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THE BROOD
FLASHBACK
by a romantic history the two British actors
had shared. “He had worked with Eggar
when they were both much younger and they
had had somewhat of a jilted romance so
Ollie, late at night would be knocking on her
door... it was good in a way that they were
uncomfortable onset.”
Lead actor Art Hindle, who was involved in
some of the most distressing scenes depicted,
recalls The Brood as being a particularly
tough shoot. “Every scene I was in was just
gruesome and very intense,” he tells SciFiNow.
“You have the kindergarten murder with the
[killer brood] and working with a little girl
who played my daughter Candice, and all the
acting things that she had to go through – she
was terrifi c but working with children is very
‘duck and dodge’.”
Hindle’s reference to the brutal teacher
attack scene is particularly pertinent, as its
shocking power remains intact four decades
on – especially as the kids appear to be
witnessing the violently staged murder before
their very eyes.
Irwin assures us, however, that it was all
shot under purposely-jovial circumstances.
“David had a light touch when it came to that
scene – not that it was a frivolous scene but
he was aware of Candice’s age, who was
the same age as his own daughter, and so he
was very light and playful with these kids,”
he offers. “David and the fi rst AD really went
out of their way to ensure it wasn’t portrayed
as something lethal at all. When it’s all cut
together of course it is, but the kids didn’texperience any trauma from it.”
Equally unsettling to watch is an earlier
daytime kitchen murder scene straight out of
the Hitchcock rulebook of suspense. The scene
carefully builds tension through a succession of
omniscient shots, then, teasingly refuses to fully
reveal the looming antagonistic threat, before
spilling into a brutal murder montage attack
that keeps audiences on tenterhooks.
However, it could have all turned out quite
differently: “The scene was very structured and
the reason it was cut so selectively was due
to the same problem Spielberg had on ET,
which was that the on-camera talent didn’t
give what [the director] wanted,” continues
Irwin. “In retrospect it’s a lot better cut
together like this; if you save up the thrill you
can build people’s expectations, so it ended
up being much more dramatic than it would
have been if something was running, jumping
and smashing people to pieces!”
We eventually learn that the deformed
children who are undertaking these violent
murders are actually motivated by Nola’s
anger – being manifestations from her
subconscious. The climatic scene where Oliver
Reed has to contend with the brood hauled
up in an isolated bunkhouse, proved equally
intense – not just for viewers.
“It was very uncomfortable for the kids
[who played the brood]. They were a young
gymnastic team of girls aged fi ve to eight
and they had never been on a fi lm set before.
Ollie was quite loud and they were quite
frightened,” remembers Irwin. “What made itworse was these [masks] they had on would
not come off easily and so they had to eat
lunch with these masks on, so they were all
bent out of shape.”
The scene in question sees Dr Raglan go
to the bunkhouse in an attempt to safely
retrieve Frank’s daughter Candice from the
clutches of the titular brood. However, they
begin to get agitated by his presence and
progressively start hissing and lashing out.
“These kids wanted nothing to do with Oliver
Reed! He smelt like a distillery and was
yelling, so these kids were not going to jump
on him, much less attack or go near him!”
reveals Irwin.
The production team attempted to address
the problem by darkening the set with
shadows and panels that carefully concealed
the kids’ parents, who were in fact hidden
off-screen, behind the bunk beds in order to
assist their children. “There was a kid on the
top bunk shaking in fear as Ollie would come
down this aisle,” continues Irwin. “The kids’
parents were very helpful and they kind of
launched their children at Ollie, who would
grab them, use them as living dolls and attack
himself. So, when you look at the scene now
it’s very [choppily edited] because it was hard
to get things to fl ow.”
Art Hindle had sound reason to get theA monster
born of rage.What becomes
of Candice?The violence is
truly shocking.“THESE KIDS WANTED NOTHING TO DO
WITH OLIVER REED!”
MARK IRWIN