The Brood is a 1979 Canadian psychological body horror film written and directed David Cronenberg and staring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle. The film follows a man and his mentally ill ex-wife who is enrolled in a physicist’s controversial therapy, as a series of murders takes place. The Brood is a film about the fears of parenthood, motherhood and fatherhood and the lingering trauma such fears can cause.
The film starts off with Hal a physiatrist who treats his patients through phycology making them let go of their oppressed emotions such as a patient having problems with his father. The film then changes scene to show the protagonist Frank the husband and father who finds scratches of Candance his daughter. This showcases the fears of parenthood, motherhood, and fatherhood, with the parental dynamic being shown as a grotesque thing. It shows the horror of motherhood and the abuse that can come at a mother to a child. As well as the fears of fatherhood in showing the two people he loves are trapped in a cycle of abuse. Frank visits Hal about seeing Nola his wife and Candace having burses he believes his wife caused; however, Hal says not having Candance around Nola could make her go crazy. Frank understanding that he has a possibility of losing his kid as the legal system believes in motherhood. Frank then comes home to find Juliana Nola’s mum talking about hating the parents because the past and lying about it. As this occurs Raglan and Nola have therapy sessions as Nola sees him as Candace, Nola believes she didn’t hurt Candace as Raglan finds out Nola’s mum was an abusive alcoholic.
Candace’s favourite photo is one where her mum is in hospital when she was a girl as she was covered in bruises because she was abused by her mother. Candance’s aunt is attacked and killed by the brood the evil mutant children. This shows the fears of parenthood and motherhood, in how Nola is destroying the evil in her live with her own subconscious rage in her own disturbing way protecting Candance. Franks job is building houses as a family moving in there showing the themes of family within the film, as cadence is traumatised by the event as the film is symbolic of an abusive family relationship. Nola tries to reach Raglan on the phone as Frank thinks she’s turning into her mother and making Candance into her. Raglan in the daddy persona says Franks just trying to be a good dad but Nola doesn’t believe it. Nola’s dad didn’t protect her from her abusive alcoholic mother and pretend in didn’t happen. This demonstrates the fears of motherhood in how rage and trauma can spread phytologically and how it can manifest in violent pure evil. Frank then photographs Candance’s back as she has bruises showing the themes of child abuse. Frank then talks to Jan Hartog a former patent of Raglans who is dying of psychoplasmic-induced lymphoma and is using this to get revenge on Raglan. Raglan gets in contact with Juliana’s ex-husband Barton who talks about telling her about her mum’s death but Raglan refuses saying she is going through critical theory. This shows the fears and trauma of the past and how these can manifest into body horror-esc invading forces. Frank then picks up Candance and her teacher Ruth from school as they talk about her playing mother this demonstrates the fears of parenthood motherhood and fatherhood as Candance as set adrift form her mother finding comfort in other figures to giving her the nurture she needs.
Barton then talks to Frank about Julia’s home and going up there as Frank tires to talk him out of it, Barton then drunkenly talks about how he has regrets as the brood children kill him. This shows the fears of parenthood and fatherhood as the fathers’ actions is what caused the mutant children to kill him as they are a manifestation of Julia’s trauma. Frank then arrives to find baton murdered and a deformed dwarf child who dies after attempting to kill Frank. This shows the fears of parenthood with Nola controlling them like a hive mind as they are symbolic of her trauma her rage as she wants to destroy the invading forces in her life. Ruth gets a phone call from Nola who believes she is having an affair with Frank., insulting her and angerly threatening her to stay away from her family. This shows the fears of parenthood and motherhood as Nola as a rage against invading focus ruining her perfect family as she needs the control of being a parent and mother. The mutant child gets an autopsy showing they are like a foetus. They are asexual with no genitals formed yet, they are colour-blind with no eyes, teeth, or navel as they weren’t birthed naturally. This demonstrates the fears of parenthood and motherhood in that the primal desire of birth can manifest to an evil rage and mutant children.
Raglen and Nola talk about this being the end as she has guilt, and she wants the three of them together. Raglan however knows this is a lie and that they never had anything, as Nola believes they had everything as she believes she is doing the right thing for her happiness. This is a pervasive version of the family unit as the film shows the fears of family and how evil boils up under the service of normality. Ruth meets with Frank as she doesn’t want to speak to his wife again quietly going as Candance fears the brood. This shows the perversive fears of the family unit an evil force is used to destroy invading forces creating a mutated form of a family. Frank meets one of Raglans patients who says Nola is the queen bee helping Raglan who controls and miniplates mentally ill people as Nola is Raglan’s main project. This shows the fears of motherhood and fatherhood as it shows that Nola as a control. Over the brood showing he powers of the material figure showcases a power that is manifested as the evil of her abuse. This links to ideas of an affair and how the destruction of the traditional family unit manifests in her rage in the form of the brood. Candance then goes to school as the brood children enter, kidnapping Candice and killing the teacher, Ruth. This shows the fears of parenthood, motherhood and fatherhood as Nola believes Ruth is having an affair with her husband as uses her phycological rage to manifest a physical evil to destroy invading forces to her perfect family. This links to the ideas of this being like a jealous lover finding out about an affair and killing the woman.
Nola and Raglan converse about a dream of coming back with her husband and daughter as she is now stronger and no longer threated by her. This shows that the idea of an affair and the fears of parenthood and motherhood as her subconscious rage makes her a powerful figure within the family unit. They think Candy might have come back to a house they went to once as the creatures takes Candy to her mother. As the film shows the fears of motherhood and the need for the mother to be a controlling and dominating figure. Mike tells Frank that Raglan is doing something big with the disturbed kids in the work shed that his wife is taken care of. This demonstrates the perverse fears of the family unit and that a maternal perverseness can create something dark by having trauma behind it, Frank then goes to the workshed and finds Raglan as Nola controls the children. The brood are the accidental biproduct of Nola’s Pyschoplamic session. The rage and abuse she both inflicted and experienced was so strong it parthenogenetically bore a brood of creatures resembling children who psychically respond and act on the targets of her rage, with Nola completely unaware of their actions. This shows the fears of parenthood and motherhood. As her unresolved childhood trauma from her abusive mother manifested itself not only in the abusive of candy but also the brood. The brood are the psychological versions of her children, her perfect world where she can be a happy mother with her abusive tendencies and past making them into the horror figures. They attack as an extension of her rage against the destruction of her fantasy of motherhood.
Mike must try and convince Nola that he wants her back, being an apologetic father and husband, making them neutral as Raglen can just grab Candy and get out. This shows that the main them of the film is that of a family dram and that rage underneath the traditional family dynamic is that caused this horror. Frank talks to Nola as Raglan grabs Candace. Frank then confesses his love to Nola as Nola shows him her body being that of an external womb as she rips the sack open revealing a mutant child which she licks the blood off. This demonstrates the perverse fears of motherhood and how a person’s past fears and trauma can be manifested within an evil and way to cope with the trauma and defend against the fantasy that protects them. Nola notices Franks disgust which awakens the brood who attack and kill Raglen. This shows the perverse fears of motherhood as Nola needs the children in her life to survive. Nola sees through him stating that she would rather kill Candance than let him take her away from her as the brood goes after Candance who hides in a closet as they break down the door trying to kill her. This links into the previse fears of motherhood as she wishes to destroy her child as she cannot have her as her love of her child is manifested in an obsessive horror and due to her trauma, she cannot see the negative impact she is having. To stop the brood from killing Candace Frank strangles Nola to death. She shows the perversive fears of motherhood and the family unit in that to save his chid and symbolically stop the cycle of trauma and abuse he must destroy the perverted body horror interpretation of the mother figure to destroy the evil. The film ends with Frank rescuing Candance who carries her back to his car as the two drive away as the first stage of Nola’s rage of motherhood/Parenthood is shown in the form of dots on his arm shows the rage and evil will be all consuming and everlasting.
The Brood shows the fears of motherhood, fatherhood and parenthood and the lingering trauma that can cause as creating an all-consuming evil that will be enteral.