Brandon Cronenberghas been directing since 2012, but he only has three films to his name. Those three films, however, are some of the best21st-century horror has to offer. With a name like “Cronenberg”, there probably was not much Brandon could do but follow his legendary father into horror filmmaking.David Cronenberg is responsible forsome of the most creative, terrifying, and thought-provoking horror movies ever, and while his son shares his love for the disgusting, macabre, and inexplicable, Brandon has a style and viewpoint all his own.
The younger Cronenberg only began directing feature-length movies in 2012, when he was 32, with his first filmAntiviralarriving to a somewhat muted, but relatively positive reception. He then took ahiatus for eight years afterAntiviral, though he did do some work on music videos and in short films. Cronenberg returned in 2020 withPossessor, which he quickly followed up withInfinity Poolin 2023, and both films garnered him critical and audience acclaim. Having proved himself a horror director on par with any working, fans are now just waiting hopefully for his next project.
3Antiviral (2012)
A Well-Crafted And Disturbing Look At Celebrity Worship
Brandon Cronenberg’s debut film,Antiviral, is also his third-ranked film. It’s by no means bad, or even just “passable”; it’s simply not as good as the groundbreaking movies he would later directafter getting almost a decade more of experience.Antiviralstars Caleb Landry Jonesas Syd March, an employee at Lucas Clinic. Lucas Clinic is a company that purchases viruses and pathogens from celebrity clients. It then injects these diseases into clients who do so in some horrific kind of co-dependent fan behavior. Hannah Geist (Sarah Gadon) is a world-famous celeb who has an exclusive deal with Lucas.
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When Syd is promoted to take Hannah’s disease himself, he tries to secretly steal her blood. Not only does he go on the run from the company, but he also begins experiencing increasingly bizarre symptoms from Hannah’s pathogens. The body horror inAntiviralis as excellent as one should expect from David Cronenberg’s son, and the discomforting horror everyone in the film, from Syd to those asking for the diseases, experience, is as stomach-turning as it is a fascinating insight into how some people see themselves connected to celebrities they’ve never met.
ThoughAntiviralonly has a 65% onRotten Tomatoes, it is an impressive debut. It’s not a very subtle film, but body horror movies rarely are.Antiviralis smart and intricate, without feeling overly complex.Some of the ideas may be on the nose, and the characters are fairly sterile, but the thrust of the plot is incredibly engaging, and the gore and body modifications are some of the best in Hollywood.
2Infinity Pool (2023)
A Man Learns He Never Has To Pay For His Crimes
Brandon Cronenberg’s third feature-length film,Infinity Pool, stars Alexander Skarsgård as James Foster, a novelist who vacations at a seaside resort in a fictional foreign country with his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman). After meeting a fan of his writing, Gabi (Mia Goth), and her husband, the quartet spends an evening together, which results in a drunken James accidentally running over and killing a local. It’s then we’re presented with the island’s secret: foreign nationals, instead of paying for their crimes, can have a clone made who is then murdered, though the real perpetrator must watch.
As James loses himself in his newfound hedonism, he realizes that perhaps he is a victim as well.
Em is horrified and leaves the country, but James is intrigued and stays longer. He hooks up with Mia and a group of Western tourists who visit annually to commit all manner of debaucherous crimes and then watch their clones be brutally murdered. As James loses himself in his newfound hedonism, he realizes that perhaps he is a victim as well.Infinity Poolis less interested in body horror and much more interested in psychological terror, and Cronenberg offers up plenty.Each revelation in the film presents a new terrifying reckoning for Jamesand the audience.
It may not be a horror film in the traditional sense, but it’s as frightening as any. After James is tricked into brutalizing a clone of himself, his eyes are opened to how much of his soul has been lost. He stumbles out onto a balcony only to hear the horrific singing of his “friends” down below. Wearing grotesque masks, they hold wine and sing up to him. It’s almost literally a scene out of hell. It’s hard to render hell on a movie screen, but Cronenberg gives an example of what it could look like, and it’s disturbing.
1Possessor (2020)
An Expertly Paced, And Gruesomely Satisfying Film
Of the three of Brandon Cronenberg’s movies,Possessoris the most complete in every way. Not only does it have some truly gut-wrenching violence, it has body horror that’s both simple and frighteningly disorienting. What’s more,the simple story could have been an incredibly effective science fiction thriller even without Cronenberg’s tastes piled on.Possessorfollows Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough), an assassin working for a shadowy organization that transfers Vos' mind into that of another person to commit murders.
The possessed person, after having been forced to kill, is then forced to kill themselves, and Vos is yanked back out into her own body. Though Vos is a talented killer, her handler, Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh), thinks Vos' attachments to her family are not letting her fulfill her potential. When an assassination attempt goes wrong, Vos finds herself trapped inside the mind of Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott), and the two wage a violent and psychedelic war for control of his mind.
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Every moment ofPossessoris expertly crafted, and not a scene in the brisk hour-and-a-half runtime feels wasted. The gore happens suddenly and is shocking in its intensity, but it never lasts long enough so that you get bored. The brief moments of body horror are shrouded in shadows that slowly dissolve so that you’re experiencing the disturbing changes at the same rate as the characters. There are just enough twists and turns that you never feel like you have a complete handle on the story, but you trust Cronenberg to take you to the finish line.
What’s Next For Brandon Cronenberg
In what will come as frustrating news for fans of Brandon Cronenberg, there is not much recent news about any upcoming projects. However, in January 2023, Cronenberg teased that his next film could be a space-horror movie titledDragon(viaTHR). He said,
“I have a space horror movie film called Dragon that I’ve been working on for a number of years that might happen. And I’m also adapting a novel called SuperCannes as a limited series. It’s not really sci-fi or horror, it’s more of a strange detective story. I’m not sure if either of those things will happen ultimately, but that’s what I’m working on.”
There have sadly been no updates aboutDragonsince, but in May 2024, Ringside Studios and Anti-Worlds Film & Television announced that the rights forSuper-Canneshad been optioned and JG Ballard’s novel would be adapted into a limited series directed by Cronenberg (viaRingsideStudios). Cronenberg said,
“Super-Cannes was an incredibly prescient novel that is more relevant now than ever — a heady blend of cutting politics and deviant psychology, built around a deeply satisfying detective story. I’m thrilled to get the opportunity to adapt it, and to be working on the series with Anti-Worlds and Ringside.”
The novel is a science fiction thriller about a multinational business park, Eden-Olympia, that is essentially a city-state, built for society’s elites. After a doctor suddenly goes on a shooting spree, his replacement uncovers the dangerous and corrupt practices hidden behind Eden-Olympia’s glossy surface. It sounds like the perfect vehicle forBrandon Cronenberg’s style and sensibility.
