Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.
Practical Effects
Talking Mugwumps and insect typewriters that still look disgusting
Writing
Cronenberg weaponizes Burroughs' unfilmable novel into something even more unhinged
Acting
Peter Weller's deadpan survives every hallucination thrown at him
Director
David Cronenberg
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The ' Mugwumps'—those dripping, addictive creatures—were Cronenberg's invention. Burroughs' novel had no concrete monsters; Cronenberg made the drugs literally parasitic, turning addiction into body horror before it was a genre cliché.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
GB
