David Cronenberg

This morning I got my first glimpse of the trailer for David Cronenberg's latest film, A Dangerous Method, and I dare say, it looks to harken back to Cronenberg's earlier-career themes: making his audiences uncomfortable in their seat, though not (at least from the trailer) from his trademark "body horror" but more to the unnerving nature of the plot. And after this 2007 mainstream release Eastern Promises (which I think many Cronenberg fans saw as a sellout), I think many such fans will be relieved to see the filmmaker return to his roots . . . if, in fact, that is the case of A Dangerous Method. For all we know, it could be just as mainstream as Eastern Promises, but time will tell on that front.

I have to confess, David Cronenberg was something of an acquired taste for me. It wasn't until after I'd seen his more mainstream films, like Eastern Promises and A History of Violence, that I became familiar with Cronenberg's style of filmmaking—and to be frank, I wasn't expecting what I saw. My first real foray into Cronenberg's "body horror" genre was with Naked Lunch, and while I knew about the giant talking bugs beforehand, I didn't expect them to unnerve me the way they did. After that, I watched Videodrome . . . and all I can say about my first viewing is, "Holy hell!" It's one thing to see gill slits randomly appear on a human body in the midst of a hallucination; it's a whole other ballgame to see James Woods inserting and removing full-blown objects (like a gun) from said gill slits, almost like he was putting it into his pocket. After that came a viewing of Dead Ringers (which Nora refers to as "that terrible Jeremy Irons movie"), which at the time was enough to make me quit Cronenberg's old-school films cold turkey.

But then a strange thing happened.

For Christmas 2008, my future mother-in-law gave me a copy of Naked Lunch on DVD as a gift, and after re-watching it, I found I had a much greater appreciation of the film than I did on first viewing. Yes, the giant talking bugs were still bizarre, unsettling, and somewhat gross, but I nevertheless gained a certain respect for the creativity and genius behind the inception of this film (which was actually an adaptation from a controversial beat novel). Having gained a certain admiration for Naked Lunch, I then rewatched both Videodrome and Dead Ringers, and found an equitable admiration for both films, as well as a respect for Cronenberg's style of filmmaking. In fact, what draws me to Dead Ringers now is the great tragedy that befalls the two main characters—the identical twins who lose their way, grow apart, and only reconnect through their mutual drugged-out downfall. And I'll also go on record to say that Jeremy Irons was robbed big time of an Oscar nomination (and win!) for Dead Ringers.

Having acquired the taste of Cronenberg through several of his trademark films, that should not suggest, however, that I love all his films. I still find Crash unwatchable (not to be confused with the 2005 Best Picture winner, which I thought was a masterpiece), and I was very disappointed with eXistenZ, because I thought the so-called twist at the end cheapened the whole movie. His remake of The Fly I was somewhat indifferent to, though I will say that Jeff Goldblum really proved his acting chops in that film. I once saw The Dead Zone a long, long time ago, but I don't remember how I felt about it (though I read the Stephen King book beforehand, and loved it). I have yet to see some of his more well-known early works, too, like Scanners and The Brood, both of which I believe were in his body horror camp.

Anyway, how did I get off on this long tangent? Oh yes, I was talking about the trailer for A Dangerous Method. Well, hopefully I'll get to see Cronenberg's latest release this year (though I'll likely be watching it solo), and I'd be very interested to see if he returns to his roots of making an unnerving movie that only certain audiences will enjoy and appreciate—and stomach. Until then . . . long live the new flesh!