It's strange to think that David Cronenberg has been freaking us out for thirty years. Be it the head explosion in Scanners, the creation of Brundlefly in The Fly, or even Ed Harris' end in A History of Violence, his films have always existed on the far edge of extreme, even by today's standards. When you consider the impact his films have had, it's kind of strange that Hollywood has yet to make any crappy, updated remakes of them yet. There was a rumor a few years ago of a Scanners remake that never was, and Cronenberg himself signed on to remake The Fly back in September, but up until now the man's work has been untouched. Now to drop the other shoe...
According to Shock Till You Drop, Cory Goodman, the writer of next year's Paul Bettany film Priest, is refinishing his script for The Brood, a remake of Cronenberg's film from 1979, and Spyglass Entertainment has a director interested in the project. The original film is about a man who begins to investigate the strange form of psychology that his wife's doctor is practicing, at the same time as a group of mutant children terrorize the neighborhood. As his investigation continues, he learns that the two are actually related by a horrifying secret.
Unless said director is Cronenberg himself (don't count on it), this one is destined to be a disappointment. Unlike most directors, Cronenberg has never shied away from putting the most horrible abominations imaginable on screen, and it is hard to think of an equal in that department. The original came as the director was dealing with a divorce and fighting for the custody of his child, and removing that element could result in removing the film's soul. All we can really hope for is that the mutants aren't entirely CGI.
