eXistenZ

"Everybody's Playing It."

1999 1h 37m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 2,299

ActionThrillerScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Everybody's Playing It.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Howdy Amazon ChannelSubscription

Cast

Jennifer Jason Leigh
Allegra Geller
Jude Law
Ted Pikul
Ian Holm
Kiri Vinokur
Willem Dafoe
Gas
Don McKellar
Yevgeny Nourish
Callum Keith Rennie
Hugo Carlaw
Christopher Eccleston
Seminar Leader
Sarah Polley
Merle

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: David Cronenberg
Writers: David Cronenberg
Languages: English
Countries: Canada, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 19% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

27 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Canada, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by David Cronenberg, shot by Peter Suschitzky. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Howard Shore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ronald Sanders shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law and Ian Holm carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Everybody's Playing It.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

David Cronenberg directs. Peter Suschitzky behind the camera. Howard Shore scores. Ronald Sanders cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Canada, United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 19% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
227 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3International production across 2 countries: Canada, United Kingdom.
4Directed by David Cronenberg, shot by Peter Suschitzky. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Howard Shore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Ronald Sanders shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law and Ian Holm carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Everybody's Playing It.".
9IMDB entry: tt0120907 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "hacker", "video game", "virtual reality", "pop star".

The technical file

Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky
Original score: Howard Shore
Editing: Ronald Sanders
Production design: Carol Spier
Costume design: Denise Cronenberg
Makeup / hair: Réjean Goderre
VFX supervisor: James Isaac
Sound: Graham Daniel
Stunt coordinator: Alison Reid
Runtime: 97 min · 1h 37m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $2,856,712
Return: 19% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: eXistenZ (1999)

Also by

David Cronenberg

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2016-02-22
★ 8/10
Free will is obviously not a big factor in this little world of ours. Hee, yet another David Cronenberg picture that divides opinions, not just among the casual film watchers, but also his most ardent fans. Plot is a little nutty in actuality, as it finds Jennifer Jason Leigh as the world's most high profile games designer. While testing her new virtual reality game out with a focus group, an assassination attempt puts her on the run with an ally of sorts, marketing man Ted Pikul (Jude Law). With the prototype of the new game in their possession, the pair must enter the game's realm to unlock the various puzzles and threats that now confounds and stalks them. With Cronenberg back to writing something solely from his own head, eXistenZ finds the Canadian auteur happy to be back making a truer piece of work for his kinked visions. Unfortunately the advent of such virtual reality fare and various realist themes was well in filmic swing come the time eXistenZ was released, rendering it in some eyes as a band wagon jumper. That's unfair, because it's still a unique film, as Cronenberg blends body horror with visual invention to create a mind warp of gaming possibilities, a thrum thrum of futuristic verve. He gets top performances out of Leigh (great hair as well) and Law, while the narrative is constantly tricky enough to demand the viewer pays attention whilst being prepared to, perhaps, be surprised. Not prime Cronenberg, but still smart and funky, twisty and nutty, scary and oblique. So very much a Cronenberg original, then. 8/10
tmdb817991562017-07-28
★ 1/10
I'm sorry but this low budget disaster got zero interest from me. The props were horrid. The story was ridiculous; really, it was just so "stupid". Maybe I should be using bigger words, but this movie was just awful in every way. I rarely give up on a movie; I feel like someone shouldn't give a movie a bad review unless they've seen the entire thing. I've seen the entire thing, finally. It was almost painful to get through. It is just a cheap and dreadful production. The SyFy channel makes better quality garbage than this.