The Brood - No new parents need to watch this

If you're thinking of having children, you really should make sure you don't watch 'The Brood' before you go all the way.  Otherwise you'll probably end up adopting a spaniel instead.  Mind you... it's not just the kids you have to look out for.  It's also advisable that you get your prospective partner checked out before you put a ring on her finger and make sure she can't conjure up evil midget-size manifestations of evil who want to kill everyone around them.  Happy families this is not.

Writer/director, David Cronenberg is well-known for taking us into some dark and horrific places, but this story is - loosely - based on his own experiences during his real-life divorce and custody battle with his soon to be ex wife.

I don't know how that story ended, but I hope it worked out better than what happens in 'The Brood,' where Oliver Reed leads a 'new wave' scientific experiment in his luxury home, where he 'treats' his patients' mental problems by making them speak to him as if he is the person they feel has caused them all their problems.  I know Reed has his problems off set, but his performance just somehow works here.  He's strong, stoic, practically without feeling and totally committed to his own cause - no matter what the evidence to the contrary provides.

However, the husband of one of them women under his care is concerned that she has been hurting their daughter during permitted weekend visits.  He therefore insists that the mother/daughter time swiftly comes to an end.  Oliver Reed's character does not agree.  Tension ensues.

Because 'The Brood' was made back in the seventies, there isn't the need for major special effects, so what you get is some pretty nasty make-up and creepy scenes which are a damn site scarier than a thousand computer generated monsters.

The film may always have the 'look' of the seventies about it, but the story is as solid and terrifying today as it ever was.  A definite classic.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one