Dead Ringers (1988)

March 9, 2025 5:20 PM

[Trailer] Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.

Plot description from IMDb.

Directed by David Cronenberg from a script by him and Norman Snider, based on a book by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland. Starring Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, and Heidi von Palleske.

85% / 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.

JustWatch listing.

posted by johnofjack (13 comments total)

Surely this had been posted before, and was just a victim of someone's departure from the site.

Anyway, I watched it again for the first time in 25 years tonight. It's not as in-your-face as the early horror films by Cronenberg, or even his (then-recent) The Fly, and it comes across as fairly refined, but it's still effective and horrifying. And Jeremy Irons does a fantastic job as the twins, of course.
posted by johnofjack at 5:23 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

I tend to think this is the best Cronenberg, although it's a little like how I think Raw is the best Julia Ducournau and Hereditary is the best Ari Aster; certainly Cronenberg has done weirder and braver things, but this is the one I think works best.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:59 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]

It is quite good, although the gynecological instruments that one (or both? I don't remember) of the brothers invents are serious nightmare fuel, even by Cronenberg standards.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:03 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

I also think this is best Cronenberg. Most of his movies straddle the line between body horror and psychodrama, but this one really holds those elements in perfect balance.

I also tried to watch this with my future wife ages ago. I'd had some success seeing weird movies with her (one of the first movies we saw together was Holy Motors), so I thought this would go over well. It did not. Nevermind that we were already thinking of having kids by that point. I think it took a while for her to stop thinking I was disturbed, like Travis Bickle taking dates to pornos. I protested: but Cronenberg likes women! I swear! I think?...
posted by Alex404 at 2:21 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Agree that this is probably Cronenberg's best, even if I don't know if it's my favourite. Irons is incredible in the dual role, you quickly forget that it's one person playing both roles rather than actual twins.

Fear of and fascination with biology and the concept of identity and self are themes that most of his films explore. Dead Ringers happens to be more of a direct study on both, which is why I think it's so successful. Like Lynch, he's more interested in questions rather than answers and so his films linger with me years and decades afterwards even when they aren't as cohesive as Dead Ringers.

I also believe Cronenberg, like many men, is in awe of women('s bodies/biology). And I mean the literal definition of awe; reverence mixed with fear. Pregnancy and birth both show up in a lot of his films for a reason.

Reflecting on the overall Cronenberg cosmology, when biology runs into sociology, biology comes up as the winner 9 times out of 10.
posted by slimepuppy at 4:06 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

The costumes, designed by Denise Cronenberg, added greatly to the film.
posted by fairmettle at 5:26 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

I’ve been meaning to give this a re-watch, haven’t seen it in years. Thanks for the reminder.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 8:16 AM on March 10

If you're a nerd who loves physical media and Cronenberg, March 31 is gonna be a big day as Second Sight (the UK company that releases the coolest versions of everything it touches) have new 4K editions of Scanners and The Brood coming out that day.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:20 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]

Seriously... just look at these: Scanners, The Brood.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:12 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Loosely based on a true story!
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 1:26 PM on March 10

Also based on a novel (Twins by Bari wood and Jack Geasland)! The movie is actually more restrained in some ways--in the book, the incest is literal, not symbolic.
posted by merriment at 4:50 AM on March 11

I still think of Jeremy Irons as twins.
posted by whuppy at 12:02 PM on March 13

That scene where he's trying to shave with the shakes absolutely pegs the "omg I can't look" meter.
posted by whuppy at 12:04 PM on March 13