Cast and Crew:  Howard Shore (Score)

What It’s About:  Frank Carveth’s (Art Hindle) estranged wife Nola (Samantha Eggar) is committed to the Somafree Institute, where Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) practices his new field of psychology:  psychoplasmcis, in which trauma exits the body physically, creating welts and bruises.  When Carveth finds his daughter Candice (Cindy Hinds) is covered with scratches and bruises after a visit to her mother at the Institute, he tries to keep her away from Nola and Dr. Raglan.  When Nola’s mother is murdered by a small deformed child, can Frank figure out exactly what is happening at the Institute in time?

Why Watch it Today?: Today, the first working Monday in the New Year, is a day dubbed “Divorce Day” or “D Day” by lawyers, as it is the busiest time of year for divorces.  David Cronenberg wrote and directed today’s movie after his own divorce and custody battle, and it’s easy to see how it affected the film, which is, nonetheless, and excellent horror film that fits soundly into Cronenberg’s early work focused on the horrors of sexuality and the mind/body connection.

The rather over-the-top trailer (they really don’t make ’em like they used to):

Other Choices: Want something more amusing, less bleak, that also fits the day?  How about Intolerable Cruelty?