☰
Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

The Brood

Play trailer Poster for The Brood R 1979 1h 32m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
81% Tomatometer 32 Reviews 68% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
A mad doctor (Oliver Reed) tries psychoplasmic therapy on a raging woman (Samantha Eggar) soon to be a mother.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

The Brood

The Brood

What to Know

Critics Consensus

The Brood is a grotesque, squirming, hilariously shrill exploration of the bizarre and deadly side of motherhood.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More (32)
Jake Wilson The Age (Australia) One of the films that gave rise to the term "body horror," David Cronenberg's 1979 shocker is a characteristic mix of the sombre, the wacky and the viscerally grotesque. Oct 30, 2020 Full Review Michael Blowen Boston Globe [Cronenberg's] rapid fire direction keeps you bouncing back and forth between laughter and shock with only minor stops for explanatory dialogue and his satirical sophistication never stoops to cheap parody. Apr 28, 2018 Full Review Michael Sragow The New Yorker A cinematic bad dream that generates recurring nightmares. May 4, 2015 Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand ... a vivid and unsettling metaphor for the psychological and emotional forces pulling a family apart ... Apr 29, 2025 Full Review Alan Jones Radio Times This genuinely creepy and upsetting stomach churner from David Cronenberg offers an intriguing metaphor for both unexplained bodily changes and the mental abuse some parents heap on their offspring. Rated: 4/5 Oct 31, 2024 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review The picture is Cronenberg’s most satisfyingly melodramatic work, fully realized for emotional consequences over typical horror revulsion, and a crucial stepping stone in the advancement of one of today’s most important filmmakers. Rated: 3.5/4 Aug 3, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More (674)
Cody S. Another example of a Cronenberg slow build not working for me. I love and live for campy 70’s and 80’s films. Those films know what they are, and play into it, but these films seem like they’re taken all too seriously for the concepts themselves. This film, as well as Scanners, Rabid, Shivers…. Just to name a few, are examples of Cronenberg films that I think could’ve been PERFECT if they weren’t so drawn out and taken too seriously. A little more camp, shlock, gore and such, and they would’ve been perfect “bad” movies. Examples of these that come to mind are The Burning or Halloween 3, even something like Sleepaway Camp. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 09/25/25 Full Review Kalissa H Great body horror. A little slow at times. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/23/25 Full Review James M Totally amateur laughably bad terrible acting no sense of tension. Stupid story not frightening in the least. It’s shocking that David Cronenberg made this. It’s like a made for TV movie. They obviously took some liberties with this script. Reminds me of that one Star Trek episode with those crazy kids.boring.a lot of dead time where nothing happens. It got a lot better with scanners. I should’ve rented that instead Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/25 Full Review Alexandro R ESTE FILME ESTÁ ENTRE OS TOP 05 QUE JÁ ASSISTIR UM OBRA PRIMA DO TERROR. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/29/24 Full Review k.b. r Those bloody things wreaked havoc all over the place'/!!! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/26/24 Full Review Alec B If you look past the surface level genre elements the themes have aged remarkably well (rage, even understandable rage, is a destructive force that harms everyone and sometimes therapy enables instead of helping) Also, while you may not have experienced anything literally like what happens in this movie, break-ups/divorces can certainly feel like this. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/26/24 Full Review Read all reviews
The Brood

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

David Cronenberg

Director

Oliver Reed

Dr. Hal Raglan

Samantha Eggar

Nola Carveth

Art Hindle

Frank Carveth

Henry Beckman

Barton Kelly

Nuala Fitzgerald

Juliana Kelly

More Like This

View All
Zombi 2 43% 69% Zombi 2 Watchlist Nightmare 33% 44% Nightmare Watchlist City of the Living Dead 41% 56% City of the Living Dead Watchlist Videodrome 83% 80% Videodrome Watchlist Rabid 77% 46% Rabid Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Related Movie News

View All
The 13 Fiercest Moms in Horror On DVD This Week: Tomorrowland, San Andreas, Mad Men, and More
View All

The Brood

The Brood (1979) The Brood (1979) The Brood (1979) The Brood (1979) The Brood (1979) The Brood (1979) The Brood (1979) The Brood (1979) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis A mad doctor (Oliver Reed) tries psychoplasmic therapy on a raging woman (Samantha Eggar) soon to be a mother.
Director
David Cronenberg
Producer
Claude Héroux
Screenwriter
David Cronenberg
Distributor
New World Pictures
Production Co
Elgin International Films Ltd.
Rating
R
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 25, 1979, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 20, 2016
Runtime
1h 32m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
Most Popular at Home Now