Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

bowmanblue David Cronenberg found fame making pretty 'out there' films which, due to their content, never really received much mainstream attention, destined to become 'cult classics.' His most successful outing was the remake of 'The Fly,' but that was what most people would agree on was an outright 'horror.' Next he made 'Dead Ringers.' It's a story about a pair of identical twins (both played by Jeremy Irons thanks to some clever editing and camera tricks - no CGI here!) who are both brilliant surgeons and yet succumb to some pretty distasteful vices.It looked like Cronenberg had finally left his 'body horror' roots behind, moved through an outright horror film and was now making high-quality dramas with an A-list cast. And, for the first half of the film, you'd be right.If you've never seen any of Cronenberg's previous films, you may not get that weird feeling of 'normality' at just how ordinary the first half of this film is. We meet the twins. As I mentioned, they're both played excellently by Irons - making each of his characters instantly distinguish by their contrasting personalities. They go about their business of being a little too clever for their own good and it does have a 'regular' feeling about it all that would put it in with most other mainstream dramas.Then comes the second half. I know this is kind of a spoiler, but if you're really not into your 'gross-out' moments which involve some pretty disturbing 'body horror' moments then you're going to have to have a sick bag on standby for the second half of this film. It was like Cronenberg was just lulling us into a false sense of security and teasing us with the opening.Maybe this film is more of a horror than Cronenberg's previous efforts because there are no monsters here and nothing hideous that comes from a drug-fuelled nightmare. Everything nasty here comes from real people and Irons makes you believe that the two brothers are quite capable of acting out their crimes.It's certainly not an easy (or light) watch. It's almost two hours long and you really need to give it the respect it deserves by paying attention all the way through. So, if you're in the mood for something that doesn't involve superheroes flying around New York fighting aliens, then give this one a go (if you can stomach the second half!).

dissident320 It's an interesting story of twin doctors played by Jeremy Irons. They do some impressive technical things to have him play 2 characters in the same scene. Everyone's performance was convincing as well. I think emotionally it fell a little flat for me. When the story starts to get a bit more out there and intense, I started to feel bored. I never felt like they connected the emotional dots to really justify a descent into madness. It's an okay movie but Cronenberg has done better.

Spikeopath Dead Ringers is directed by David Cronenberg who also co-adapts the screenplay with Norman Snider from the book "Twins" written by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland. It stars Jeremy Irons and Genevieve Bujold. Music is by Howard Shore and cinematography by Peter Suschitzky.Identical twin gynaecologists Beverly and Elliott Mantle (Irons) run a high end fertility clinic in the city. Both in tune with each in spite of being different personalities, their world starts to fold inwards when Beverly falls in love with drug dependent actress Claire Niveau (Bujold).Inspired by the real life story of gynaecologist twins Cyril and Steve Marcus (who were both found dead from suicide brought about by drug addiction), Dead Ringers is an amalgamation of unsettling horror and icy cold playfulness; in other words a perfect canvas for auteur Cronenberg to paint some of his peccadilloes. Cronenberg doesn't need to be gory, gimmicky or schlocky, he instead utilises the characters on the page to spin a clinical character study. Themes pulsing throughout involve individuality, identity, misogyny, narcissism, eroticism and addiction, all played out in the mystical world of surgery and in-human metaphysics. The tempo never rises above a steady heart beat, rumbling along ominously, until we enter the home straight and the director delivers a devastating yet deeply moving conclusion.Backed by a stunning dual performance from Irons, and a ballsy one from Bujold, Dead Ringers is a film of genuine greatness and a piece of work that's alive with smart ideas. 8.5/10

aaamail Recommendable. A movie about a special couple of brothers, who transformed themselves from geeky children interested in medical sciences to forty something gynecologists at the top of their field. They have a special emotional bond that makes them play with their identities, without other people being aware of it, because they look exactly the same. Different, but completely dependable, the sex games they play are bound to spiral out of control, and so they do, completely changing the look of both the brothers and their environments. The aesthetics of the movie are extremely thoroughly done, and you wont find a scene that doesn't fit the cold upper class 80's corporate theme. Marble covered walls, steel elevators, tall ornamented wooden doors and wide open spaces with a 80's futuristic and almost dysphoric noir feel going on. Doctors are dressed like members of secret cults, and the brothers lives and the work they do play out like elaborate rituals. And as the movie progresses their super organized apartment becomes a messy wasteland mirroring the state they are in. This is a multilayered movie that definitely will reveal itself even more on a second watching, even though psychological involvement is sometimes a little hard, maybe because of the movies lack of warmth.