The founder-guru of the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics and author of The Shape of Rage shapes up as a New Age version of the traditional mad scientist -- and as pretty fair satire of the modern medical quack. The actual extent of his villainy remains a question mark at the end, however -- a bit unsatisfying after your curiosity has been so thoroughly aroused by the movie's well-regulated program of neck-ticklers, nerve-janglers, and mind-bogglers. David Cronenberg strives harder to be repulsive than practically any fantasy filmmaker present or past. And although here he works more on narrative tension and less on special effects than he did in either They Came from Within or Rabid, he still cooks up a couple of creations that truly stick in your throat. Oliver Reed, Art Hindle, Samantha Eggar. (1979) — Duncan Shepherd
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