The 85 Weirdest, Day 36: David Cronenberg
The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!
Like a brain surgeon who falls in love with the tumor, DAVID CRONENBERG (1943– ) sets out to explore the mind and winds up exploding some heads — sometimes those of his characters (Scanners), usually those of his viewers. Each film is a sci-fi psychology dissertation written in hallucinatory gore, where men transform into flies (The Fly), grow vagina-like maws in their belly (Videodrome), or fornicate with the leg-scars of car accident victims (Crash). Foul but fascinating, and never without a purpose.
What’s new: Cronenberg testified this week before Canada’s Senate, criticizing a proposed change in tax legislation that filmmakers fear could be used to stifle artistic expression.
His recent movies (”Spider”, “A History of Violence” & “Eastern Promises”), though non-fantastic thrillers, show a continued engagement with ethical issues. Now he seems to be playing with violence & “criminal culture” in ways similar to what he used to do with organic dis-ease & techo-lust. Still good, though different. I hope he really does film Martin Amis’ “London Fields”