Dead Ringers (1988) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

Canada, USA 1988
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Miriam Newhouse, Barbara Gordon
Rating: R
Release Date: 8 Sept 1988 (CAN); 23 Sept 1988 (USA)
Running Time: 1 hour 56 minutes

The Movie Review

Dead Ringers film still 1


DEAD RINGERS
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Having a twin brother or twin sister seems to have a distinctive fun that is privilege to the twins. Back in the school days, the basic naughty thing they did is to pretend to be their brother/sister. I could hardly tell which is which. Yeah, it's annoying in a silly kind of way. But this movie by Cronenberg takes that cute naughty thing into a different level mainly consists of depravation and disturbing things in sexual realm. This another, again, disturbing feature film from David Cronenberg is inspired by the real lives (and deaths) of Stewart and Cyril Marcus. And it's also based on novel written by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland titled Twins.

So, the movie is set in Toronto, Canada in year 1988. Elliot Mantle (Jeremy Irons) and his identical twin brother Beverly Mantle (Jeremy Irons) are working as gynecologists and also the owners of Mantle Clinic. They have almost everything in common: face, look, profession with only one thing different... Elly is more aggressive and smooth in his way with women, while Bev is a shy young man. So to keep Bev accompanied by females, Elly will pass his girlfriend to Bev after he doesn't like her anymore. Yep, the twins apparently also share everything. [This is explained in the movie, so we don't get to see how they did the wrongdoings before.]

Things going on smoothly for the remarkable Mantle twins. With Bev's tools, they gained fame in the medical world and with the help of Elliot's girl, Bev lost his virginity. But when a famous actress, Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold), becomes their patient and eventually is being toyed with by Elliot, Bev starts to fall in love with her. And this is where loyalty, brotherhood and love will be tested for the first time for the Mantle twins.

If you're new to horror realm, prepare yourself to be shocked by the disturbing content that sometimes bordering on surreal stuff. Even in the early scene, your eyebrows would be raised just because of what the young Mantle twins say to a young girl. Cronenberg is not a strange name in giving his audiences disturbing contents and this time is in the form of medical horror. Just wait until you see the new medical tools that were built by a growingly insane gynecologist and the one where he performs an operation while high on drugs. It would make your female companion highly likely feeling uneasy. Don't let Dead Ringers be your date movie ;-)

The Strongest part of Alter Ego (another title for Dead Ringers) is definitely coming from the acting department. Geneviève Bujold is good as depressed actress and Heidi von Palleske is not bad as the mistress of Elliot. Both grace the screen even more by performing nude. And not to forget is the acting of Miriam Newhouse as Mrs. Bookman, gotta tell you, her brief scene is probably one of the most disturbing and cringe-inducing scenes of all, what makes the scene remarkable is that it's not graphically violent, but Miriam's expression is just top notch. But overall, the heaviest weight from acting part is carried by one man in his dual role, Jeremy Irons. A wonderful actor with excellent acting skill. He performs very solid all around giving us impression that he is someone else. It's fairly easy for actor to be someone else, but to be twins in a single movie with only a little bit of difference but still responsible to make audience able to differ them? Now that needs a true talent. And boy oh boy, was I glad that the cast didn't disappoint. A premise this intriguing should not be left tarnished by annoying acting.

Nevertheless, aside from the disturbing contents that might make some people shy away from seeing the end frame, this movie does have some serious flaws. First of all, it's none others than the slow pacing. It'd be okay if this could give something more meaningful, but all I saw is heavy worthless drama that serves only to show how brilliant Jeremy Irons is. I'll be seeing this more than once if were attending an acting class, but since I'm not, than I seriously not amused. The dialogue is a bore and there are many scenes that are uninteresting. Second of all, Dead Ringers is a concoction of thriller, horror and drama. Hmmm, those genres if combined correctly could be one heckuva film, but the drama fails here. I even thought to myself "okay they're rather incestuous and sick, but so what?" I wasn't feeling any big emotional attachment to either Elliot, Bev, or Claire. Besides the location is also tiresome.

Okay moviegoers, if you have seen other disturbing movies before from the 70s, then you would probably feel having seen nothing special from Dead Ringers. Unless you're seeing a gynecologist soon, which I advise you not to see this movie in the first place. All in all, the only thing I enjoy is seeing Jeremy Irons' performance but that's probably because I'm reviewing movies. If you want to see great acting skill combined with intense drama, Bug (2005) would be a better option. Don't buy Dead Ringers and think twice before you rent it, there are many good medical horror films or even Cronenberg's own movies better than Dead Ringers.

> Sterile but creepy medical stuff: Sublime (2007) and Pathology (2008).

> Cronenberg's work of disturbing things: Shivers (1975).