(Small spoilers throughout the entire review)

David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers is a thriller that makes the blood chill, but in a completely different way than his previous 'The Fly'. Dead Ringers is an emotionally and psychologically devastating film focusing on the exclusiveness of twins and their (supposable) telepathic interaction skills. Master actor Jeremy Irons stars in a double-role as Beverley and Elliot Mantle. At age nine, they're intelligent kids (the part where they ask the bitchy neighbor girl to have experimental sex with the both of them is great) and they grow to be brilliant med school students. In a further life-stadium, they're brilliant gynecologists with an own clinic. Even though nobody can tell the difference between them physically, the two brothers have a very different personality. Elliot is the dominant, self-confident one while Beverley is the shy one who wouldn't even meet girls if it weren't for Elliot passing his ex-girlfriends to him. But then Beverley falls deeply in love with an actress who came to the clinic with gynecologic problems. After the painful mix-ups between the two brothers (Dead Ringers makes no problem out of exploiting the 'twin-brothers-share-the-same-girlfriends' topic) they form a steady couple, but when the actress hands over some of her showbiz's habits like drugs and kinky sex to Beverley, this seems to unleash mental madness that eventually has its impact on both brothers.

Dead Ringers is slow, stone cold and driven by depression and despair. In his typical and brilliant style, David Cronenberg tells the story without any form of emotion or sympathy for the brothers. His directorial approach is detached and it sometimes feels like he's shooting an ordinary scientific documentary. That certainly isn't a bad comment, though. In an unexplainable way, the cold and objective viewpoint is what makes this film so terrifying. Along with the outstanding performance by Irons, that is. He really succeeds in making both of his characters go through a lethal downward spiral of insanity. Dead Ringers is one of those films almost impossible to judge. Half of the time what you see are brilliant and half of the time you're too confused by it, but, in general, it's far too compelling and you refuse to give up understanding what the characters go through. This is psychological terror in its purest form!

Elliot and Beverly Mantle (Jeremy Irons) are identical twins that are top-of-the-class and incredibly well known gynaecologists. They also treat themselves by swapping their identities around, so they can share each other's work commitments and pleasures, like woman. But all of this comes back to destroy them emotionally and physically.

An intriguing and rather inventive premise director / co-writer David Cronenberg has come up with here. The worlds Cronenberg creates in his film's are rather fascinating in looking at the human body and technology. This film is no exception. So you can't really call this mainstream, as it's not for everyone's tastes. That's why his films seem to have great impact in the realistic visuals and material context. It's flowing with originality, good psychological elements, erotica and it holds such an artistic feel with its stunning visuals and elegance to show.

This thought-provoking drama is rather stimulating and quite downbeat. Though, it's mostly a talkative film; the dialogue is dense on many levels that it's truly captivating. It's more the material context that tries to shock and explore in a subtle way rather than the horrific visuals and shocks that we come to expect from most of Cronenberg's films. It doesn't contain much graphic moments, only about one or two. The sub-plots are drawn up quite well with dabbling in sexual desires and pleasure, technology (instruments and tools of the trade), the twins physical bond, addiction and a rather modernistic world. It's filled with sharp and intense sequences that are entrenched with an effective music score, as it overwhelmingly draws you in. This unsettling aurora builds into paranoia in the last half of the film and it ends rather disturbingly. The stylish production valves are incredibly glossy and professional. With beautifully crafted and slick cinematography. The gloomy colours that fill the screen hold great contrast in the moody and detail backdrop. From their fashionable home to their cold work office.

Jeremy Iron gives a tremendously charismatic performance playing both Elliot and Beverly Mantle. Elliot is Beverly's backbone as he's confident and arrogant. Beverly is the opposite as he's more innocent and rather sweet. Beverly wants to break the bond that they share, but Elliot can't let that happen. At first they weren't that likable, but the further the film goes along we see their downfall and there spiral into madness. That's when you start to feel for them and it gets rather emotionally charged. They also live and depend on each other, feeling what the other one feels and that's mostly pain and gloom here. This happens when they start to depend on painkillers and Beverly believing his girlfriend is cheating on him. This portrait shows how fragile they really are and how we really depend and feel when love ones are in pain and sorrow. As we are effected in the same way too. Genevieve Bujold is splendid as Claire Niveau the movie star and Beverly's love interest.

Maybe the film was a bit overlong, but this is a shockingly grim and efficient film that plays on many levels of the mind.

A powerful and disturbing psychological horror film from prolific director David Cronenberg. Unlike Cronenberg's earlier, more straightforward visceral offerings - such as THE FLY and SCANNERS (incidentally, the star of SCANNERS, Stephen Lack, makes an unwelcome cameo appearance), DEAD RINGERS plays it slowly, taking time to create realistic characters (thanks to some superb acting on behalf of the leads) and building up a horrifying story. This film really makes an impression on you and is chilling to the extreme. Jeremy Irons gives what I believe to be one of his finest performances in the dual roles of the twin brothers, conveying sadness, disgust, and insanity like no other. That he also convinces you that he's two separate people is a mark of class.

Rather than in-your-face gore and stark terror (of which you might have come to expect from Cronenberg's earlier '80s offerings), there is an unsettling and disturbing story built up here of the two twins, and Jeremy Irons is simply magnificent in his role. Why he didn't win any awards for it I will never know. The viewer really feels for the two doomed brothers and there are lots and lots of disturbing, mind-rending scenes included in the film, most of them involving the perversely shaped instruments that Irons has constructed in a fit of madness - yet another mark of Cronenberg's twisted "body horror".

It's a difficult for me to review because in order to understand it, you have to see it. I can't really describe the impact it has because of the psychological nature of the thing; it's all very well reviewing cheap made-for-video trash but actual classics like this are a much harder nut to crack. All I can say is that it's an excellent film and provokes many disturbing images in your mind. It's not an easy film to watch either, there were moments where I felt like turning the video off due to the horror on show and the fact that the bastard Cronenberg makes us CARE for the people as he tortures them inside and out. There is little more that I can say, apart from if you want real, numbing horror then seek out this film as opposed to the latest Freddy or Jason offering which were doing the rounds at the time this was made. You'll never forget DEAD RINGERS, and in spite of sounding melodramatic, it may will haunt you and give you sleepless nights (it disturbed me, that's for sure)!