Dead Ringers – Movie Review
Director: David Cronenberg
Writer: David Cronenberg, Normal Snider (Screenplay)
Writer: Bari Wood, Jack Geasland (Book)
Cast
- Jeremy Irons (Die Hard 3)
- Genevieve Bujold (The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark)
- Heidi von Palleske (The Boys Club)
- Barbara Gordon (Cube 2)
- Shirley Douglas (Lolita)
Plot: Twin gynaecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
Runtime: 1 Hour 56 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Dead Ringers starts as we meet the twin gynaecologists Beverly and Elliot (Irons). They have created a system where they can both date women and move on quickly. However, Beverly starts getting closer with an actress Claire (Bujold), leading to the two needing to keep things separate.
Elliot isn’t happy with this change and finds himself caught in the middle of trying to return their life to what is was before. However, Beverly’s change is leaving Elliot without a focus, as they have always done things together.
Verdict on Dead Ringers
Dead Ringers is a horror mystery following twins who have worked in sync their whole lives. However, a new relationship leads to the two becoming distant and seeing their once-perfect lives falling apart.
This movie uses the idea of twin connection and takes things in a direction, which shows it controlling decisions. It also shows a con they create to get more from life. This keeps things feeling uneasy, due to their behaviour toward strangers, mostly women and dives into how in sync they are. Jeremy Irons is fantastic in the duelling roles even if the story starts to fade in the second half of the film. It does claim to be more of a body horror, which doesn’t seem to be as drastic as most of Cronenberg’s movies.
Final Thoughts –Dead Ringers is a strange path of a connection between twins.
