David Cronenberg’s 10 best films ranked in order of greatness
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Credit: Momentum Pictures
‘Existenz’: The thrill of David Cronenberg’s untapped VR gem
Using bulging practical effects like his own musical instruments, the cinema of Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg is known for probing deep into the profound realm of humankind with the squelch of puss, goo and pliable body parts. Using wild existential concepts together with such effects, Cronenberg has made an indelible mark on the world of science fiction, contorting the genre to his own twisted liking throughout the late 20th century.
His pioneering appreciation of body horror began with his 1975 feature film debut Shivers, and continued to more violent effect throughout his early career as he inserted visceral visual images into almost each and every one of his movies. Taming grand high-concept science fiction, Cronenberg hit critical acclaim with Videodrome in 1983 as well as with The Fly three years later.
Whilst these aforementioned films are rightly lauded as Cronenberg’s very best, there is something to be said for 1999s Existenz, an existential conversation that questions the authenticity of self in an ever-more technological world.
Meddling with the strange new phenomenon of virtual reality before it even came into popular existence in the 2010s with such products as the Oculus Rift, Cronenberg’s movie questioned curious new moral dilemmas of futuristic living. As the voice in the trailer rightly suggests, “The new millennium will bring a new experience,” with the sagacious line referring to both Cronenberg’s fictitious VR invention of ‘Existenz’ and the real-life creation of such video games.
Relying on a pulpy story that would feel at home as the narrative of a video game in and of itself, Cronenberg’s 1999 film tells the story of a visionary game designer named Allegra (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is on the run from assassins who disagree with her new creation. Enlisting the help of a marketing trainee, Ted (Jude Law), Allegra must plug herself into the VR game to discover if the technology has been damaged.
Appealing to the Canadian filmmaker’s own fondness for fleshy body horror and existential sexuality, the VR system of Existenz doesn’t reflect the plastic-bound systems that we would recognise in modern society, instead better resembling a small beige alien, whose outer shell can be manipulated for electromagnetic wonder. Certainly wacky, the design is very much expected of Cronenberg, with the long intestine-like wires of the VR machine providing for several strangely sensual scenes.
Thriving in its environment, Cronenberg creates an impressive world that is tangible in its construction, a truth that cannot be said of the director’s contemporary effort, Crimes of the Future. Enlisting the help of several increasingly bizarre characters, including Willem Dafoe’s mental Gas, Cronenberg creates a film that is both devilishly fun and endlessly creative, feeling much like an innovative videogame as its twists and turns unfold.
Questioning one’s own authenticity in a world that asks you to produce several different versions of ‘self’, Existenz demands more from its audience than it seems from the outset. How can one be sure that they have left a ‘game’ after quitting? Is the ‘game’ ever really over; did it ever even begin? It’s all this with a cascade of discharging flesh, guts and slime.
