Overview
Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.
Trailer
Crew
DirectorDavid Cronenberg
WriterDavid Cronenberg
Cast
Peter Weller
Bill Lee
Judy Davis
Joan Frost
Ian Holm
Tom Frost
Julian Sands
Yves Cloquet
Roy Scheider
Dr. Benway
Monique Mercure
Fadela
Nicholas Campbell
Hank
Michael Zelniker
Martin
Robert A. Silverman
Hans
Joseph Scoren
Kiki
Peter Boretski
Creature Voices / Exterminator #2
Yuval Daniel
Hafid
John Friesen
Hauser
Sean McCann
O'Brien
Howard Jerome
A.J. Cohen
Michael Caruana
Pawnbroker
Kurt Reis
Exterminator #1
Louis Ferreira
Exterminator #3
Julian Richings
Exterminator #4
Jim Yip
The Chink
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Keywords
based on novel or bookwritinghallucinationwriterbugillegal drugsexterminatorbeat generationgay theme
Details
Budget
$16M
Revenue
$3M
TMDb Votes
1,199
Added May 14, 2026Updated Jun 4, 2026