History Film / DeadRingers

Getting Elliot's sloppy seconds begins to tire Beverly, and he sets out to get a woman on his own. He makes the big personal leap of dating an actress he's taken a fancy to. Unfortunately, Beverly is a jangled bundle of neuroses, and when he sees the girl he's set his eyes on meeting with a coworker, Beverly jumps to the conclusion she is cheating on him.

[[caption-width-right:300:There's nothing the matter with the instrument, it's the body. The woman's body is all wrong!]]

* {{Dramatization}}: Cronenberg based the film on the deaths of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_and_Cyril_Marcus Stewart and Cyril Marcus]]. However, the Marcus twins were "just" a pair of gynecologists who shared a practice, an apartment, a drug addiction, and were both found in said apartment some time after they died of withdrawal, resulting in them looking like rotten beef jerky - and no one really knows ''what'' the hell actually happened. Cronenberg, being Cronenberg, decided that all of this wasn't creepy '''enough...'''

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:When the twins reach the nadir of their breakdown, they perform a "surgery" where Beverly effectively eviscerates Elliot. After he realizes what he's done, Beverly makes one final, abortive attempt to connect with his new paramour. He instead decides to join Elliot in death, cradling his brother's body.]]

* SanitySlippage: Because of his addiction to meds, his jealousy and his difficulty to live independently from his brother, Beverly becomes increasingly insane. He begins seeing genital mutations in his patients that may not really exist. [[spoiler:But the madness spreads to Elliot via [[{{Synchronization}} twin osmosis.]] This leads to them using a scalpel to perform a "separation procedure", AKA a murder-suicide]].

* SanitySlippage: Because of his addiction to meds, his jealousy and his difficulty to live independently from his brother, Beverly becomes increasingly insane. In the end, his brother Elliott becomes crazy too.
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Starts with Beverly, who begins seeing genital mutations in his patients that may not really exist. [[spoiler:But the madness spreads to Elliot via [[{{Synchronization}} twin osmosis.]] This leads to them using a scalpel to perform a "separation procedure", AKA a murder-suicide]].

** The DreamSequence.

* NightmareSequence: There's one in the middle of the film and it is pretty... [[BodyHorror disturbing]].

[[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Cue descent into delusional hell]], wherein Beverly begins [[MadDoctor performing unnecessary operations]] with [[CowTools custom gynecological tools]] on women who he believes have "mutant genitalia". When the effects of his declining mental health spill over into the brother's practice, the board of health suspends Beverly's license. Elliot, who had always been sensitive to his sibling's fragility, leaves his practice and his current love interest to join Beverly, who has holed himself up in their apartment.

* DreamSequence: There's one in the middle of the film and it is pretty ... [[BodyHorror disturbing]].

* CanadaEh: Toronto is given as the setting for the majority of the film (with the exception of one scene near the beginning set in a university in America). A fairly realistic depiction without any stereotypes. Also Geneviève Bujold is actually French-Canadian, though it is not explicitly stated whether her character Claire is as well.

Not related to the British television and radio series ''Series/DeadRingers''.

* {{Identical Twin ID Tag}}s: As the story progresses, Beverly and Elliot personalities diverge due to one of the twin's advancing mental instability. This is reflected in their appearance, with Elliot maintaining a healthy, well-tanned look while Beverly develops bags under his eyes, a sickly pallor, and a nervous twitch.

** A disturbingly subtle one for what's ''not'' shown is Beverly's diagnosis of Claire; the reason she can't get pregnant is because she has three uteruses, each with its own cervix. When Beverly calls Claire and gets her(male) receptionist, he believes she's cheating on him -- and tells him about her condition. Claire's actually a good sport about it; she's already accepted Beverly's neuroses, and is less disturbed by the confidentiality breach than she is by her receptionist's reaction -- he was a FlamboyantGay ''before'' Beverly accused him of "fucking a mutant", which grossed him out beyond recognition.

* BodyHorror: The DreamSequence and the [[CowTools medical instruments]].

It's a story about twin gynecologists, Elliot and Beverly [[MeaningfulName Mantle]], who run a brisk business treating infertile women. That, and they have a tendency of taking advantage of them, too. Being the more suave of the two, Elliot woos them, and when he's finished he pulls [[TwinSwitch the old switcheroo]] and pawns them unsuspecting off onto Beverly.

* CanadaEh: Toronto is given as the setting for the majority of the film (with the exception of one scene near the beginning set in a university in America). A fairly realistic depiction without any stereotypes. Also Geneviève Bujold is actually French-Canadian, though it is not explicitly stated if her character Claire is as well.

* {{Dramatization}}: Cronenberg based the film on the deaths of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_and_Cyril_Marcus Stewart and Cyril Marcus]]. However, the Marcus twins were "just" a pair of gynecologists who shared a practice, an apartment, a drug addiction, and were both found in said apartment some time after they died of withdrawl, resulting in them looking like rotten beef jerky - and no one really knows ''what'' the hell actually happened. Cronenberg, being Cronenberg, decided that all of this wasn't creepy '''enough...'''

''Dead Ringers'' is a 1988 [[BodyHorror body horror]] film directed by Creator/DavidCronenberg and starring Creator/JeremyIrons.

* PropRecycling: Those dentist tools from ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'' become gynecological tools for "mutant women".

* MarketBasedTitle: The original name of the film was ''Twins'', but it had to be changed thanks to [[Film/{{Twins}} the Schwarzenegger/DeVito film]] coming out first.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dead_ringers_6550.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:There's nothing the matter with the instrument, it's the body. The woman's body is all wrong!]]

''Dead Ringers'' is a 1988 [[BodyHorror body horror]] film by Creator/DavidCronenberg starring Creator/JeremyIrons.