David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg

"It is a misconception that Cronenberg's films display an attitude of disgust to the human body: anyone who can devise stories revolving around a parasite specially bred to take over the functions of diseased organs, a cable TV programmer with an organic VCR slot in his stomach, or a scientist who watches with ironic detachment as his ears and fingernails fall off, must surely be fascinated with the human body in every last one of its possible permutations"

-- - BFI Companion to Horror, 1996

The USA version of eXistenZ (Dimension Home Video) looks good at 1.78:1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, but contains no additional material. Instead buy the Canadian Alliance Atlantis DVD which contains three audio commentaries, including one by David Cronenberg. It also comes with an hour long documentary on the Invisible art of production designer Carol Spier. I found my copy at www.hmv.com but is also available at www.dv-depot.com and www.dvdboxoffice.com

Date Title Source IMDB DVD Reviews

1975 Shivers aka They Came from Within DVD IMDB

1976 Rabid DVD IMDB DVD

1979 The Brood DVD IMDB

1981 Scanners DVD IMDB DVD

1983 Videodrome DVD IMDB B

1983 The Dead Zone DVD IMDB B

1986 The Fly DVD IMDB A

1989 Dead Ringers DVD IMDB DVD

1989 Nightbreed - actor IMDB

1991 Naked Lunch VHS IMDB DVD

1993 M. Butterfly VHS IMDB

1997 Crash DVD IMDB DVD

1999 eXistenZ DVD IMDB B

2002 Spider DVD IMDB DVD

For a complete filmography go to the IMDB
Born: March 15, 1943, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
While attending university, Cronenberg made two experimental science fiction shorts, STEREO and CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, before beginning his work in features. 1975 marked his entry into the marketplace with the release of his first commercial feature, the literally stomach-churning shocker THEY CAME FROM WITHIN. Playing on the same theme, RABID cleverly cast Marilyn Chambers, a porn star, as the unfortunate victim of an operation that leaves her with a vampiric appetite for blood. THE BROOD, was a more ambitious exercise in biological horror that revealed the filmmaker reaching for some measure of respectability. A similar sense of directorial assuredness is manifested in SCANNERS, a sci-fi conspiracy thriller involving an underground community of telepaths. VIDEODROME is a nightmare about the effects of TV on its viewers. With THE DEAD ZONE, Cronenberg truly rose above the level of horror exploitation, with one of the better adaptations of a Stephen King novel.
With the big budget remake of THE FLY, Cronenberg hit his stride, finally managing to reach a wide audience without compromising his personal vision. DEAD RINGERS, with Jeremy Irons giving a double performance as twin gynaecologists, is in many ways a distillation of Cronenbergs work. NAKED LUNCH is a brave stab at William Burroughs' unfilmable novel, though it sorely misses the cracking narrative drive of Cronenberg's best work. After the ill-advised venture outside genre territory - an adaptation of the stage play M. BUTTERFLY - Cronenberg returned to more congenial subject matter: CRASH, adapted from the novel by J.G. Ballard, is an amlagam of deviant sex and fast cars - two of the filmmakers favourite subjects. As an actor, he has significant cameos in INTO THE NIGHT and TO DIE FOR and plays the psycho analyst of NIGHTBREED.
- BFI Companion to Horror
Links
David Cronenberg - includes many interviews, essays and reviews of all his films - great site

Books
The Shape of Rage, The Films of David Cronenberg edt. by Piers Handling, 1983. New York Zoetrope, Inc. New York.
Cronenberg on Cronenberg, edited by Chris Rodley, 1992, 1997. Faber and Faber, London.
Crash, by David Cronenberg, 1997. Faber and Faber, London.
Existenz, by Christopher Priest, 1997. Harper.
Writers on Directors, by Susan Gray, 1999. Watson-Guptill