David Cronenberg is now established as one of the most individualistic, imaginative and accomplished directors in modern cinema, but in his early days as a quirky genre director he was not so widely celebrated. There were plenty of us who were championing him as a potential Horror God after Shivers and Rabid, but there were even more who were outraged by his low budget body horror works and almost angrily dismissive of his talent. On the release of his third genre feature, The Brood, the then voice of the TV establishment Barry Norman admitted that this Cronenberg fellow seemed to have developed a cult following, but as far as he was concerned it must be a cult of demented sickos. Or words to that effect – it was a long time ago and I don't have a transcript of the programme, but remember the put-down nonetheless, especially as I was a fully paid-up member of that cult. For me, The Brood was not just another fine work from an increasingly impressive new director, but marked a watershed in his filmography – after two films of serviceable leading men and women, Cronenberg had two experienced and talented performers at his disposal, both of whom were on impressive form. And there was something else going on, something underneath the surface beyond his usual concerns of the corruption of the flesh. It was to be a while before I realised that there was a deeply autobiographical element running through the film. But more of that later.

Nothing about The Brood is straightforward, including the plot. Get your head round this. At the institute of Psychoplasmics, Dr. Hal Raglan encourages his patients to externalise their psychoses through the production of welts and small growths on their skin. His star patient is Nola Carveth, who is kept in isolation during her treatment, separated from her husband Frank but allowed regular visits from her young daughter Candy. After one of the visits, Frank notices bruises on Candy's body and confronts Raglan about it, suspecting Nola may be beating her. Meanwhile Frank's mother-in-law is babysitting Candy when she is attacked and killed by a vicious, midget-like creature in an brightly coloured anorak. As the attacks continue, specifically targeting those close to him, Frank becomes increasingly convinced of a link between the creatures and Raglan's institute.

The wonderful thing about horror and fantasy is that you can set up your own reality within the narrative and work from there, so if psychoplasmics does not exist then Cronenberg is free to invent it, and once he has sold you the concept (which he does in the opening scene) he can run with it, and does so. Without giving too much away for the uninitiated, Cronenberg takes this concept to a conclusion that is as outrageous as it is thematically logical, and delivers it with considerable aplomb.

Cronenberg had never had trouble selling concepts that others would shy away from – the sexually invasive creatures of Shivers, the under-armpit parasites of Rabid – and had never let budget restrictions get in the way. The concept here is strong but the make-up effects don't always fully convince, so it's left to Cronenberg the scriptwriter and director, and two compelling performances, to make it work. This was far and away Cronenberg's most thoughtful script so far, laced with subtext about the breakup of the family and the fight for trust and custody, handled in a way that, as John Brosnan observed in Starburst on its release, had far more depth and intelligence than that year's big Oscar winner, the thematically similar Kramer vs. Kramer. But of course this was a genre movie, and in 1980 what serious critic would admit to even liking a low budget horror film, let alone recognising the sort of subtextual complexity on display here?

If Art Hindle proves to be a (then) typical Cronenberg lead – serviceable but unmemorable – then the casting of two other key roles was to prove inspired. Oliver Reed brings an intensity and seriousness to Dr. Raglan that completely sells him as sincere, delivering lines in a hoarse, concerned whisper, then suddenly cranking up the intensity to provoke or confront. As Nola, Samantha Eggar is compelling throughout, her wide-eyed confrontations with Raglan and Frank displaying a barely controlled, fire-spitting anger that occasionally explodes, notably during the electrifying scenes of psychoanalysis between her and Raglan. In dramatic terms, these were some of the best sequences in any Cronenberg film to that date, and even today, after so many excellent central performances in his films, they still pack a wallop. Adding a lovely finishing touch in a memorable small role is Cronenberg irregular Robert Silverman, whose completely out-there performance as an ex-psychoplasmics patient with a particularly nasty throat problem almost steals the film (equally attention-grabbing were Silverman's turns as the isolationist, telekinetic artist in Scanners and the shopkeeper stuck in a game loop in eXistenZ).

If the make-up effects are a bit short of the mark – Cronenberg has subsequently expressed disappointment with the creatures themselves – then the direction ensures that we are left in no doubt over the threat these child-like monsters pose. The second attack in particular, in which a character is viciously beaten around the face with glass paperweights, is a most effectively nasty slice of suggested violence, and the simple act of hurling one of them clean through a plasterboard wall clearly suggests the creature's considerable strength. The cumulative effect of such scenes is a climax that is genuinely frightening – if one creature can beat a man to death in less than a minute, what could twenty do if roused? It's been a long time, but when I first saw this scene back in 1980 the final ten minutes had me chewing my fingernails for real.

Which brings us to the film's major thematic undercore, in which issues surrounding the break-up of the family and battles over custody are tackled with startling directness. Horror is a famously effective genre for examining social issues on a subtextual level, but there is a particular passion to Cronenberg's approach here, and he has never tried to hide why. Cronenberg went in to The Brood on the back of a messy divorce and a long battle for the custody of his young daughter, and the film clearly reflects his experience and attitude to it. Frank here is very much the innocent party, his wife a dangerous, manipulative woman who would rather see her child dead than let Frank take her away. On any level this is powerful, disturbing stuff, and gives the film the sort of bite you would normally expect from hard-edged political or social dramas.

David Cronenberg is a true auteur, an artist with an instantly recognisable style who refuses to compromise his vision one iota, resulting in a distinctive body of work that even at its weakest – as with M. Butterfly – is still fascinating. The Brood may lack the sophistication of later works such as Dead Ringers, Crash or Spider and the visceral wallop of the likes of The Fly or Videodrome, but it still delivers on atmosphere, the boldness of its premise, Cronenberg's fascination with body mutation and destruction, and as a powerful, disturbing treatise on the suffering that can be caused by failed relationships, both to the participants and children caught in the middle.

After years of seeing the film on poor quality VHS, this transfer from MGM is rather impressive. Framed at 1.85:1 and anamorphically enhanced, the picture quality at worst is a tad soft but at best is sharp and vibrant and way better than it has looked since its (UK) cinema screening back in 1980. On the whole I was most pleasantly surprised by this transfer, though the use of shadow and low light sometimes means detail is lost in order to get those solid blacks. How about doing Shivers and Rabid now?

The sound is not so exciting, being very much the definition of mono, with every sound arriving front and centre. Although this doesn't affect the enjoyment of the film itself, Howard Shore's wonderfully mournful score would have benefited from a stereo remix. The level is also a bit low, though for most this will just mean cranking the amp up a bit to compensate.

One only here, unfortunately, in the shape of a Theatrical Trailer, which is 1.85:1 and anamorphically enhanced, but in a bit of a state, the exaggerated grain making it look almost as if it has been hauled off an old 8mm copy, cleaned up and slapped on the disk. On top of that the lip-sync is out. It's interesting to see how the film was promoted though, with scrolling text informing us that the film will "take you far beyond anything ever filmed before" and "devastate you totally," while a deep, dramatically serious voice warns that "never before have you come so close to the edge...of terror!" It's a little amusing, to say the least, and runs for 2 minutes 43 seconds.

The Brood is a moody, deliberately paced and subtextually very satisfying early work from a true horror auteur. Many of Cronenberg's signature elements are on show here, and the crew includes several of the people he would work regularly with over the next few films – producer Claude Héroux, production designer Carol Spier, cinematographer Mark Irwin, composer Howard Shore – and with whom he would collaborate to perfect a particular visual and thematic style (Shore and Spier are still part of Team Cronenberg today) that remains one of the most distinctive in modern cinema. For discerning horror fans and admirers of the director who know little of his early work then this is definitely worth hunting out, and for those who have been waiting to revisit the film but been disappointed by previous tape and DVD prints, then – lack of extras and a sound remix aside – this should certainly do the job for now.