Fans of innovative Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg will recognize the emergence of a his unique voice in this 1970 project, the director's second feature (following the 1969 Stereo). The bizarre premise introduces a dystopian future society in the wake of a devastating epidemic -- which killed off most of the adult female population thanks to a buildup of dangerous chemicals in cosmetics. Victims of this particularly gruesome affliction are marked by multicolored bodily secretions from every orifice -- which seem to produce an irresistible aphrodisiac effect on others. The majority of surviving females are pre-pubescent and frequently sought by creepy underground organizations of pedophiles. When one such group kidnaps a five-year-old girl, an agent from the Institute of Skin -- bearing the interesting moniker Adrian Tripod -- sets out to find her. Tripod drifts from one bizarre situation to another in his quest to find the girl, leading to several cerebral and frequently twisted episodes.~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide