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Synopsis

“Exterminate all rational thought.” Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs’ hallucinatory, “unfilmable” novel is finally realized onscreen by director David Cronenberg. Part-time exterminator and full-time drug addict Bill Lee (Peter Weller) plunges into the nightmarish netherworld of the Interzone, pursuing a mysterious project that leads him to confront sinister cabals and giant talking bugs. The fruit of an unholy union between two masters of the hilarious and the macabre, Naked Lunch mingles aspects of Burroughs’ novel with incidents from his own life, resulting in a compendium of paranoid fantasies and a searching investigation into the mysteries of the writing process. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father was a journalist, and his mother was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early age (he wrote and published eerie short stories, thus following his father’s path) and for music (playing classical guitar until he was 12), Cronenberg graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Literature after switching from the science department. He reached the cult status of horror-meister with the gore-filled, modern-vampire variations of Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1977), following an experimental apprenticeship in independent filmmaking and in Canadian television programs.

Cronenberg gained popularity with the head-exploding, telepathy-based Scanners (1981) after the release of the much underrated, controversial, and autobiographical The Brood (1979). Cronenberg become a sort… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 41 wall posts.

Perk La Point

9Feb12

the third mind!!!

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serotoninronin

14Jan12

Not nearly weird enough to be interesting, and certainly not irrational enough to be anything other than conceptually hollow and hypocritical.

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Steven

14Jan12

Bill Lee: Exterminate all rational thought. That is the conclusion I have come to.

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janveneziani

8Jan12

Talvez para quem tenha lido a obra de Burroughs fique mais fácil de acompanhar a história. Mesmo sendo fã do Cronenberg achei a história bem mal-costurada. Mas é uma bela exposição do que é uma bad-trip.

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Fans

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Daily Viewing. Telaroli on Cronenberg

By David Hudson on January 21, 2012

A stunning new look at Dead Ringers (1998).

read article

Lists

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Reviews

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Damn those roaches!

By marsyas on January 18, 2012

Naked Lunch 1991 David Cronenberg’s free riff as much on William S. Burroughs as on his novel of which I remember absolutely nothing nor am I familiar with the author’s life, but…  read review

Untitled

By McNulty on October 26, 2009

I’m still trying to figure out what the FUCK did I just watch? All I remember is fuckin typewriters, bugs, some fag shit, weird ass aliens!

Seriously how can I describe into words what kind…  read review

Forum

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WILLIAM S BURROUGHS

11 posts by 5 people almost 3 years ago

DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.