7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
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.
Starring: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe, Don McKellarHorror | 100% |
Surreal | 36% |
Imaginary | 9% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
After finding his way through the turns of fetish and fixation in 1996’s “Crash,” David Cronenberg doesn’t stray far from the flesh with his follow-up, 1999’s “eXistenZ.” For this round of specialized horror, the writer/director explores the ways of virtual reality video games, sending viewers into a strange world of fleshy game systems and twitchy players capable of physically plugging into adventures that threaten to corrupt humanity. Cronenberg remains close to his filmmaking interests in “eXistenZ,” but he’s confident with this odyssey into unreality, delivering a unique take on the immersion of gaming and the dangers of such submission.
Screencaps are taken from the Blu-ray.
Previously released on Blu-ray in 2012 by Echo Bridge, "eXistenZ" returns to disc with a new UHD presentation from Vinegar Syndrome, listed as "newly
restored from its 35mm interpositive." The 4K viewing experience is quite compelling, as David Cronenberg has plenty of textures to share, preserved
here as detail explores the soft surfaces of the game pods, the gooey innards of mutated creatures, and skin surfaces on human players. Interiors
retain dimension and decoration, allowing fans to search the frame for more evidence of this unreality, and exteriors are deep, following the characters
on their rural adventure. Colors are crisp, with sharp primaries throughout, doing well with fashion choices and room hues. Greenery is distinct, as is
red blood. Skin tones are natural, and the fleshy pods retain their sickly human appearances. Blacks are deep, doing well with shadowy encounters.
Highlights are tasteful. Grain is capably resolved.
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix provides sharp dialogue exchanges, securing thespian emotionality and their various passes at all kinds of accents. Scoring supports with crisp instrumentation and dramatic emphasis. Surrounds are active, pushing musical moods circular at times. Atmospherics are also alert, exploring various environments in the film, also presenting a wider sense of group activity. Sound effects are clear. Low-end perks up with violent events and explosions.
The feature is all about the journey. Ted is the audience surrogate, exposed to the gruesome and strangely seductive elements of the game and Allegra, brought into a world of bio-port creation (Willem Dafoe plays a gas station owner who also punches holes into lower backs) and lubrication. There are mutated creatures to examine and bone guns to fire (with human teeth acting as bullets). There's also the central mission of the VR world, which finds Ted and Allegra dealing with rotting MetaFlesh pods, while the characters they encounter are either trying to help the twosome or kill them as revolution heats up. This is Cronenberg's "Jumanji," only he's not here for action and broad comedy, but an unnerving study of temptation, with Ted pulled deeper into the game, learning more about its immersion, which gives Allegra a certain amount of power in the process. The helmer adds layers of disorientation throughout the story, pushing viewers to question what's going on with the game as it gradually blurs the line of reality. "eXistenZ" does have some unavoidable Cronenberg-branded emotional rigidity to get through, but once the quest to understand a threat level begins, the luridness of it all is quite enticing, sold with exceptional visuals from the production team, who deliver vivid displays of corporeal corruption. And there's Cronenberg's appetite for the macabre and the surreal, which provides a special creative fuel for the endeavor, making "eXistenZ" one of his most interesting (and prescient) pictures.
Uncut
2019
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1992
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