film

Somewhat terrifyingly, eXistenZ, which I could have sworn I was just reading about the theatrical release of in Uncut a couple of years ago, is now solidly a mid-period David Cronenberg movie, having come out 30 years after his feature debut, Stereo, and 25 years before 2024's The Shrouds. Underrated and a little overlooked, it's classic Cronenberg, with the boundaries between reality and virtual reality and technology and the human body blurred in a hail of writhing body horror.

Set in a near future where immersive bio-organic video games are the norm, the film follows game designer Allegra Geller (Leigh) as she tests her latest creation, eXistenZ with Jude Law's fresh-faced marketing trainee Ted Pikul. Cue fleshy, umbilical-like game pods that connect to players’ spines and biting satire on everything from gaming culture to techno-fetishism and the idea of constructed realities.