eXistenZ

“Play it. Live it. Kill for it.”

6.8

1999

1h 37m

ActionThrillerScience Fiction

Director: David Cronenberg

Overview

A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.

Trailer

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Promo Trailer Official

Cast

Allegra Geller

Jennifer Jason Leigh

Allegra Geller

Ted Pikul

Jude Law

Ted Pikul

Kiri Vinokur

Ian Holm

Kiri Vinokur

Gas

Willem Dafoe

Gas

Yevgeny Nourish

Don McKellar

Yevgeny Nourish

Hugo Carlaw

Callum Keith Rennie

Hugo Carlaw

Seminar Leader

Christopher Eccleston

Seminar Leader

Merle

Sarah Polley

Merle

D'Arcy Nader

Robert A. Silverman

D'Arcy Nader

Noel Dichter

Kris Lemche

Noel Dichter

Chinese Waiter

Oscar Hsu

Chinese Waiter

Male Assistant

Vik Sahay

Male Assistant

Reviews

John Chard

Free will is obviously not a big factor in this little world of ours. Hee, yet another David Cronenberg picture that divides opinions, not just among the casual film watchers, but also his most ardent fans. Plot is a little nutty in actuality, as it finds Jennifer Jason Leigh as the world's most high profile games designer. While testing her new virtual reality game out with a focus group, an assassination attempt puts her on the run with an ally of sorts, marketing man Ted Pikul (Jude Law). With the prototype of the new game in their possession, the pair must enter the game's realm to unlock the various puzzles and threats that now confounds and stalks them. With Cronenberg back to writing something solely from his own head, eXistenZ finds the Canadian auteur happy to be back making a truer piece of work for his kinked visions. Unfortunately the advent of such virtual reality fare and various realist themes was well in filmic swing come the time eXistenZ was released, rendering it in some eyes as a band wagon jumper. That's unfair, because it's still a unique film, as Cronenberg blends body horror with visual invention to create a mind warp of gaming possibilities, a thrum thrum of futuristic verve. He gets top performances out of Leigh (great hair as well) and Law, while the narrative is constantly tricky enough to demand the viewer pays attention whilst being prepared to, perhaps, be surprised. Not prime Cronenberg, but still smart and funky, twisty and nutty, scary and oblique. So very much a Cronenberg original, then. 8/10

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tmdb81799156

I'm sorry but this low budget disaster got zero interest from me. The props were horrid. The story was ridiculous; really, it was just so "stupid". Maybe I should be using bigger words, but this movie was just awful in every way. I rarely give up on a movie; I feel like someone shouldn't give a movie a bad review unless they've seen the entire thing. I've seen the entire thing, finally. It was almost painful to get through. It is just a cheap and dreadful production. The SyFy channel makes better quality garbage than this.

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