Maybe it was merely coincidence that three of our writers were all working on reviews of films directed by David Cronenberg at the same time, but we could hardly ignore it. If we're thinking about Canada's King of Veneral Horror right now, it's equally likely that you are, too. It's not surprising that he's in our heads right now, since he has a way of sticking there. The myriad of bizarre themes in his films -- the body politic, the melding of man and technology, and the conspiracy of/against society, among others -- are like viruses that subtly infect our brain cells, making residence and changing how we view the world. Even though Cronenberg has moved on to the more Oscar-friendly pastures of the crime drama in A History of Violence and Eastern Promises, the legacy of horror he has left in films like Shivers, Videodrome, and The Fly (1986) continue to shock audiences at both the visceral and intellectual levels.(read more...)
