Described by Cronenberg as his Kramer vs. Kramer, The Brood tells the story of family disintegration and the fight for custody of a child, but it is a blacker insight into the anger and frustration of marital breakdown. When the mother, played by Samantha Eggar, is placed under the care of a "visionary" psychiatrist, her rage begins to manifest itself in horrifying symbols of psychological brooding, and of the brutality that is passed on from one generation to the next. This descent into the nightmare world of fear and revenge centers on the specific anger each character feels in trying to protect the loved child. Reportedly inspired by Cronenberg's own custody fight with his previous wife, The Brood is informed by an inner despair and a profound fear of women's reproductive power, and played out with unflinching realism.-Lisanne Skyler