The Brood
The Brood is a 1979 horror film directed by David Cronenberg. Oliver Reed stars.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
The theme of the film, typical for Cronenberg, is the effect that human thought and emotion have on human physiology. In this case, an unconventional psychotherapist (Reed) has created a technique called "psychoplasmics." He encourages his patients to "go all the way through it" and allow their negative emotions (rage, fear, etc.) to cause their bodies to undergo (usually radical) physical change. A man verbally abused by his father develops welts over his body as a way of expressing his pain. Another patient developes lymphatic cancer, supposedly a manifestation of his self-hatred.
In the case of the principal characters, it causes a woman to parthenogenetically birth strange, mutated children and, via a telepathic bond, have them act out whatever emotions the mother is feeling at the time, often with disastrous consequences for those in physical or emotional proximity to the mother.
In interviews, Cronenberg has said that this film was partially inspired by a painful custody battle with his wife for their daughter.
