--- title: "Someone Used AI to Dream Up a Nonexistent David Cronenberg Movie and the Results Are Nauseating" description: "Keith Schofield shared an extensive series of eyegrabbing images that supposedly evoke the style of David Cronenberg, but fans think otherwise." date: "2023-01-14" modified: "2023-01-14" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-david-cronenberg-movie" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai art" - "ai generated images" - "the digest" --- # Someone Used AI to Dream Up a Nonexistent David Cronenberg Movie and the Results Are Nauseating ![Keith Schofield shared an extensive series of eyegrabbing images that supposedly evoke the style of David Cronenberg, but fans think otherwise.]() *\Image: Keith Schofield via Twitter\* ## Galaxy of Flesh Horror fans, you're either about to be impressed or pissed off — or both. On Tuesday, music video and commercial director Keith Schofield [tweeted out]() an eye-grabbing series of images titled "David Cronenberg's Galaxy of Flesh (1985)," fooling some into thinking that it was an actual movie by the famed body horror director. And to an extent, it's not hard to see why. Filled with fleshy appendages and a colorful cast clad in grimy sci-fi attire reminiscent of the decade, you'd be forgiven — especially if you weren't familiar with Cronenberg's body of work — for mistaking the thumbnails for real stills. It's even got the hard lighting nailed down too, bursting with that classic, old school glossy sheen. But in reality, the shots were generated using the popular AI image generator Midjourney. That would be apparent if you paid close attention to the hands or sometimes the eyes, because, in true AI-generated fashion, they're all sorts of wonky. The overall effect, though, is unquestionably impressive. https://twitter.com/keithscho/status/1612835517376364544 ## Not-So Dead Ringer Many of you might see these as innocent imitations, but for horror fans and Cronenberg heads, there's just one small problem: the images don't look like Cronenberg's work at all. "Proof that AI art is a horseshit scam," [wrote]() film critic Jeff Zhang. "David Cronenberg has never in his entire life made a single movie that looked anything like this." And that's true. Cronenberg didn't make space odyssey, sci-fi epics, nor were his contortions and mutilations of the flesh so gaudy. The images look more like a general pastiche of 80s horror and sci-fi, like a "Star Wars" crossed with "Society" — at the risk, perhaps, of offending fans of either movie. Fans' suspicions ultimately proved to be correct, as Schofield [later admitted]() that he actually didn't use Cronenberg as a prompt, since his name is [banned in Midjourney](), and instead asked the AI to make a "Star Wars medical body horror." ## Crimes of the Future AI image generators remain a [touchy subject for artists](), as popular models like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney were trained on the work of human artists without their permission, which many would argue is [tantamount to plagiarism](). And sometimes, things can get too on the nose when AI-guys try to [explicitly copy an artist's style]() — which is why horror fans weren't too pleased at the notion of attributing the image set to the iconoclast director. Still, who are we kidding? If this was a real movie and not an AI amalgamation, we'd watch it. **More on AI images:** *[Artist Says They Were Banned Because Their Art Looked Like AI, Even Though They're Human]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()