]
“You got involved with a woman who fell in love with you for your sanity and hoped it would rub off.”
What would the horror version of Kramer vs. Kramer look like? What about a murderous version of Marriage Story? While horror fans might enjoy throwing in gory dismemberment or supernatural chaos to these extremely human stories, would we be able to stomach the devastating mix of physical and emotional pain? Divorce is already hard enough! But that’s just what David Cronenberg gives us with The Brood. This 1979 film is a shocking and powerful story about the death of a marriage and the extensive collateral damage that lies in its wake.
Nola (Samantha Eggar) is a young mother taking time for herself. In order to process childhood trauma, she’s enrolled in extensive treatment at the Somafree Institure, a therapeutic retreat run by the illustrious Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed). His patented modality, Psychoplasmics, allows the patient to express repressed anger and sadness by role playing conversations with a past abuser. There’s just one little drawback. Nola’s sessions seem to guide tiny humanoid assassins who hunt down the targets of her rage and beat them to death with random objects. When this brood threatens her daughter Candy (Cindy Hinds), her father Frank (Art Hindle) steps in as a protector. But it’s not so simple. You see, the law believes in mothers. In the midst of their divorce, Frank has no choice but to give partial custody to his wife even though she’s sequestered at the institute. As this deadly therapy rages on, Frank begins to fear that the only way to save the daughter may be to kill the mother.
As they continue to reveal the genre’s Hidden Horrors, The Lady Killers examine this dangerous marriage in their newest episode on Cronenberg’s undervalued classic. Co-hosts Jenn Adams, Mae Shults, and Rocco T. Thompson, put on their snowsuits and venture up to Canada as they reconcile their feelings for this magnificent film. Would they seek treatment at the Somafree Instutite? What’s their experience with divorce? Is Dr. Raglan causing more harm than good and why do they find Oliver Reed and his sweater so sexy? Mae remembers her first time watching the film, Jenn remembers giving birth, and Rocco will fight anyone who doesn’t protect Candy in this brooding episode on the children of rage. After all, the law believes in podcasts.
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
After winding down June with discussions of our vey first William Castle film Homicidal (listen) and queer director Roland Emmerich’s summer tentpole Independence Day (listen), we’re heading back to 1981 to check out Joe Dante‘s seminal werewolf film The Howling.
The Howling sees television journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace) attend a psychiatric retreat with her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) after being attacked and traumatized by local serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). It isn’t long before Karen realizes that the retreat is actually a secret cult of werewolves, and they’ve already got their sights set on Bill.
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Episode 394: The Howling (1981)
Make note of that smiley face sticker and snag that conveniently-placed jar of acid because we’re talking Joe Dante’s stealth werewolf classic The Howling (1981)!
Join us as we discuss the film’s deviations from its source material before doing a deep dive into this very tongue-in-cheek, self-aware horror film. It honestly feels like a precursor to Scream, in many ways!
Plus: Roger Corman (again!) those incredible special effects, differentiating “color movies” from “movies in color,” and why queer icon Elisabeth Brooks has us going “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!”
Cross out The Howling!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling our very first Ken Russell film with a look at his controversial 1984 erotic thriller Crimes of Passion!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 508 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Forbidden Fruits, Saccharine, Evil Dead Burn, an audio commentary on Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (aka Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch), and the conclusion of our coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat on the Requel Tier.