New Year, New Horror : David Cronenberg's The Shrouds [2024]

2024 is shaping up to be a another great year for horror and the Cronenberg dynasty.

Last year, Brandon Cronenberg released the mindbending Infinity Pool [2023] while his father, David Cronenberg, returned to the horror genre with Crimes Of The Future [2022]. Now, according to reports, the master of body horror is working on a new film, The Shrouds [2024].

According to the press release, David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds concerns Karsh (Vincent Cassel), an innovative businessman and grieving widower (Diane Kruger), who builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. The machine allows relatives to watch the departed decompose in real time at state of the art cemeteries.

The Shrouds is due for release in 2024.

Dead Ringers TV Series [2023]

David Cronenberg’s classic film Dead Ringers [1988] starring Jeremy Irons has been adapted into a modern limited Prime TV series.

Dead Ringers stars Rachel Weisz playing the duel role of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twin gynecologists, who use their likeness and duplicity to share every experience of their lives at the expense of others.

And like the two main characters, I’m split on whether this modern remake / retake is a good idea, but intriqued enough to watch this blood splattered psychological story play out (despite the poor choice of a Blondie soundtrack). Although, it’s not the first time one of Cronenberg’s films has been reworked - Rabid was remade by the Soska Sisters in 2019 .

The Dead Ringers TV series is available to watch on Prime from April 21st, 2023.

You can watch the Dead Ringers teaser trailer below:

New Year, New Horror : Enys Men [2023]

Continuing with our New Year, New horror theme is the low budget british folk horror film, Enys Men, which translates from the Cornish as Stone Island.

The film stars Mary Woodvine, the director’s partner, as a wildlife volunteer living on a secluded Cornish island in 1973 as she studies a rare flower. Repeating the same daily observations, she slowly experiences strange visitations when the island’s standing stones exert an ill influence on her mind. Or do they?

Written and directed by Mark Jenkin, the film’s narrative sounds somewhat simplisitic, but this could almost double as a slow burning lost cult classic with its eerie use of 1970’s cinematography that make the film so authentically grainy. Apparently, Jenkin used an original 1976 Bolex hand-held and hand-wound camera that could only shoot for 27 seconds, making it look and feel as if it could have actually been made in that era - without the use of VFX.

There is a genuine appetite among cinema goers for folk horror, and so few classics. Enys Men looks set to be another worthy entry into the genre.

Enys Men is on general cinematic release now.

Watch the trailer below:

Enys Men official trailer

New Year, New Horror : Infinity Pool [2023]

2023 is already shaping up to be a horrorific year.

And I don’t just mean the current state of the United Kingdom with its sick workforce, nhs crisis, rail strikes, nurse strikes, royal mail strikes, border force strikes, laywer strikes, food shortages, covid waves, cost of living crisis, and incompetant and uncaring Conservative government.

No, I’m talking about the fantastic new horror films coming your way this year.

Let’s start with Brandon Cronenberg’s latest offering, Infinity Pool. The Cronenberg family have been on a bit of a roll lately with last year’s release of David Cronenberg’s Crimes Of The Future [2022], and his son, Brandon Cronenberg’s burgeoning career. His latest imminent release is the follow up to the mindbending Possessor [2020], a revenge film about identity featuring body horror, shock value, and great cinematography. Like father, like son.

Infinity Pool’s premise concerns a young writer, played by Alexander Skarsgård, looking for inspiration on a road trip with his partner when he accidentally kills someone in a hit and run in a remote country, and is soon apprehended by the authorities. The punishment for his crime in this undisclosed country? The death penalty. But for a huge financial sum, the authorities can grow a body double who will be executed on his behalf.

Infinity Pool is released on January 27th, 2023.

Watch the trailer below:

Enys Men - Official Trailer

David Cronenberg's Crimes Of The Future [2022]

David Cronenberg returns with his first new feature film in eight years, Crimes Of The Future [2022].

According to the synopsis, Crimes Of The Future, takes place in the near future as humankind attempts to biologically adapt and evolve to keep pace with technology. The title alludes to Cronenberg’s early 1970 experimental short film of the same name, which may have been an influence, and sees the director coming full circle not with a remake, but a possible return to his roots.

In recent years, David Cronenberg has taken a backseat to directorial duties and watched his son, Brandon Cronenberg, flourish with his own excellent productions, Antiviral [2012] and Possessor [2020]. Now fans of the auteur will be excited to learn he has returned to the directors chair with classic Cronenberg sci fi horror preoccupations. Fears of technology’s effect on the human body and psyche are explored throughout most of his early work, including Videodrome [1983], The Fly [1986], and Existenz [1996]. These themes look set to continue in his latest work.

Crimes Of The Future reunites Cronenberg with his long time collaborator, actor Viggo Mortensen, and also includes Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart.

Watch the teaser trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVX7df79BNo

Lockdown 2 Electric Avenue Part 3

Part 3. Things to make and do in Lockdown : Watch Possessor

Brandon Cronenberg follows up his prescient 2012 Antiviral movie with Possessor, a new film about brain implants starring reigning scream queen, Andrea Riseborough, fresh out of Mandy. Coming from the man whose last cinematic theme was the sale of celebrity viruses to their obsessive fans, you have to ask yourself, does he know something about the future that we don't?

Possessor treads a similar path to his father's, David Cronenberg's science fiction horror work, in what may seem far fetched today may be perfectly acceptable tomorrow - until there are unintended technological and biological consequences.