MovieChat Forums > Crash (1997) Discussion > If I loved Videodrome will I like this?

If I loved Videodrome will I like this?

posted 10 years ago by goatboy969
8 replies | jump to latest

This movie doesn't get much love in the Cronenberg cannon, but for those who love it, they really love it. Will I enjoy this with the same raw suspense like I enjoyed Videordrome?

[–] Disardor 10 years ago

There are some similarities between the two, sure. Cronenberg fans who like Videodrome and Dead Ringers seem to like Crash, so if you like Dead Ringers a lot in addition to your love for Videodrome, I'd say there's a good chance you'll enjoy this one. It really is one of the best films of the 90s and among Cronenberg's best work (no faint praise there as he's one of the best living filmmakers), so I hope you enjoy it!

Just as an aside, it's such a shame that at the moment Cronenberg's commentary track that he recorded for the old Criterion Collection laserdisc is unavailable, because that was an extremely engaging, illuminating track. Warner Bros. doesn't have a great history of licensing its titles out, but many of us are still holding out hope for a Crash blu-ray from Criterion.

[–] mulholland_empire 10 years ago

crash is an excellent film its just slow paced and has kind of a different feel than most of the other cronenberg films. its very original though and the acting, directing and writing are all top notch.

[–] winterview 10 years ago

Videodrome had the torso with a videotape slot, he went a little further in Crash with a serious leg wound that becomes a usable vagina.

[–] goatboy969 9 years ago

"Videodrome had the torso with a videotape slot, he went a little further in Crash with a serious leg wound that becomes a usable vagina."

You sold it to me. Looks like CRASH will be the next Criterion I will waste my money on.

[–] winterview 9 years ago

Crash bears a close watching, or watch it more than once.

Cronenberg uses color and music to good effect in the movie. Also, realize, real people in real life are not turned on sexually by car wrecks, and Cronenberg realizes this. The movie has been called pornography and it has also been called anti-pornography. The movie defies being placed in a category, it is just so different from everything else.

Some have criticized the slow pacing, but keep in mind, the subject matter is just so different, I think the slow pacing works as it allows time for the movie to percolate through your mind.

It really is a masterpiece, but it's certainly not for everyone.

Makes you think about things, too. People love sex, and people love cars, weird that the world in Crash shares that with our world, but then goes so much further, so much further into combining the two, and adding the car crashes. Why isn't our world like that ?

[–] darkknight-999 9 years ago

I thought Videdrome was excellent, however personally I found this hard to get in to. Crash for me was a bit hit and miss. I finished it but there were times I found it quite repetitive and my concentration wandered (rare for me).

I'm not saying it was bad but there might b a chance you might not like this despite liking Videodrome.

[–] winterview 9 years ago

Crash is almost a sci-fi movie. A look at humans through alien eyes, though. Another way the movie is turned around, if you will.

The (alien, if you will) perspective of the movie is just so different from any other movie.

As for the repetition, I think darkknight-999 is referring to the sex. The movie tells it's story via sex, so there is quite a bit of it. There is a progression with the sex, the characters go further and further in their world with it, different partners, and different acts.

As noted before, the movie is VERY different, the structure, viewpoint and the characters are utterly unlike anything in any other movie. And the setting (Toronto as I recall) is filmed to look 'generic'. The ordinariness of the city is emphasized, and seeing what the characters do there is part of whatever it is that makes this movie so compelling to some, and so unapproachable by others.

The author of the book, Ballard as I recall, was really impressed with the movie, and it seems, usually writers aren't too thrilled with subsequent movies.

It's OK to 'not like' or 'not understand' the movie, in a way, it's recognition of just how different it is.

[–] Dan_Garten 7 years ago

Interesting review.