This film takes place at Starliner Towers, a high rise apartment complex isolated on an island and which is very self-sufficient. A biological experiment gone awry has led to the creation of slug-like parasites that, once inside a human body, turn people into ravenous sexual deviants. The buildings' in-house doctor, Roger St. Luc (Paul Hampton) becomes aware that the tenants are going mad, but will he be able to stem the tide of wanton sexual aggression on display here?<br /><br />This was truly a groundbreaking film, not only for its director, David Cronenberg, who had previously only done "underground" films, but it paved the way for the future of the horror genre in Canada. Cronenberg may have been learning as he went along, making this film and its follow-up, "Rabid", and it's obviously not as polished as his subsequent works, but it's still very respectable, showing early on that he had a definite aptitude for this medium.<br /><br />It's along the lines of his other early films to deal with "body horror": it's provocative, intriguing, violent, and unnerving. He offers such memorable and potent images as a bathtub scene featuring none other than the iconic actress Barbara Steele, and especially a late scene featuring two children on leashes and behaving as dogs. The films' action leads to an equally memorable "Night of the Living Dead" style finish.<br /><br />Joe Blasco provides the film with some decent creature creations and splatter that are just fine for low budget fare. With the amount of gore and violence on hand, it goes without saying that this film won't be for everybody, and there was some uproar at the time of the theatrical release that Canadian tax dollars could be going towards making this kind of film.<br /><br />Deep-voiced, sharp featured Joe Silver is wonderfully entertaining as the character who gives us all the necessary exposition, and the alluring cult actress Lynn Lowry is quite good as the nurse, making up for the blandness of male lead Hampton. Alan Migicovsky gets quite creepy as an early victim, who gets progressively more disgusting as the film goes on, Susan Petrie is cute and likable as his anguished wife, and guest star Steeles' presence is very welcome.<br /><br />Suffice it to say, this film might not quite pack the same punch as Cronenbergs' later horror films, such as "The Brood", "Scanners", "Videodrome", or "The Fly", but I think it's a solid debut with an offbeat premise and an effective delivery.<br /><br />7/10