eXistenZ

Name: eXistenZ
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror
Released: April 23, 1999
Duration: 97 min
Rating: 68
Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law

1999

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 263 Ratings

See All

6.0

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.0	Your Score
6.0	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 263 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Existenz

Now Playing: Existenz

Movie Details & Credits

Dimension Films | Release Date: April 23, 1999 | R

Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law

Summary: 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.

Director: David Cronenberg

Genre(s): Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 97 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Wesley Morris

Gets diagnosably schizo. Read full review

F. X. Feeney

eXistenZ gives us Cronenberg at his wittiest, and Leigh at her most vulnerable and fascinating. Read full review

Richard Corliss

Like the virtual game he plays on us, the film is weird, it's addictive, and Lord, it's alive! Read full review

Troy Patterson

Typically icky and unusually witty. Read full review

Craig Seligman

Cronenberg, who both wrote and directed, is out to fool you -- to give you just enough information to let you figure out what's going on, and then bluff you out of using it. The movie, in other words, is a game itself. Read full review

Jami Bernard

David Cronenberg is one of the most intellectual film makers around.

Stephen Hunter

Crazy? Crazy is too mild a word by far to describe the twisted worm at play inside the skull of the Canadian director David Cronenberg -- And that craziness is given full vent in the vomitorium called eXistenZ. Read full review

SEE ALL 29 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Consort

Apr 25, 2021

□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿

7 of 10 users found this helpful73

Ocular24

Apr 14, 2021

Two producers of this movie are Hungarians, so it is not by chance that the X and the Z of the word "eXistenZ" are capitalized, since the letters between them make the Hungarian word "isten", which means "god".

13 of 13 users found this helpful130

americanraven

Aug 1, 2019

eXistenZ is sinister and grotesque, mind-bending and strange, and seems like it was concocted by throwing a bunch of random and unrelated ingredients together - with a miraculously good outcome.

32 of 33 users found this helpful321

Chempion1

Jan 29, 2023

Вообще фильм "Экзистенция" похож на какой то сон наркомана!
Фильм начинается в сарае на заброшенной ферме. Где проходит презентация новой игры гениального разработчика виртуальных миров Аллегры Геллер! Чо?!! В сарае? "Консоли" подсоединяются по пуповине напрямую к спинному мозгу человека!!Вообще фильм "Экзистенция" похож на какой то сон наркомана!
Фильм начинается в сарае на заброшенной ферме. Где проходит презентация новой игры гениального разработчика виртуальных миров Аллегры Геллер! Чо?!! В сарае? "Консоли" подсоединяются по пуповине напрямую к спинному мозгу человека!! Чо?!! Появившейся киллер стреляет в Аллегру из оружия сделанного из костей какой то рыбы!!! Чо?!!
Когда я смотрел фильм в первый раз именно на этом месте я поставил на паузу и прочитал аннотацию к фильму на видео кассете. Я просто подумал, что кассеты перепутал. Ведь на коробке написано: "Фантастический боевик"! А на экране творился полный маразм.
Да посмотрите хотя бы на написание названия: "eXistenZ"!
Но чем дальше, тем гуще. Наши герои перемещаются из измерения в измерение (игровые), попадают в странные ситуации. А в конце выясняется, что всё это время они... Не буду спойлерить. Хоть фильм и 1999 года думаю не все его видели. Так как за эти 24 года на нашем ТВ он демонстрировался только однажды и то глубокой ночью.
Но время шло и я как то проникся этой густой атмосферой eXistenZии. И теперь этот фильм я смотрю ну не реже пары раз в год. Он меня как то успокаивает, что ли.
Сюжет оказался запутанный и до самого конца, раз за разом, кажется, что вот и всё, ты знаешь кто есть кто! Но, раз и оказывается, что это опять очередная виртуальная реальность.
Фильм явно не для всех. Но тех кого зацепит, думаю уже не отпустит никогда. К сожалению видна какая то бюджетность, этого произведения. Зато в нём снялась целая плеяда звездных актёров, таких как: Джуд Лоу, Иэн Холм, Уиллем Дефо и другие.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Surpass80

Jan 23, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Allegra's hair changes curliness depending on which reality she is in. In the "real" world, it is straight, in transCendenZ it is partially curly, and in eXistenZ it is completely curly. Ted's hairstyles are different between worlds as well… Expand

18 of 18 users found this helpful180

Spangle

Mar 15, 2016

eXistenZ is an incredibly weird film that is pretty hard to explain, but I still loved it. It has to be one of the weirder concepts I have seen put to film, but director David Cronenberg does a great job keeping track of it all as things get weirder and weirder. Jennifer Jason Leigh and JudeeXistenZ is an incredibly weird film that is pretty hard to explain, but I still loved it. It has to be one of the weirder concepts I have seen put to film, but director David Cronenberg does a great job keeping track of it all as things get weirder and weirder. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law's performances are very good here and, though some would call them wooden, it is purposeful here, so they did a good job capturing that. Additionally, the film really messes with your mind and makes you question reality incredibly well. What is real and what is not real is really hard to put together and it is thanks to Cronenberg's assured direction that the film is not a mess. eXistenZ is an oddball of a film that is an incredibly good time and really makes you think.

Ignore the rating on Metacritic. Something is odd, considering none of the negative ratings have an accompanying review.… Expand

11 of 12 users found this helpful111

StaticSpine

Feb 21, 2014

I didn't like the movie much, despite the decent actors the movie is not well made, the visual characters are not that convincing, the killing scenes (and other visual effects) are lame and the whole story is not that good. Another thing I must mention that the movie is rather strange andI didn't like the movie much, despite the decent actors the movie is not well made, the visual characters are not that convincing, the killing scenes (and other visual effects) are lame and the whole story is not that good. Another thing I must mention that the movie is rather strange and sometimes disturbing. The only thing that I really liked - it's the way the game elements are shown in the movie - all that awkwardness in the story progression and NPC interaction.… Expand

3 of 31 users found this helpful328

SEE ALL 23 REVIEWS

67	#67 Best Movie of 1999
45	#45 Most Discussed Movie of 1999