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| Year: | 1981 |
| Production Co: | Canadian Film Development Corporation |
| Director: | David Cronenberg |
| Writer: | David Cronenberg |
| Cast: | Michael Ironside |
Is it the sublime horror classic you've been led to believe?
No, it's a staggeringly boring, badly acted, badly staged chase thriller where the characters have no apparent motivation but simply run around trying to kill each other, all in a stuffy, corporate, 1970s setting that does nothing to detract from the blandness.
The classics exploding head scene comes in the first ten minutes, and after that nothing else happens.
It concerns a bunch of people with telepathic abilities under the guidance or creation of a multinational corporation (I couldn't decide which) and a rival group led by a dangerous psychopath (Ironside). Cronenberg's heart's in the right place trying to underplay everything and make the story stand on its own merits without any frills or window dressing, but the hokey acting undoes the whole effort.
If movies were computers, this would be an early Windows PC - square, beige and dull.
No, it's a staggeringly boring, badly acted, badly staged chase thriller where the characters have no apparent motivation but simply run around trying to kill each other, all in a stuffy, corporate, 1970s setting that does nothing to detract from the blandness.
The classics exploding head scene comes in the first ten minutes, and after that nothing else happens.
It concerns a bunch of people with telepathic abilities under the guidance or creation of a multinational corporation (I couldn't decide which) and a rival group led by a dangerous psychopath (Ironside). Cronenberg's heart's in the right place trying to underplay everything and make the story stand on its own merits without any frills or window dressing, but the hokey acting undoes the whole effort.
If movies were computers, this would be an early Windows PC - square, beige and dull.