People

David Cronenberg

Directing · follow into films and chains

Biography

David Paul Cronenberg (born 15 March 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and the intertwining of the psychological, physical, and technological. Cronenberg is best known for exploring these themes through sci-fi horror films such as Shivers (1975), Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983), and The Fly (1986). However, he has also directed dramas, psychological thrillers, and gangster films. Cronenberg's films have polarized critics and audiences; he has earned critical acclaim and sparked controversy for his depictions of gore and violence. The Village Voice called him "the most audacious and challenging narrative director in the English-speaking world". His films have won numerous awards, including the Special Jury Prize for Crash at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, a unique award that is distinct from the Jury Prize as it is not given annually but only at the request of the official jury, who in this case gave the award "for originality, for daring, and for audacity". From the 2000s to the 2020s, Cronenberg collaborated on several films with Viggo Mortensen, including A History of Violence (2005), Eastern Promises (2007), A Dangerous Method (2011) and Crimes of the Future (2022). Seven of his films were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or, the most recent being The Shrouds (2024), which was screened at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Description above from the Wikipedia article David Cronenberg, licensed under CC-BY-SA, is a full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

The Fly

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Videodrome

Appears in a KinoChain journey

eXistenZ

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Ready or Not: Here I Come

As Chester Danforth

A History of Violence

Directed

Crash

As Auto Wreck Salesman (voice) (uncredited)

Eastern Promises

Directed

A Dangerous Method

Directed

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

Game On: Cinematic Journeys Through Digital Worlds

From arcade nostalgia to virtual reality epics, these films explore the thrill and terror of living inside the game.

8 films

The Body's Unmaking

From Cronenberg's flesh to Claire Denis's restless bodies, these eight films chart a cinema of transformation that questions where the self ends and the body be...

8 films

Metamorphosis: Bodies in Flux

From Kafka's insect to Cronenberg's flesh, a journey through cinema's most profound transformations, where identity itself is the shape-shifter.

7 films

Topics