Crimes of the Future (1970)

In a sterile, depopulated future, Dr. Nathan Tripod oversees the dermatological clinic House of Skin, struggling to contain a catastrophic plague that has eliminated the adult female population. In the wake of this disaster, peculiar new diseases begin manifesting in survivors, including men who secrete bizarre new organs.

Adrian Tripod, while searching for his mentor who has vanished from the clinic, encounters a group of pedophilic psychologists attempting to create a new form of sexuality through the exploitation of young girls. Their radical experiments suggest humanity is forcibly evolving in response to the feminine apocalypse.

As the skin-moisturizing cosmetic Rouge's Malady claims more victims and new parasitic organisms emerge, the clinic's patients begin developing inexplicable new bodily secretions, leading to a disturbing conclusion about mankind's metamorphosis.

This experimental second film from David Cronenberg was shot on a minuscule budget while he was still a student at the University of Toronto. Though rough around the edges, it establishes many of the director's career-long preoccupations with body horror, sexual deviation, and the intersection of flesh and disease that would later define his signature style.