Melton1 — 1 month ago(February 08, 2026 08:37 AM)

It’s quite amazing how Crony started off making body horror splatter movies and yet can produce works of transcendent film art like Spider.
That said, even his earliest gore-fests revealed a filmmaker fascinated by profound ontological problems, revelling in questions of identity as people mutate into this or that.
Spider is light on gore but might be his most disturbing film. I’ve never seen the tragic curse of mental illness portrayed so effectively - Spider’s mind is a cosmic hell with no doors.
Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne and young Bradley Hall are all on the top of their game - Cronenberg has a habit of eliciting career-best performances.
The film looks fantastic on 4K, post-war London comes alive, and Howard Shore’s haunting lullaby music is equally comforting and unnerving.
You need to be patient because, though it’s typically short at around 90 minutes, the film moves at a deliberately unhurried pace, but by the end reveals itself to be a meticulous spider’s web of filmic storytelling with real bite. Once you’ve watched it your body can never quite clear its pungent venom.
For some reason this film has been neglected but it’s slowly building a loyal fanbase. Cronenberg is one of the greatest ever writer-directors and Spider is comfortably seated in First Class.