One of the films that gave rise to the term "body horror," David Cronenberg's 1979 shocker is a characteristic mix of the sombre, the wacky and the viscerally grotesque.

[Cronenberg's] rapid fire direction keeps you bouncing back and forth between laughter and shock with only minor stops for explanatory dialogue and his satirical sophistication never stoops to cheap parody.

A cinematic bad dream that generates recurring nightmares.

Cronenberg is so good at building suspense and coaxing fine performances out of his cast that no one should feel cheated by the last reel.