Cronenberg's "Tightly-Wound" Mind

[ellenf]

There is nothing more "creepy" than a David Cronenberg movie.
Ralph Fiennes transforms into a spider through a tunnel of psychosis. This to me, was much more effective than Jeff Goldblum's metamorphosis into a fly.
I like Cronenberg when he's pyschologically strange. Take "Dead Ringers" for instance. Fiennes is on par with Jeremy Irons' performance.
And Miranda Richardson in a dual role, looks like she's having a hell of a lot of fun as a strumpet.
Spider's deluge of thoughts when he's released from a mental hospital and trying to put together the pieces of his existence reminds me of "Memento." Something horrible has happened in the past and he's piecing together fragments of memory just like Guy Pearce.

[Chris Knipp]

Well, I think this is a movie that wears well. And even eXistenZ, which doesn't get much mention, stays in my mind as the closest thing to being on a two-day acid trip as I have ever seen in the movies. For me Cronenberg is one of the ultimate trip directors--Naked Lunch is very trippy, as is Dead Ringers. Maybe that's similar to what you're saying. It's all a dream, or a psychosis; it's all in your head. He makes you lose your sense of what devides the events in your head from the events outside. That's what he supremely knows how to convey. He's dealing with the same material as The Matrix but in a simpler more direct way, without all the SciFi flourishes. Does that make any sense? Your comments make sense to me.