Crimes of the Future is a 1970 Canadian science fiction film written, shot, edited and directed by David Cronenberg. Like Cronenberg's previous feature, Stereo, Crimes of the Future was shot silent with a commentary added afterwards, spoken by the character Adrian Tripod (Ronald Mlodzik).
Although the film shares its title with Cronenberg's 2022 film of the same name, the latter is not a remake as the story and concept are unrelated, however there is a loose connection between the two films, as the main premise of the 2022 film, "creative cancer" also appears in the 1970 version.
Plot
The film is set in 1997. Adrian Tripod, occasional director of a dermatological clinic called the House of Skin, searches for his mentor, insane dermatologist Antoine Rouge, who has disappeared following a catastrophic plague, resulting from cosmetic products, which has killed the entire population of sexually mature women. It has allegedly claimed the life of Rouge himself after the virus mutated to affect men.
Tripod joins a succession of organisations, including Metaphysical Import-Export and the Oceanic Podiatry Group, and meets various individuals and groups of men trying to adjust themselves to a defeminized world. When a House of Skin patient that Tripod had grown close to dies from the plague, Tripod checks into a mental health clinic and engages in foot fetishism and showing off his collection of female underwear to other men.
Tripod aligns with a group of pedophiles who kidnap a five-year-old girl who has been exposed to chemicals intended to force her into puberty in order to impregnate her. However, one of the group is ultimately unable to bring himself to rape the young girl and leaves her untouched. Tripod enters the room where the girl is kept and removes his shirt, before suddenly seeing the girl emit a cream-like white foam from her mouth. Sensing the presence of Rouge in the girl, in the form of the same virus that killed him, Tripod finds his own nipples are producing the same substance. This brings him to the realization that, by artificially inducing puberty in the young child, she has become infected with the plague and that both the girl and Tripod are now going to die.
Cast
Ronald Mlodzik as Adrian Tripod
Jon Lidolt
Tania Zolty
Paul Mulholland
Jack Messinger
Iain Ewing
William Haslam
Brian Linehan
Raymond Woodley (credited as Ray Woodley)
Production
Cronenberg used a Arriflex 35 that he gained from a deferred rental from Janet Good at the Canadian Motion Picture Equipment Rental Company. The film was shot without synchronized sound due to the noise of the Arriflex 35.
The film was shot in Toronto from August 1969 to 10 February 1970, on a budget of $15,000 (). The film received funding from the Canadian Film Development Corporation.
Reception
Kim Newman, in his 1988 book Nightmare Movies, has described Crimes of the Future as being "more fun to read about in synopsis than to watch", and as proving, along with Stereo, that "it's possible to be boring and interesting at the same time".
The film has a score of 50% from six reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 5.8/10.
Home media
The film has been included as a special feature in multiple releases of other Cronenberg films, including in standard definition on Blue Underground's Blu-ray release of Fast Company, in high definition on Criterion's release of The Brood and also in high definition on a bonus disc in Arrow Video's UK Blu-ray release of Videodrome. The bonus disc from Videodrome was later released on its own as David Cronenberg's Early Works. In January 2023, it appeared as an extra on the 4K UHD of the 2022 Crimes of the Future.