Biography
David Paul Cronenberg [CC OOnt], born 15 March 1943, is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and the intertwining of the psychological, physical, and technological. Cronenberg is best known for exploring these themes through sci-fi horror films such as Shivers (1975), Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983), and The Fly (1986). However, he has al...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Ready or Not: Here I Come
2026
The sequel to the 2019 film. Plot TBA.

The Shrouds
2025
as Corpse (uncredited)
Inconsolable since the death of his wife, Karsh, a prominent businessman, invents a revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living...

The Shrouds
2025
Director, Writer
Inconsolable since the death of his wife, Karsh, a prominent businessman, invents a revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living...

Humane
2024
as D.O.C.S. Commercials Narrator
In the wake of an environmental collapse that has forced humanity to shed 20% of its population, a family dinner erupts into chaos when a father's pla...

Leo
2023
Original Film Writer
A mild-mannered man becomes a local hero through an act of violence, but it brings forth consequences with connection to a dangerous world, one which ...

Room 999
2023
as Self
In 1982, Wim Wenders asked 16 of his fellow directors to speak on the future of cinema, resulting in the film Room 666. Now, 40 years later, in Cannes...

Four Unloved Women, Adrift on a Purposeless Sea, Experience the Ecstasy of Dissection
2023
Director, Writer
Cronenberg's speculative historical work draws inspiration from the anatomical waxworks at the La Specola museum in Florence, Italy. These wax models,...

Crimes of the Future
2022
Director, Writer
With his partner, a celebrity performance artist publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. An investigator from ...

The Death of David Cronenberg
2021
as David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg stands in a softly lit bedroom and looks deeply into the camera before his gaze shifts to a motionless figure in the bed...

The Death of David Cronenberg
2021
Director, Writer
David Cronenberg stands in a softly lit bedroom and looks deeply into the camera before his gaze shifts to a motionless figure in the bed...

Falling
2020
as Dr. Klausner
John Peterson lives with his partner Eric and their adopted daughter in Southern California. When he is visited by his aging father Willis from Los An...

Disappearance at Clifton Hill
2020
as Walter
Following the death of her mother, a young woman returns home to Niagara Falls and becomes entangled in the memory of a kidnapping she claims to have ...

Rabid
2019
Original Film Writer
The quiet Rose works in women's fashion clothing, hoping to be a designer. A traffic accident damages her face. She gets experimental stem cell treatm...

Pass the Warning: Reflecting on Nic Roeg's Masterpiece
2019
as Self
New featurette, writer/director Brad Bird, writer/director Andrew Haigh, director Danny Boyle, and cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond, amongst others...

A Kaleidoscope of Meaning: Colour in Don't Look Now
2019
as Self
New featurette, David Cronenberg, cinematographer Anthony B. Richomond, and professor Sarah Street (University of Bristol), amongst others, discuss th...

L’ inquiétante absence
2019
as Self
"L'inquiétante absence" is a documentary that examines the current state of genre films in Québec. In an attempt to answer their questions, the filmma...

The Dead Don't Die
2019
Thanks
In a small peaceful town, zombies suddenly rise to terrorize the town. Now three bespectacled police officers and a strange Scottish morgue expert mus...

The Drema
2019
Thanks
When a troubled teen aged girl goes missing, an ex-detective is forced to take on the case which he slowly realizes is a lot stranger than it original...

Ape Sodom
2016
as Narrator
Three degenerates navigate the descending hierarchy of post-consumerist enlightenment.

Ape Sodom
2016
Additional Dialogue
Three degenerates navigate the descending hierarchy of post-consumerist enlightenment.

Tomorrow's Shadows
2016
as G.O.D. (voice)
Where futures are known and happiness is guaranteed by G.O.D., a mother is given a choice - her child or her perfect future.
The Scanners Way: Creating the Special Effects in 'Scanners'
2014
Thanks
This Documentary goes over how the special effects in the 1981 film "Scanners" were done.

Maps to the Stars
2014
Director
Driven by an intense need for fame and validation, members of a dysfunctional Hollywood family are chasing celebrity, one another and the relentless g...
Mental Saboteur
2014
Thanks
Michael Ironside discusses his role as Darryl Revok in the 1981 sci-fi/horror cult classic "Scanners."

The Double
2014
Thanks
An awkward office drone becomes increasingly unhinged after a charismatic and confident look-alike takes a job at his workplace and seduces the woman ...

Nosferatu vs. Father Pipecock & Sister Funk
2014
Thanks
A reimagining /regurgitation and re-dubbing of a classic silent horror flick! Shot in mind-shattering 2D (& 36DD), featuring T&A and epic voice-over ‘...

Tales from the Organ Trade
2013
as Narrator
A look into the underground world of trafficking human body parts.
Candy
2013
Thanks
Touching on love, sex, money, and art, Cassandra Cronenberg directs this formally daring inventory of human transactions, which tracks a young woman’s...

The Nest
2013
as Dr. Molnar (voice)
A doctor must remove a parasite infestation from within a patient's breast.

The Nest
2013
Director, Writer
A doctor must remove a parasite infestation from within a patient's breast.

Rewind
2013
as Rourke
Revolves around a team of military field operatives and civilian scientists who must use untested technology to travel back in time to alter past even...

Pacific Rim
2013
Thanks
Using massive piloted robots to combat the alien threat, earth's survivors take the fight to the invading alien force lurking in the depths of the Pac...
Citizens of Cosmopolis
2012
as Self
An in-depth documentary about the making of David Cronenberg's feature film, Cosmopolis (2012), an adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel of the same name.
Citizens of Cosmopolis
2012
Thanks
An in-depth documentary about the making of David Cronenberg's feature film, Cosmopolis (2012), an adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel of the same name.

Cosmopolis
2012
Director, Screenplay, Producer
Riding across Manhattan in a stretch limo during a riot in order to get a haircut, a 28-year-old billionaire asset manager's life begins to crumble.

A Special Day
2012
as Self
At the 60th anniversary of Cannes Film Festival, 34 famous directors are followed by camera.

A Dangerous Method
2011
Director
Seduced by the challenge of an impossible case, the driven Dr. Carl Jung takes the unbalanced yet beautiful Sabina Spielrein as his patient. Jung’s we...

Down to Sleep
2011
Thanks
A young woman discovers she has the power to bring dead goldfish back to life. But what else is she capable of bringing back?

Produce Your Own Damn Movie!
2011
as Self
When it comes to producing, no one speaks with more authority than Lloyd Kaufman creator of The Toxic Avenger and founder of the longest-running indep...

Acid Head: The Buzzard Nuts County Slaughter
2011
Thanks
Acid-scarred teenager Pheromone Labonza (aka Acid Head) is a vengeful, bloodsucking cannibal goth-girl killer that slashes her way though rural Buzzar...
David Cronenberg: The Early Years
2011
as Self
Director David Cronenberg discusses his transition from the experimental filmmaking of 'Stero' and 'Crimes of the Future' to working within the commer...

Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics
2010
as Self (archive footage)
A look at the history of the comic book publication that launched such legendary characters as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
2010
as Self
A riveting and emotional journey into the world of writer William S. Burroughs, a man considered as cold as an iceberg on a winter night.

Barney's Version
2010
as O'Malley Director #2
The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.
Crank Up
2010
Thanks
One day, two film making students meet evil.

Tub
2010
Thanks
About a guy who can't commit to his girlfriend... Who then jerks off in the shower. And accidentally impregnates his tub.

The Plan
2008
Executive Producer
The short drama is about a group of children in the wing of a hospital plotting a covert operation in the middle of the night. Are they up to no good ...
On Screen!: Shivers
2008
as himself
The debut feature from Canada's most celebrated filmmaker, David Cronenberg, Shivers provided the young director with a crash course in feature filmma...

To Each His Own Cinema
2007
as The Suicidal Man (segment "At the suicide of the last Jew ...")
Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmak...

To Each His Own Cinema
2007
Director
Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmak...

Eastern Promises
2007
Director
A Russian teenager living in London dies during childbirth but leaves clues in her diary that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russia...

At the Suicide of the Last Jew in the World in the Last Cinema in the World
2007
as The Last Jew
In an unspecified future, a man prepares to kill himself in a cinema toilet. Two unseen radio commentators say he is the last Jew in the world, and th...

At the Suicide of the Last Jew in the World in the Last Cinema in the World
2007
Director, Writer
In an unspecified future, a man prepares to kill himself in a cinema toilet. Two unseen radio commentators say he is the last Jew in the world, and th...
Karim
2007
Thanks
'Karim' tells the tale of a troubled boy who finds himself trapped in a world where fear, violence and abuse surround him, preying on his every though...

Shortbus
2006
Thanks
In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an undergro...
The Politics of the Dead Zone
2006
as Self
A discussion on the politics behind the 1983 David Cronenberg thriller, The Dead Zone.

Skinwalkers
2006
Thanks
Creatures, bound by the blood of the wolf, that can kill with curses and move at lightening speed, watching the night sky for the rise of the blood-re...

Too Commercial for Cannes
2006
as Self
A day in a life tour diary with David Cronenberg, as he brings his film "A History of Violence" to the Cannes Film Festival (2005) for its first publi...

Acts of Violence
2006
as Self
ACTS OF VIOLENCE is a behind the scenes documentary, structured in a scene by scene breakdown of all the incidents of violence in David Cronenberg's f...

Fear of the Flesh: The Making of The Fly
2005
Thanks
Feature length documentary on the making of David Cronenberg's The Fly.

A History of Violence
2005
Director
An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.

The Best of Secter & the Rest of Secter
2005
as Self
Tells the story of David Secter, Canada's first acclaimed indie filmmaker.

Videodrome: Forging the New Flesh
2004
as Self
Through the use of interviews (both vintage and new) with various cast and crew members, including Rick Baker, Bill Sturgeon, David Cronenberg, James ...
Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek Through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche
2004
as Duncan (archive footage)
This compelling documentary explores Canadian film culture and tries to discover what defines Canadian film through interviews with notable filmmakers...

100 Greatest Sexy Moments
2003
as Self
Documentary, based on a British poll, listing the 100 sexiest movie and TV moments. Supplemented by new interviews with performers, filmmakers, and au...

Masters of Horror
2002
as Self
Documentary showcasing the work of prominent film directors in the horror genre. Featuring interviews with the directors, behind the scenes footage an...

Spider
2002
Director, Producer
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a k...
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of "Jason X"
2002
as Self(archive footage)
Produced for the "Jason X" Special Edition DVD.

Jason X
2001
as Dr. Wimmer
In the year 2455, Old Earth is now a contaminated planet abandoned for centuries -- a brown world of violent storms, toxic landmasses and poisonous se...

The Judge
2001
as Det. Stobel
When a key witness in a case of corruption is killed in courts all suspicion falls on Judge Armando Acosta. Now the judge Madiani will defend his inno...

Resolving Power
2001
Thanks
In an abandoned power plant, a paranoiac electrician dreams he discovers a piece of shapeless flesh in a jar. Armed with plans, he wanders about a wo...

Imagining 'Total Recall'
2001
Thanks
Making of documentary featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven.

Preludes
2000
Director
Commissioned by the Toronto International Film Festival to mark the event's 25th anniversary in September 2000, the "Preludes" program consisted of te...

The American Nightmare
2000
as Self
An examination into the nature of 1960's-70's horror films, the involved artists, and how they reflected contemporary society.

Camera
2000
Director, Writer
While a veteran actor laments the state of film and film acting, a group of young children sneak a Panavision camera into the apartment where the acto...

Frame by Frame: The Invisible Art of Production Designer Carol Spier
2000
as Self
The invisible art of production designer Carol Spier. The relationship between director and production designer is a special one. FRAME BY FRAME is a ...
David Cronenberg: I Have to Make the Word Be Flesh
1999
“I Have to Make the Word Be Flesh” is an insightful and candid interview with the man himself about his films and his motivations. Cronenberg is cheer...

Resurrection
1999
as Father Rousell
A jaded homicide detective has been put on the case of a ruthless killer in the city of Chicago, who leaves a trail of horribly mutilated and dismembe...

eXistenZ
1999
Director, Screenplay, Producer
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been dam...

Last Night
1998
as Duncan
Various citizens of Toronto anxiously await the end of the world, which is occurring at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.

I'm Losing You
1998
Executive Producer
Based on Bruce Wagner's best selling novel, "I'm Losing You" is the gripping tale of a wealthy Los Angeles family and their journey from profound loss...

The Grace of God
1998
as Psychiatrist
Centering on L'Ecuyer's identity as a gay man, the film unfolds as a series of vignettes depicting various key moments in his life.

David Cronenberg and the Cinema of the Extreme
1997
as Himself
A brief documentary about Cronenberg made by the BBC to precede a showing of 'Videodrome' on television.

Extreme Measures
1996
as Hospital Lawyer
Guy Luthan, a British doctor working at a hospital in New York, starts making unwelcome enquiries when the body of a man who died in his emergency roo...

The Stupids
1996
as Postal Supervisor
An incredibly dull-witted family unknowingly stumble upon an illegal weapons deal while on the trail of their "stolen" garbage.

Crash
1996
as Auto Wreck Salesman (voice) (uncredited)
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims, and he begins ...

Crash
1996
Director, Producer, Writer
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims, and he begins ...

Moonshine Highway
1996
as Clem Clayton
The plans of a moonshine runner trying to make a better life by becoming a stock car racer go awry when the local sheriff is determined to kill the dr...

To Die For
1995
as Man at Lake
Suzanne Stone wants to be a world-famous news anchor and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. What she lacks in intelligence, she make...

Blood & Donuts
1995
as Crime Boss
In 1994, in Toronto, the vampire Boya awakens from his twenty-five years of sleep in a basement hit by a golf ball. He takes a cab to the local cemete...

Scanner Cop II
1995
Characters
When other Scanners in the Los Angeles area are left drained of life, Sam is forced back into action in a desperate attempt to stop Volkin, who is det...

Boozecan
1994
as Stan Coleburn
The owner of an after-hours bar dreams of opening a legitimate establishment.

Trial by Jury
1994
as Director
Valerie is a juror in the trial of a mob boss. When her young son's life is threatened, she has no option other than to see that justice isn't done.

Scanner Cop
1994
Characters
Rookie cop Sam Staziak has a unique gift: he is a Scanner, which gives him the power to read the thoughts of others, and also to inflict great bodily ...
Henry & Verlin
1994
as Doc Fisher
Verlin is 9 years old and does not talk, nor does he even seem to hear. Henry, a child-like adult, befriends Verlin and pulls him from his shell. Verl...

M. Butterfly
1993
Director
In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with an opera singer, Song Liling – but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.

Naked Making Lunch
1992
as Self
A 1992 documentary about the making of Naked Lunch.

Scanners III: The Takeover
1992
Characters
A young scanner with extraordinary telepathic powers transforms into a lethal killing machine after taking one of her father's experimental drugs.

Blue
1992
New carpet factory footage intercut with old porn creates a brief but telling glimpse into the human psyche.

Naked Lunch
1991
Director, Writer
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 meetin...

Highway 61
1991
Thanks
A naive Canadian barber who knows US popular culture inside and out meets a flamboyant roadie who needs someone to drive her and her "brother's" corps...

Scanners II: The New Order
1991
Characters
A breed of humans with dangerously powerful telepathic abilities -- the scanners -- are being recruited by a corrupt police commander, John Forrester,...

Nightbreed
1990
as Dr. Philip K. Decker
A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of friendly monsters are hiding from humanity. Meanwhile, a sadistic s...

Moving Pictures: J.G. Ballard
1990
as Self
A film essay on Ballard's fiction, and its unrealised cinematic potential, with particular reference to David Cronenberg's (yet to be filmed) Crash, f...

Dead Ringers
1988
as Obstetrician (uncredited)
Elliot, a successful gynecologist, works at the same practice as his identical twin, Beverly. Elliot is attracted to many of his patients and has affa...

Dead Ringers
1988
Director, Writer, Producer
Elliot, a successful gynecologist, works at the same practice as his identical twin, Beverly. Elliot is attracted to many of his patients and has affa...

The Making of Dead Ringers
1988
as Self - Writer/Director
A short behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of "Dead Ringers," including interviews with writer-director David Cronenberg, star Jeremy Irons, c...

Long Live the New Flesh: The Films of David Cronenberg
1987
as Self
Documentary about the career of director David Cronenberg, with clips from his films and interviews with friends, colleagues, film critics and Cronenb...

The Fly
1986
as Gynecologist
When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a com...

The Fly
1986
Director, Screenplay
When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a com...

Into the Night
1985
as Group Supervisor
Ed Okin used to have a boring life. He used to have trouble getting to sleep. Then one night, he met Diana. Now, Ed's having trouble staying alive.

The Dead Zone
1983
Director
Johnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee's home one night, is involved in a car crash which lea...

Videodrome
1983
as Max Renn (Helmet Scenes) (uncredited)
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show de...

Videodrome
1983
Director, Writer
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show de...

The Making of David Cronenberg's Videodrome
1982
as Interviewee
A featurette made in 1982 to promote the new film by David Cronenberg, including interviews with the cast and crew.

Take One: Fear on Film
1982
as Self
Mick Garris hosts this look at horror films with John Carpenter, John Landis and David Cronenberg all discussing their favorite scare films as well as...

Escape from New York
1981
Thanks
In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam free. After the US pre...

Scanners
1981
Director, Writer
After a man with extraordinary, and frighteningly destructive, telepathic abilities is nabbed by agents from a mysterious rogue corporation, he discov...

The Brood
1979
Director, Writer
A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, while a series of brutal attacks committed b...

Fast Company
1979
Director, Screenplay
An over the hill drag racer finds himself considering retirement and ceding the spotlight to his protégé and targeted for replacement by the oil-compa...

Rabid
1977
Director, Writer
After undergoing radical surgery for injuries from a motorcycle accident, a young woman develops a retractable, vampiric stinger in her armpit and a t...

The Italian Machine
1976
Director, Writer
This TV play, written and directed David Cronenberg, explores one of his enduring themes: obsessive relationships with technology. A group of bike fan...

The Lie Chair
1976
Director
A couple gets marooned in an isolated household. The owner and her helper live under the guise that deceased loved ones still live. This gets projecte...

Shivers
1975
as Infected Crowd Member (uncredited)
When the residents of a luxury apartment complex outside Montreal are infiltrated by parasites and transformed into violent, sex-crazed maniacs, it's ...

Shivers
1975
Director, Writer
When the residents of a luxury apartment complex outside Montreal are infiltrated by parasites and transformed into violent, sex-crazed maniacs, it's ...

Across This Land with Stompin' Tom Connors
1973
Production Manager
Stompin' Tom performs live at the Horseshoe Tavern on Queen St. in Toronto.

Winter Garden
1972
Director, Writer, Editor
A recording of the eponymous ballet choreographed by Olga Roriz, produced for Canadian public television.
Scarborough Bluffs
1972
Director, Writer, Editor
A short documentary produced for Canadian public television.
Lakeshore
1972
Director, Writer, Editor
A short documentary produced for Canadian public television.
In the Dirt
1972
Director, Writer, Editor
A short documentary produced for Canadian public television.
Fort York
1972
Director, Writer, Editor
A short documentary produced for Canadian public television.
Don Valley
1972
Director, Writer, Editor
A short documentary produced for Canadian public television.
Tourrettes
1971
Director, Writer, Editor
A short documentary produced for Canadian public television about the medieval village of Tourrettes-sur-Loup, where Cronenberg stayed in 1971 and had...
Letter from Michelangelo
1971
Director, Writer, Director of Photography
A short documentary produced for Canadian public television.
Jim Ritchie Sculptor
1971
Director, Writer, Producer
The work of Montreal sculptor Jim Ritchie, living in France at the time. There is no narration but a music track accompanies this documentary for Cana...

Crimes of the Future
1970
Director, Producer, Writer
Crimes of the Future is set in a future where sexually mature women appear to have been obliterated by a plague produced by the use of cosmetics. The ...

Stereo (Tile 3B of a CAEE Educational Mosaic)
1969
Director, Writer, Producer
A group of Canadian university students agree to partake in a grisly psychological experiment, which renders them incapable of speech but able to comm...

From the Drain
1967
Director of Photography, Director, Writer
The film is centered on two men in a bathtub; it is implied that they are veterans of some past conflict. The first man is paranoid about the drain o...

Palace of Pleasure
1967
John Hofsess’s The Palace of Pleasure emerged from the psychedelic haze of 1960s postmodern art. It was a blistering work that combined arresting abst...

Buffalo Airport Visions
1967
An experimental investigation of Toronto street life and youth culture.

Transfer
1966
Director of Photography, Director, Writer
A psychiatrist and his patient discuss their relationship in a snow-covered field.
David Cronenberg, en chair et en os
N/A
as Himself