Cronenberg\u2019s quieter, somber, and less set-piece driven films tend to be pegged by critics as his lesser efforts. They\u2019re also more likely to be denied the label of \u201cCronenbergian\u201d, or even mocked as his attempts at mainstream prestige. But these displays of Cronenberg\u2019s oft-overlooked directorial versatility are still rooted in his distinct fascinations. One needn\u2019t show a disintegrating Brundlefly to fully embody the terrors of body horror. Case in point: Spider<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on a novel by Patrick McGrath, 2002’s Spider<\/em> felt like it signaled the end of the ’80s and ’90s grotesqueries in favor of something more\u2026. if not mainstream, then certainly easier to sell to the masses. At least, that’s how it looked on paper. Spider<\/em> starred Ralph Fiennes as Dennis Cleg, nicknamed Spider, a troubled man with schizophrenia who has just been released from a mental institution. He moves into a halfway home for troubled individuals and tries to piece together the fractured memories of his childhood in the 1950s. He finds himself obsessing over a time when his father Bill (Gabriel Byrne) murdered his saintly mother (Miranda Richardson) and replaced her with his bawdy sex worker mistress (also played by Miranda Richardson).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cronenberg may be most beloved for his exploding heads and sexy car crashes but it\u2019s the sense of absolute oppressiveness that makes his most terrifying work so unforgettable. Spider\u2019s life is ceaselessly bleak. The halfway house looks like a gothic haunted house crossed with the kitchen sink realism of working-class British cinema. Everything is grimy, from the surfaces to Spider\u2019s dirty fingernails. This is a place where it seems likely that the sun has never shone. It might be the most suffocating setting of any Cronenberg film. There\u2019s no easy way out for the viewer. If Spider can\u2019t escape, neither can we. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Richardson plays the two women who dominate Spider\u2019s childhood: his pristine \u201cgood\u201d housewife mother and the \u201cbad\u201d mistress who swears, drinks, and radiates lust. It\u2019s a doppelganger story that makes for an interesting companion piece to Cronenberg\u2019s other famous twins movie, Dead Ringers<\/em>. Her presence looms over Spider\u2019s life, both a precious memory and a tainted nightmare. The reasoning behind this double casting is slowly revealed, mirroring Spider\u2019s splintered memory trying to form a cohesive and undoubtable truth. Even then, this is a man who has for so long been separated from reality, unable to rule his own life that he seems ambivalent about whether or not any of it matters. He lives within a hell not of his own making but of a genetic quirk. It\u2019s an internal body horror, one no less grotesque than that of the viscera-laden hellscapes of Cronenberg films past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Spider<\/em> was the first film of Cronenberg\u2019s 2000s, a time where he seemed interested in exploring things that would be deemed as uncharacteristic of his past work by critics, including A History of Violence<\/em> and Eastern Promises<\/em>. Works that seemed straightforward in theme and tone quickly revealed pricklier and more unnerving cores. None of that happens without the ideas he explored in Spider<\/em>, a striking stopgap between Cronenberg eras that deserves far more than to be dismissed as a \u201clesser effort\u201d than what came before it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his review<\/a>, Roger Ebert admitted that he felt “more admiration than gratitude” while watching Spider<\/em> because “the story has no entry or exit, and is cold, sad and hopeless.” It is certainly a more knowingly nihilistic work than Cronenberg’s more famous films. The Fly<\/em> is practically operatic in its grand tragedy but you also feel immense empathy for Seth Brundle as his body mutates. James Woods is hardly a hero in Videodrome<\/em> but he’s a charming jerk whose stumble into a psycho-political takeover is rooted in a dangerous yet tangible philosophy. With Spider<\/em>, what we have is trauma where the sufferer doesn’t get any better, doesn’t feel closure by the time he uncovers the truth, and doesn’t ever seem happy. It’s possible he’s never been happy once in his life. It\u2019s a tough and airless world to inhabit and one far more burdensome than the more traditional Cronenberg works. There\u2019s no distancing via speculative elements like The Brood<\/em> or cold, deliberately unnaturalistic dialogue and performances as seen in Crash<\/em>. Maybe it\u2019s too real. Isn\u2019t that true body horror?<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Spider” is available for digital rental or purchase<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/spider2-1024x576.jpg\")
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