Crash (1996)

After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.

Director:

David Cronenberg

Writers:

J.G. Ballard (novel), David Cronenberg

Stars:

James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas

9 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Spader	...	James Ballard
Holly Hunter	...	Helen Remington
Elias Koteas	...	Vaughan
Deborah Kara Unger	...	Catherine Ballard
Rosanna Arquette	...	Gabrielle
Peter MacNeill	...	Colin Seagrave
Yolande Julian	...	Airport Hooker
Cheryl Swarts	...	Vera Seagrave
Judah Katz	...	Salesman
Nicky Guadagni	...	Tattooist
Ronn Sarosiak	...	A.D.
Boyd Banks	...	Grip
Markus Parilo	...	Man in Hanger
Alice Poon	...	Camera Girl
John Stoneham Jr.	...	Trask

Storyline

Since a road accident left him with serious facial and bodily scarring, a former TV scientist has become obsessed by the marriage of motor-car technology with what he sees as the raw sexuality of car-crash victims. The scientist, along with a crash victim he has recently befriended, sets about performing a series of sexual acts in a variety of motor vehicles, either with other crash victims or with prostitutes whom they contort into the shape of trapped corpses. Ultimately, the scientist craves a suicidal union of blood, semen, and engine coolant, a union with which he becomes dangerously obsessed.

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Plot Keywords:

car crash | accident victim | sexuality | erotic thriller | bisexuality | 

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Taglines:

Life is a highway

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for numerous explicit sex scenes

Details

Country:

Canada UK

Language:

English Swedish

Release Date:

21 March 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Crash: Extraños placeres

Filming Locations:

Graydon Hall Drive, North York, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$738,779, 23 March 1997, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,038,450

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alliance Communications Corporation, Recorded Picture Company (RPC), The Movie Network (TMN)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 90 min (R-rated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Because Vaughan's car becomes increasingly battered over the course of the film, the production required six vintage Lincolns: three for driving, one for smashing, one cut in half for studio shots and one converted into a pickup truck on which to rear mount the camera to capture driver and passenger POV's.

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Goofs

After Vaughan repeatedly crashes the left front bumper of his Lincoln into a junker James Ballard is sitting in, causing major damage to the bumper and the lights, Vaughan is soon shown driving on the highway with no damage to the bumper and both left lights operational.

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Quotes

Vaughan: [speaking into microphone] I myself shall play the role of Dean's racing mechanic Rolf Voudrich, sent over from the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen, Germany. Now, this mechanic was himself fated to die in a car crash in Germany 26 years later.

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Alternate Versions

Irish film and video versions were cut by 35 seconds. The cut removes the explicit dialogue from the sex scene between Ballard and his wife in their bed. DVD version is uncut, and the film has been shown uncut on Irish television station TV3.

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Connections

Referenced in This Year's Love (1999)

User Reviews

I liked it

I had read the novel and was very curious to see what David Cronenberg would do. The book was somewhat better, but I thought the movie was very intelligent, disturbing and outrageous. The cast does well, especially Deborah Kara Unger, who gives the best performance in the movie. As usual, Cronenberg creates another world, and either you want to go there or not, but this time it ended up being fascinating, for me at least.