The Brood was released the same year as another film about a custody dispute, Kramer vs. Kramer, which subsequently took the Oscar for best picture. In 1979, Cronenberg, himself recovering from a difficult divorce and custody contest, noted of his most personal film, “The Brood is my version of Kramer vs. Kramer, but more realistic.” Originally, I thought he was joking.
— Carrie Rickey (Criterion Collection)
Nola bites the sack open with her teen and bloody fluid pours out; she tears the sheath away and unveils her psychoplasmic child. Licking the thing clean like an animal mother, the image is both unsettling yet inspired by Cronenberg’s logical-if-malformed biology. The sight is at once monstrous and bizarrely natural. Censors required Cronenberg cut the scene for its graphic nature, despite the fact that the image is not one of violence or depravity, simply warped motherhood.
— Brian Eggert (Deep Focus Review)
Synopsis: A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, while a series of brutal attacks committed by a brood of mutant children coincides with the husband's investigation.