DAVID CRONENBERG: RANKED
- Nick Digilio
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
When it comes to directors who have truly carved out a distinctive, unforgettable niche in cinema history, few stand taller than David Cronenberg. He’s one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, a true original, a guy who dives deep into scary, twisted, profound stories and ideas without hesitation.
Cronenberg, the Canadian master of unsettling cinema, has been exploring the darkest corners of horror, drama, psychology, science fiction, and even satire for decades. His body of work is loaded with intelligent, disturbing, visceral films that leave an indelible mark on anyone who sees them.
Early in his career, Cronenberg basically invented and cornered the market on the “body horror” subgenre — that unique and deeply disturbing branch of horror that deals with disease, deformation, the betrayal of the human body, medical terrors, scars, tumors, blood, and all kinds of things we’d rather not think about when we look in the mirror.
But Cronenberg has always gone beyond just the gross-out factor; his movies explore the terror of both the body and the mind. His stories dig into themes of identity, sexuality, technology, psychology, and the dark recesses of human behavior, all presented with a style and intelligence that no one else can quite match.
He’s not just a legend in the horror world — he’s a bona fide critical darling too. His films have been nominated for Academy Awards, praised by the most "serious" critics, and dissected endlessly by film scholars. Cronenberg is a cinematic genius, a guy who’s contributed more to horror and psychological thrillers than almost anyone else, and who has managed to consistently make challenging, unforgettable films for decades. And the best part?
At 81 years old, he's still making movies. With the release of his latest film, The Shrouds, I thought it was the perfect time to go back and rank every single David Cronenberg film from my personal favorite to my least favorite.
Now, I did this a few months back with Steven Soderbergh — you can find that list here if you want to check it out — and just like with that one, there will be no commentary here. No essays, no reviews under each title. Just a straight-up list, ranked in order of my preference.
Cronenberg’s movies cover everything from body horror to conspiracy thrillers to stage and novel adaptations, always with that unmistakable mix of intelligence, sexuality, violence, and psychological terror. Some of these movies are shocking, some are wildly unsettling, some are straight-up gross, some are deeply moving, and all of them will make you think.
When you see a David Cronenberg film, you feel it — sometimes in ways you don’t expect and can’t explain. You might be repulsed. You might be confused. You might be profoundly moved. But you’ll never, ever forget it.
And just a quick note before we dive in: Despite all the weirdness in Cronenberg’s filmography — the gross special effects, the disturbing sexuality, the violence, the body mutations — the single weirdest movie he ever made has no blood, no tumors, no mutated sex organs, no psychological breakdowns.
It's a goofy car racing movie from 1979. And somehow, in a career jam-packed with insane, twisted visions, that one stands out as the oddest of them all.
So, without further ado, here’s every David Cronenberg movie ranked — from my favorite to my least favorite.
David Cronenberg: Ranked
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