eXistenZ

Starring:Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe, Don McKellar, Callum Keith Rennie, Christopher Eccleston, Sarah Polley, Robert A. Silverman, Oscar Hsu, Kris Lemche, Vik Sahay, Kirsten Johnson, James Kirchner, BalÃ¡zs KoÃ³s, Stephanie Belding, Gerry Quigley
Director: David Cronenberg
Studio: Dimension
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Director David Cronenberg's eXistenZ is a stew of corporate espionage, virtual reality gaming, and thriller elements, marinated in Cronenberg's favorite Crock-Pot juices of technology, physiology, and sexual metaphor. Jennifer Jason Leigh is game designer Allegra Geller, responsible for the new state-of-the-art eXistenZ game system; along with PR newbie Ted Pikul (Jude Law), they take the beta version of the game for a test drive and are immersed in a dangerous alternate reality. The game isn't quite like PlayStation, though; it's a latexy pod made from the guts of mutant amphibians and plugs via an umbilical cord directly into the user's spinal column (through a BioPort). It powers up through the player's own nervous system and taps into the subconscious; with several players it networks their brains together. Geller and Pikul's adventures in the game reality uncover more espionage and an antigaming, proreality insurrection. The game world makes it increasingly difficult to discern between reality and the game, either through the game's perspective or the human's. More accessible than Crash, eXistenZ is a complicated sci-fi opus, often confusing, and with an ending that leaves itself wide open for a sequel. Fans of Cronenberg's work will recognize his recurring themes and will eat this up. Others will find its shallow characterizations and near-incomprehensible plot twists a little tedious. --Jerry Renshaw

Description

Exciting stars Jennifer Jason Leigh (DOLORES CLAIBORNE), Jude Law (GATTACA), and Willem Dafoe (SPEED 2, AFFLICTION) 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 called 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 world's 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 hit!

Customer Reviews:

This was a really great movie, especially if you like Cronenberg.......2007-06-05

eXistenZ is a great mind-bender, based loosely on video games vs. reality. The acting is campy but for a purpose. Most of the people who hated this movie don't quite get this. I won't say this is a classic, only because Chronenberg's fingerprints are way too visible, and I really like him.

This isn't a mainstream movie so if you don't like left-field movies you probably won't like this one, but just to be clear you don't have to be a fuzzy faced philosopher to enjoy this one.

freaky movie.......2007-04-13

I rented this a while back and wanted a copy for my library. If you like plot twists and heavy sci-fi you will like this movie. It is kind of grusome in several scenes and probably not for little kids.

Brilliant and challenging.......2007-02-11

Cronenberg probably conjures the best depiction of "virtual reality" and its potential psychological effect on people in this often incredible film. This is a tough and frequently unpleasant movie (what Cronenberg film isn't), relentless even (much like a video game!), but as social/technological criticism it has legs galore. I find myself studying the art direction, acting, and script to see how he tweaks and disorients so subtly all through the entire film. It is meticulously crafted. The "bad acting" noted by the other reviewers is a depiction of social disorientation, detachment, sociopathology, and near-autism in a nightmarish future society where people can no longer distinguish between illusion and reality (and, as you learn from the film, neither can the audience). The final moment of the film boldly makes that point.

My personal feeling is that this is Cronenberg's greatest achievement. However, it is high art and those that go into it with conventional film expectations will be (clearly ARE) disappointed. One for future film historians to write about, unable to comprehend how it sat on the fringes of acceptance for years. The negative reviews of this film deeply disturb me.

wait a minute is this a game? or is this reality?.......2007-01-31

Your perception may be altered by this science fiction harbinger of things to come by David Cronenberg.. Continuing in the same vein of films like 'Videodrome' and 'Scanners' Cronenberg examines the effects of scientific progress and the fate of mankind.. It is so often the goal of game technicians, movie makers, and perhaps even the distributors of mind altering substances to create an alternate universe.. the nightmare of such endeavors is that it will lead to absolute confusion.. seperation from self.. it is something appealing yet terrifying.. to lose touch with reality.. this is what makes eXistenZ such an engaging thriller - one of the most thought provoking movies you will ever see.

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent.......2006-12-28

This movie was very spell binding to me and to everyone that watched it with me. I just loved this movie and it was this movie that turned me on to David Cronenberg films. I love the way he directs his films in a way that you don't know what is going to come next. They all have you on your edge of your seat right up until the end. Unique plot, great acting and wonderful story with this one. I hightly recommend it to everyone that loves supense and thrill rides in a film.

Average customer rating:

A good introduction to Cronenberg's world
it's like... clapping... fireword... elves...
Reality, Reality...whos' got the True Reality?
Warning may give way ending and misunderstanging for 1stares
Just Dumb

Existenz [IMPORT]
Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh , Jude Law , Ian Holm , Willem Dafoe , and Don McKellar
Director: David Cronenberg
Manufacturer: Alliance Atlantis
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

Futuristic | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Naked Lunch - Criterion Collection
The Fly (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Dead Ringers
Videodrome - Criterion Collection
Sin City - Unrated (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B00004Z1GH
Release Date: 2000-03-21

Customer Reviews:

A good introduction to Cronenberg's world.......2004-08-16

Fantastic DVD here, and at a great price. You can also find an even more budget-conscious version, but there will be fewer extras.

Opinions on this film vary. Die-hard Cronenberg fans sometimes find eXistenZ to be a little lightweight. Especially when compared to more provocative films like Crash or depressing films like Spider or Dead Ringers.

On the other end of the spectrum, those unfamiliar with Cronenberg's work may find this movie to be too bizarre!

I won't talk too much about the plot, as other reviewers are better at it than I am, but I'll say that it's kind of a game within a game within a game (within a game?). Like a few other films of the day it explores the nature of reality (The Matrix of course is most popular).

eXistenZ was actually Cronenberg's biggest budget at 25 million (not including his current project A History of Violence). The special effects are fantastic, and there are some good moments of gore. A couple people get shot in and around the face. Yes, this is a return to his past in many ways, though again, in a slightly more playful manner.

There's plenty of extras on the DVD, most notably three separate commentaries and a long (almost an hour, I think) feature about production designer Carol Spier which mostly focuses on eXistenZ but also touches on some of her earlier work with Cronenberg.

Definitely worth getting, and an especially good introduction to Cronenberg's work (before moving on to more disturbing pictures like Videodrome and The Brood, and more slow, paced pictures such as Spider and Crash).

it's like... clapping... fireword... elves..........2002-07-07

sci-fi is a good vehicle to make a movie about something most people 'haven't' experienced. in the context of a simple story that has nothing to do with the reader, an author can hide a lot of clues, words and metaphors that trick the user into remembering something he forgot when he was born. everything, EVERYTHING, about eXistenZ, from the way the actors talk to the lines to the fleshy living portals to the fast cuts, it's all reminder text. if you can trace back half of it, you remember more than i do. this movie is destined to go WAY over most people's radar, like naked lunch, because they've never played with anyone in this life and they don't know how to trace back a metaphor until it becomes relevant. this movie is a serious trip for serious explorers, it has a lot of -info- packed into it, it's medicinal. do you know what i mean? this reality is only a practice round! love each other and shine your eyes!

here's a riddle: what lasts for 'twenty minutes' and causes you to completely leave this body?

Reality, Reality...whos' got the True Reality?.......2001-05-26

If you thought "Dark City", "The Matrix", "The Thirteenth Floor", and "The Game" were the ultimate Gnostic examinations of what True Reality is and which life...or lives...or reincarnation...or half remembered-half forgotten former life you might be accessing again...then move over... "ExistenZ" is the FAR OUT experience of a lifetime... actually of several lifetimes...or of two different lifetimes...at the same time. These films all "appear" to be science-fantasy or suspense...but don't let that fool you... actually Gnosticism attempts to do that very thing...fool you...but for you own good...so you will see the Truth, but not KNOW it immediately for what it actually is...for in the phoney world that most people call "real," appearances themselves are deceiving! Who is the "enemy" of life and the world? Is it "corporate" buyers and sellers -- or is it the demonic nature of the whole "world system" of matter and materialism itself that is ultimately seeking to do us in? Do you have free will -- or are you a manipulated puppet and slave? And WHO is manipulating you ...and giving the orders? All of these questions pop up and down and up again...rearranged in multiple guises and different lives; and different identities are switched at the drop of a consciousness in this fantastic film! Nothing is always what it seems...and he who is friend one moment, may very well turn out to be he who is enemy is just a split second of soul/mind switching. There aren't many films like this one (even though "Dark City" is still the most poetic and allegorically/symbolically stylish)! Buy this...experience this...scratch you head over it for an eternity...or maybe two...or three. It's worth every penny!

Warning may give way ending and misunderstanging for 1stares.......2001-04-26

I saw thirty minutes of this movie and at the end of this movie the two main characters kill the creators. I found this movie a great film that shows how violence in video games may influenced people to use violence in real life.

Just Dumb.......2001-04-22

I saw half of this movie before we decided to burn it. I can't speak for the whole thing, but the half I saw deffinately ranks as the lowest, dumbest, worst film I've ever come across. The acting, props, dialogue, and drama are horrible. I love sci fi, fantasy and think this is an absolute disgrace to my favorite genres. I would have given this negative stars if it were possible.

Average customer rating:

This was a really great movie, especially if you like Cronenberg
freaky movie
Brilliant and challenging
wait a minute is this a game? or is this reality?
Excellent, Excellent, Excellent

eXistenZ [Region 2]
Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh , Jude Law , Ian Holm , Willem Dafoe , and Don McKellar
Director: David Cronenberg
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Thirteenth Floor
Dark City (New Line Platinum Series)
Videodrome - Criterion Collection
Naked Lunch - Criterion Collection
Dead Ringers

ASIN: B00004TLK1

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

This was a really great movie, especially if you like Cronenberg.......2007-06-05

freaky movie.......2007-04-13

Brilliant and challenging.......2007-02-11

wait a minute is this a game? or is this reality?.......2007-01-31

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent.......2006-12-28

Average customer rating:

This was a really great movie, especially if you like Cronenberg
freaky movie
Brilliant and challenging
wait a minute is this a game? or is this reality?
Excellent, Excellent, Excellent

eXistenZ [Region 2]
Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh , Jude Law , Ian Holm , Willem Dafoe , and Don McKellar
Director: David Cronenberg
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Thirteenth Floor
Dark City (New Line Platinum Series)
Videodrome - Criterion Collection
Naked Lunch - Criterion Collection
Dead Ringers

ASIN: B00004SPFF

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

This was a really great movie, especially if you like Cronenberg.......2007-06-05

freaky movie.......2007-04-13

Brilliant and challenging.......2007-02-11

wait a minute is this a game? or is this reality?.......2007-01-31

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent.......2006-12-28

Average customer rating:

A genre classic

eXistenZ

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

Product Description

Full Screen Feature - All Regions -Language: English (Only) - Subtitles: Traditional Chinese, English, Cantonese Mandarin. Disc holder and disc are in like new condition.

Customer Reviews:

A genre classic.......2006-11-25

This is one of my favorite movies and a classic in the genre.

Just watch it to be entertained, watch it to see an incredible imagination or really delve into the themes and questions it raises. I love the story line and the "dirty realist" approach to some off the strange settings and places.

You can appreciate this movie on a number of levels, its story has ever twisting interesting events and the ending is a real surprise.

Average customer rating:

eXistenZ [Region 2]
Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh , Jude Law , Ian Holm , Willem Dafoe , and Don McKellar
Director: David Cronenberg
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004VYEI

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