The unconventional psychotherapist Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) uses a unique technique developed by him to expose the repressed feelings of his patients. Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) brings his daughter Candice (Cindy Hinds) home after spending the weekend visiting his ex-wife Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar) that is interned in Dr. Raglan's Somafree Institute. He finds bruises on Candice's body and he tells Dr. Raglan that he will not bring Candice to visit Nola anymore. Meanwhile Dr. Raglan learns that Nola was abused by her mother and not protected by her father when she was young.

Frank leaves Candice with his mother-in-law Juliana Kelly (Nuala Fitzgerald) to work, but she is attacked by a dwarf-like creature and brutally murdered. Her ex-husband Barton Kelly (Henry Beckman) comes to town for the funeral, but he is murdered by the same creature. However Frank kills the creature and the autopsy shows that it is not a human offspring. Then Candice's teacher Ruth Mayer (Susan Hogan) has an argument by phone with Nola and she is murdered in front of her class by two creatures that abduct Candice. Frank heads to Somafree and discovers the secret of the deformed children.

"The Brood" is among the best horror movies by David Cronenberg. The plot is very well constructed and the gruesome conclusion is disturbing. The idea of Nola licking the fetus was conceived by Samantha Eggar and censored by censors in Canada, United States and United Kingdom. However the Brazilian DVD presents the uncensored version at least of this scene. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Filhos do Medo" ("The Sons of the Fear")

David Cronenberg has always possessed a flair for unique and disturbing visions infused with the trimmings of a genre that can be best referred to as "biohorror." "The Brood," his tale of hideous mutant children who do the bidding of mentally disturbed Nola (Samantha Eggar) under the care of new-wave psychiatrist Dr. Raglan (Oliver Reed, with a quietly sophisticated Peter Cushing sensibility),is buffered by fine performances that veer away from camp. In a way, one of Cronenberg's achievements is writing such outlandish material and making it entirely convincing and visceral, as opposed to merely settling on B-movie cheesiness, which I admire. As is the case with most Cronenberg films, here 'reality' is made the most atypical place where man can reside, and the clever script is always one careful step ahead of the audience.

7/10

"The Brood" is one of the best horror movies ever made.Oliver Reed is really memorable as a Dr Hal Raglan who preaches the radical therapy of psychoplasmics which encourages patient's bodies to manifest their suppressed angers.The script is very intelligent,and there are several really creepy scenes.The gore is pretty mild-the scene where Samantha Eggar opens her gown to reveal the sores and baby sac attached to her body and then proceeds to bite into the sack and lick the bloody afterbirth off the baby,is actually the most disgusting bit!All in all if you haven't checked this one yet,try to find it!Higly recommended.10 out of 10!