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The detail in shot after shot is mesmerizing and does as much to set the mood and create suspense and tension as the plot itself.
Spider, opening today, is the story of Denis Cleg, whose mother nicknamed him Spider because of his childhood fascination with webs and their occupants.
Spider has spent his entire adult life in an asylum as a result of his reaction to his mother's death.
Either he watched her being murdered, discovered her murder or killed her himself.
Spider is not clear on that point.
In hopes it will shock Spider from his nearly autistic state, the doctors send him to a halfway house just blocks from where he was raised.
Old demons appear as Spider confronts the events that led to his madness.
What is not clear to the audience is which of the memories are real and which are part of Spider's elaborate delusion.
Cronenberg has the adult Spider (Ralph Fiennes) act as a voyeur to the memories, watching his younger self (Bradley Hall) go through the pain, loneliness and fears that were Spider's childhood.
Fiennes is devastating in an almost wordless performance.
Spider simply mumbles and when he does speak, it is with a laboured effort, so Fiennes must rely on gestures and his posture to reveal Spider's feelings.
It's a compelling picture of madness.
Miranda Richardson plays Spider's mother, his father's mistress and, eventually, the landlady at the boarding house.
Each is a distinct characterization, from the physical to the emotional and sensual.
It is because Richardson is so convincing in each characterization that Spider's version of events seems so plausible.
Gabriel Byrne gives one of his finest performances to date as Spider's father, who is either a cruel, womanizing bully or a confused, loving parent.
Even John Neville as a meddling fellow boarder has some wonderfully memorable moments, and young Hall delivers a performance far beyond his years.
There is so much to admire in Spider - yet that still does not make it a compelling experience.
It would have made a brilliant short film but, at 96 minutes, it is far too long.
Not even the loving care and attention of all concerned can hold the audience's attention.
Even for an art film, after an hour Spider seems like art for art's sake.
(This film is rated AA)