'eXistenZ' came out the same year as 'The Matrix', funny because both movies examine virtual realities and mistaking false worlds for real ones, but they do it in profoundly different ways. 'The Matrix' is action, science fiction, black leather and trenchcoats and sunglasses, whereas 'eXistenZ' is addiction, contempt, disgust and nightmarish imagery.David Cronenberg is known for his body horror, and 'eXistenZ' does have some gross flesh stuff, but it's not as bad as 'The Fly' or 'Videodrome'. Here it's not your body that mutates: it's just plugged in a piece of hardware made of writhing, disgusting meat. The most memorable scene might be where Jude Law assembles a gun out of raw seafood - a gun that fires human teeth as bullets. There's a dream logic at work there - the scene is straight out of a nightmare.Another thing that 'eXistenZ' does well is video game logic. The story goes like this: there's a revolutionary new game where you go into a virtual reality to play it. It's all the rage and there are people always hooked into it, but because of its controversiality there are extremists after the game designers. The lead designer goes on the run with a clueless assistant, and they plug in to see if there's any damage to the system. In the game the NPCs ask the same questions every time (until you find an item or complete a quest) and sometimes there are 'cutscenes' where the player characters lose control and witness events that are meant to take place to advance the plot. Just like in a game. It's interesting seeing the characters discuss these things, and seeing the virtual world act like it supposedly would in a real virtual reality game.There's a delicious ending twist that I won't spoil, but I guarantee that everything that seemed weird in the movie will make sense in hindsight - like why would anyone design such a disgusting video game console?

I thought Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law were good as a team but what was really lacking here was the storyline, including the cliffhanger at the end! There were some scenes that were dragging on for me to really understand clearly whats going on with each characters. I would prefer if they made the story more upbeat, more action and more understanding. It was like there were a lot of question marks while watching this film and they were a headache. I am a big fan of video game movies but I don't think this movie is one of the best they have ever made in Hollywood. If it was inspired by an action game like Doom, or Duke Nukem, it would've earned a better rating. I would recommend people who are also video game fans to watch this but, be prepared to get confused at some scenes, thats all i can say to ya!

Set in a presumed near future, "eXistenZ" follows Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a game designer who has invented a revolutionary virtual reality game in which subjects are plugged into an alternate reality via ports inserted in their spinal columns. After an assassination attempt is made on her during a volunteer participant game launch, she and Ted Pikul (Jude Law), a meek PR agent who has been assigned as her body guard, find themselves on the run in the countryside, where reality and the virtual world of eXistenZ coalesce as they plug themselves in in order to salvage the game.It had been years since I'd originally seen this film, and I recently re-watched it as an adult with some extra years in me, and the film was in some ways stranger (and in others more logical) than I had remembered it. "eXistenZ" is a magnificently surreal exploration of virtual reality with notes of Cronenberg's signature body horror and all the makings of a trippy sci-fi exploitation flick.Fans of science fiction, head trip horror, and Cronenbergian splatter will find plenty of enjoyment to be had here. The film's ominous opening frames the surrealistic, ambiguous shifts in and out of reality that make up the last two third of the movie. I feel that some of the disappointment audiences had with the film (both upon its original release and over the ensuing years) has been due to mismatched expectations; for as much of a sci-fi thriller as this is, it's also extremely talky and dialogue-driven. This gives room for some very interesting and nuanced performances, specifically from Jennifer Jason Leigh, whose acting is calculated and simultaneously free-flowing. In retrospect, Jude Law seems miscast here to me to some degree, although he does succeed in drawing out the beta-male elements of his character that evolve into moments of legitimate confrontation as the film progresses.The special effects here are not over the top, and actually are rather minimal; most of the fantastical whimsy of the film comes from its labyrinthine distortions of events, virtual gameplay, and performativity of the self in both tangible reality and the matrix that is eXistenZ. The finale of the film is understated and shockingly macabre, and, though not as inventive as you may expect, is cleverly constructed and in many ways remarkably dour and nihilistic.Overall, my revisiting of this film was quite an experience; for first-time viewers, it is likely to be even more so. Jennifer Jason Leigh's nuanced performance is reason enough to give the film a viewing, but there is plenty more in way of thematic material, surrealism and hyper-realism, and maddening existential questions that Cronenberg frames through a matrix of science fiction and utter weirdness. The film has held up surprisingly well over the years, and is as engrossing today as it was nearly twenty years ago. 8/10.

I am not a big fan of Cronenberg. I despise it when a director does the same style or theme a thousand times and no one is more guilty of it than he(except for maybe Tim Burton). It gets repetitive though I understand why some might like his type of work. I watched another film of his-Video Drome-and hated it. I thought it was like someone trying to throw every type of food they liked into a blender put forgot to put the top on-a complete mess in other words. EXistenZ though takes all those foods and manages to create an exquisite- though somewhat disgusting-cuisine. The story is about a game designer in a future where game systems are biologically engineered. A bounty is put out on her head and now she must team up with a PR guy to stay alive. But it gets a thousand times more complicated from there. The movies goes through so many twists and turns that it actually almost became disorienting. Yet it stays fixed on the same idea: is this reality? Video Drome had a similar set up but an awful pay off unlike what he did with this picture. My only complain is just how graphic and foul mouthed he got. Are ten f-bombs seriously needed for this picture? Still the atmosphere and story are actually strong enough to make me want to watch it again sometime.