#3 - Dead Ringers (1988)

 

Dead Ringers (1988)

(dir. David Cronenberg)

Identical twins Beverly and Elliot Mantle (both played by Jeremy Irons) have spent their lives exploiting the fact that no one can tell them apart, swapping places freely at work (they share a gynecological practice), at social events, and even in relationships with women. When Beverly falls in love with a woman and decides that he doesn't want to share her, the brothers' relationship and lives begin to spiral out of control.

This may not sound very much like a horror movie, and it sort of isn't (the title was clearly tacked on by the studio, possibly because they had no idea how to market it). It definitely contains some very creepy themes, and Beverly's "gynecological instruments for operating on mutant women" are disturbing as hell, but there are no moments that are meant to be truly frightening (although I imagine that women may have different thoughts on this). Director David Cronenberg is perhaps best known for horror films like Videodrome, Scanners, and the 1986 remake of The Fly with Jeff Goldblum, so fans of those films may be disappointed that Dead Ringers is less of a thriller and more of a drama (albeit an occasionally disturbing one).

That said, this is an excellent film and I definitely recommend it to fans of Cronenberg, just be aware it is much closer to his later work like A History of Violence than it is to the rest of his output from the '80s.