David Cronenberg has moved from the depths of low-budget exploitation
horror to become one of North America's most respected movie directors.
Since the early 1970s, the softly-spoken Baron of Blood has attracted
widespread controversies with a steady stream of shocks - sex-crazed
parasites in Shivers (1975), exploding heads in Scanners (1981),
revolutionary flesh technology in Videodrome (1983), mutating bugs in
The Fly (1986), car crash scars in Crash (1996) and psychopathic bursts
of gun fire in A History of Violence (2005). This new study provides an
overview of Cronenberg's films in the light of their international
reception, placing them firmly in the cultures they influenced. It also
highlights often-ignored works, such as the race movie Fast Company
(1979), and includes a chapter on the latest film Eastern Promises
(2007). Amidst bans and boos, Cronenberg has developed a consistent cult
following