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The Dead Ringers episode of WTF Really Happened to This Horror Movie was Written and Narrated by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Mike Conway, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

“There’s nothing the matter with the instrument, it’s the body. The woman’s body looks all wrong! David Cronenberg has perfected the art of making our bodies into horrifying things that want to hurt us. He is the master at using the term “body terror”. What happens when Cronenberg creates a movie about two gynecologists who begin to lose touch with reality? Did you know this is based on a true story? Just lie back in the chair as we look at what the fuck REALLY happened to

Dead Ringers (watch it HERE).David Cronenberg, Canada’s favorite horror son, has been in the business since he was making short movies in the mid 60’s but the first movie that really put him on the map was

Shivers in 1975. He would go on to craft a catalogue that includes other body horror like Scanners and The Brood, classic remakes like The Fly, Stephen King adaptations with The Dead Zone, and prestige movies like M. Butterfly, and Eastern promises. He may be pushed into the horror genre, but he is a man with many talents. His horror films are more popular, but he has many other talents. Deadringers is a movie that dances between prestige and horror. It has been turned into a TV series on Amazon, with Oscar winner RachaelWeiz playing the title role. The movie is based off a true story, but also on a book by Jack Geasland & Bari Wood that fictionalized a real-life account. Cronenberg and Norman Snider would write the screenplay. Snider is not a big name, but he also wrote the screenplay of Body Parts

directed by Eric Red. The movie was released in September 1988 and grossed 14 million dollars on a budget that was 13 million. It wasn’t a huge success financially, but it was a critical darling and won several awards. It is even considered one of Canada’s best films. Irons wasn’t initially chosen for the role. It was first offered to William Hurt, then Robert DeNiro, before being given to Irons. He does an excellent job in both roles, and despite the fact that they are identical twins he gives each of them distinct personalities and flaws. Irons returned to Cronenberg’s film M after winning his one Oscar for Reversal Of Fortune. Butterfly. Irons has a great career, but I think it’s safe to say that he will forever be Scar from Lion king for many. Irons is the main star of the movie but it also features supporting roles from Oscar nominee Genevieve Bujold, and Heide von Palleske. Bujold has been working since the mid 50’s and also showed up in the Clint Eastwood vehicle Tightrope. This was Palleske’s first big movie and while she has a lengthy career, the only big-name movies that she showed up in were Red from 2010 and the remake of Cronenberg’s

Rabid.The movie opens with some medieval looking tools and art over pensive music before we open in Toronto Canada in 1954 where we are introduced to our twins Beverly and Elliot as they talk about sexuality, though not in a dirty way, more of a clinical one. The twins propose a sex test to a girl next door who refuses. We then jump forward 13 years and find the boys in Cambridge Massachusetts, where they have not only graduated at the top of their classes, but also invented a new device that has revolutionized the industry. Twenty-one years after the first encounter, the two doctors have one of Toronto’s most lucrative practices and treat women’s fertility. The men are intrigued by the unique body parts of an actress who comes in for a check-up. Beverly begins the treatment, but Elliot wants to have a look and switches places where he goes to look and sends Beverly to meet with clients for a grant.(FACTOMETER: 25%) well the story is about twins, though if they were identical is up for debate even if they acted very similarly. We don’t know anything about their childhood, but we do have the fact that they graduated from Syracuse University and then the Upstate Medical Center. The film opens and ends in Canada, with a brief stop in Cambridge, while the real brothers grew up and graduated in New York. The names have been changed from Stewart and Cyril Marcus into Beverly and Elliot Mantle. While they wrote many textbooks and papers that were used in the medical industry, neither of them invented a tool that made their college and themselves famous. They may have treated celebrities, but it wasn’t one in particular that was the focus of their story. The twins in Cronenberg’s movie are also highly respected doctors, just like the brothers in the New York State version. Beverly, who plays Elliot in the movie, returns to see Beverly after a night of sexual activity. Beverly, playing Elliot, decides not to take action and goes back to see her after a night of sex. He doesn’t inform Elliot and this makes him angry, and a bit jealous. This again makes us believe that it is a common occurrence. We can also tell Elliot is the more dominant of the two, while Beverly seems to be more of a leader. The next day, a patient is turned away because the problem with her fertility lies with her husband. We see more of their personal and professional lives and Beverly ends up starting to take drugs with his actress girlfriend.(FACTOMETER: 25%) This is a very fictionalized account of the story of the Marcus twins and could have more taken from the novel Twins that was published a couple years after their deaths. This is a different Joblo Horror Originals series, and I did not read the book as we wanted to focus on the most accurate account possible. The movie introduces the drug element, which is important to both mediums. The movie portrays doctors in a posh and high-class environment that simply did not exist in New York when they lived and practised. The twins are not shown to have shared lovers. Cyril had been married, divorced and had two children. Stewart was single. The film also makes reference to the fact that patients, staff and colleagues had difficulty telling the brothers apart. Some would remark one having a thicker neck or different sense of humor, but they were often confused for one another.Claire, our actress between the two men, finds out that it is a well-known secret that the men share lovers and patients alike and confronts them in a very crowded restaurant. Elliot is really showing his teeth in this scene, while Beverly is completely lost and sad about losing her. The twins accept a prize, but Beverly is utterly wasted and makes a fool of them both. They decide that Elliot would be the face of Mantles, while Beverly would be in clinic to see more patients. Beverly then runs into Claire and we get a Cronenberg dream sequence. It’s a body-horror sequence where the twins were actually conjoined, and Claire bit them apart. Elliot and Claire meet when Bev slips at work. She goes away on another movie shoot and Bev spirals even deeper, so Ele tries to snap him out of it.(FACTOMETER: 25%) Really not much here is anything more than the movie’s fictionalized account of making these twins into an even more dramatic story than they already were. There is no evidence that the real-life situation was anything like what we see in the movie. The brothers did trade patients and jobs though and some patients were even able to tell the difference.Bev collapses and Elliot tries to hide the drugs in bevs system, but he continues to struggle at work. He uses the wrong tool during an exam and has an artist create new tools that are less than safe. He begins taking drugs at work, and then uses the new tools to examine a patient. The procedure almost killed her and the brothers were asked to step down. Elliot, who is a doctor, tries to take Bev’s place at a deposition. He thinks that they are new and can no longer practice medicine on doctors. Elliot attempts to clean Bev by removing all the drugs, but comes to a sad and dark conclusion that they have to be on the exact same level with the same drugs. Bev escapes by having the apartment super come let him out and goes to see Claire where he continues to lose his grip.(FACTOMETER: 50%) This section is actually a little but closer to reality as drugs became a problem for both twins and during a procedure, one of them took the oxygen mask on themselves before being removed for the other twin. They were concerned about their ability to do their jobs anymore. The ‘fresh one’ came in very groggy. They were asked by Claire to leave their position and they fought the decision.Bev blames Elliot for the drug problem and then returns to the apartment where Elliot is also suffering from a drug problem. He finds his brother, and shows him how to use the tools. The drugged brothers, whose practice and fame are gone, perform a procedure that they think will separate them. But it actually kills Elliot. Bev leaves the apartment for an undetermined amount of time before coming back to die next to his brother.(FACTOMETER: 50%) while the details may differ, the outcome was the same, an apartment super found the brothers dead in separate rooms and the entire place was absolutely covered in trash. The brothers died at different time, possibly up to 5 days apart, even though there was no operation. The twins’ story was the outline for the movie Cronenberg made. If you’re interested in the whole story, I recommend you read the novelization and watch the movie, which is available on streaming and a nice Scream Factory Blu-ray. Below are a few of the previous episodes from WTF Seriously Happened to This Horror Movie. To check out the other shows we have on the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel, head over to the channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch