Existenz (UK)

6 / 10
7 votes cast
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Play or be played
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 93 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date:
Content Type: Movie

Synopsis:
Exciting stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, and Willam Dafoe, challenge the boundaries of reality in this futuristic, critically acclaimed adventure thriller!

During the first closed-door demonstration of an amazing new virtual reality game -`eXistenZ` - the system`s brilliant designer, Allegra Geller (Leigh), is violently attacked by a crazed assassin intent on killing her and destroying her creation.

Forced to flee into hiding, Allegra enlists a young assistant (Law) to help her in testing the damaged system... by convincing him to join her inside `eXistenZ`.

The action then explodes as their worlds real-life dangers begin to merge with the fantasy of the game! If you`re ready to play, it`s now your turn to plug into this powerfully entertaining game!

Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Three Commentary tracks, from Director, Director of Photography and Special Effects Supervisor
`The Invisible Art of Carol Spiers` documentary
Exclusive Sega Dreamcast interactive menu with information and previews of latest games
Theatrical Trailer

Video Tracks:
Widescreen Letterbox 1.85:1

Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English

Subtitle Tracks:
CC: English

Directed By:
David Cronenberg

Written By:
David Cronenberg

Starring:
Willem Dafoe
Don McKellar
Ian Holm
Jude Law
Jennifer Jason Leigh

Casting By:
Deirdre Bowen

Soundtrack By:
Howard Shore

Director of Photography:
Peter Suschitzky

Editor:
Ronald Sanders

Costume Designer:
Denise Cronenberg

Production Designer:
Carol Spier

Producer:
Sandra Tucker
Michael MacDonald
Robert Lantos
Andras Hamori
David Cronenberg
Damon Bryant
Bradley Adams

Distributor:
Twentieth Century Fox

Your Opinions and Comments

8 / 10

This is cool!!!! snazzy cool!!!
It`s a game in a game in a game .......is this a game to???

posted by alby on 2/7/2000 22:40

5 / 10

Great print. Bizarre as usual from Crony

posted by Richard73 on 17/10/2000 00:49

8 / 10

This is an underrated little movie from Cronenberg. The look of the film is like nothing you have ever seen for a so called SF piece of film-making. In many ways it`s a return to the "body horror" of Cronenberg`s earlier work such as Videodrome or Shivers but it`s much more playful and funny. The film is full of sexual imagery and has a great performance from Leigh. The extras are good too, a thoughtful commentary from Cronenberg and a great documentary about Carol Spier his production designer. If you are a Cronenberg fan this package is a pleasure to wander through.

posted by CaminoReal on 14/9/2001 14:47

9 / 10

A fantastically imaginative return to form for Cronenberg. Good performs from the leads who have a great chemistry and plenty of sexuality. The ideas are great and it has been directed excellently, the grissle gun is a particularly novel idea.

Features:
There are no deleted scenes, but there are three commentries. Cronenberg concentrates on the actually film which is interesting, but he doesn`t really throw in many anecdotes of the shoot. The second commentry also held my attention. There is a long feature, so it`s clear effort has been made for this DVD although the feature was one of the dullest i`ve seen!

posted by Rich_H on 27/8/2002 16:57

7 / 10

Very imaginative, very well done, very weird & very confusing.

posted by Rich Davies on 19/11/2002 02:28

6 / 10

A truly bad and incoherent movie from Cronenberg.
I really had high expectations from this movie, but hey - this movie BOMBS in almost every aspect. It lacks a coherent storyline, its characters are as flat as characters can get (even Law), it makes absolutely no sense (even within eXistenZ` warped logic) and the special effects are truly pathetic.
The video transfer is good. There are no compression signs and the colors are well saturated.
The DD 5.1 soundtrack is good, as well. The surrounds are used occasionally, but nothing too overwhelming.
The menus are animated with sound.
The extras include 3 commentaries and a behind the scenes featurette.
Bottom line - as a whole, this movie fails to deliver. Avoid.

posted by Zvi Josef on 31/8/2005 12:37