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 & 6 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Spader	...	James Ballard
Holly Hunter	...	Helen Remington
Elias Koteas	...	Vaughan
Deborah Kara Unger	...	Catherine Ballard (as Deborah Unger)
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 | bisexuality | sex scene | 

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Taglines:

About crash survivors who use the energy of car-crashes as sexual stimuli

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for numerous explicit sex scenes

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the United Kingdom, this film is banned from sale or theatrical exhibition within the city of Westminster (London), although it is possible to buy the DVD in greater London and (in theory) see the film at a cinema outside of Westminster (this was true at the time of the cinematic release). Also, similar theatrical bans were placed in other parts of U.K. cities (including Chester and Cardiff, to name a few).

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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

James Ballard: You had sex with all those men in cars? Only in cars?
Helen Remington: Yes. I didn't plan it that way.
James Ballard: Did you fantasize that Vaughan was photographing all these sex acts as though they were traffic accidents?
Helen Remington: Yes. They felt like traffic accidents.

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Alternate Versions

The ending of the movie is changed. After Catherine's crash, Ballard reaches her, lying at the car's side. On the censored version, he lies beside her, says twice "maybe the next time" and the credits enter. Originally the scenes follows up, showing them starting to have sex. A final shot shows them on ground with some frontal nudity of hers, with the car besides them, as the camera pans out. This final cut has more than one minute.

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Connections

Referenced in The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

User Reviews

Put put put...

The more boring a movie is, the more crucial it is that there be a story: it may not relieve the boredom, but it will at least provide the viewer with a way of telling when it will end. Alas, there's no story here. Nor is there any reason for it to end at one point rather than another - except, of course, that the sooner, the better.

I don't mind using the premise that there's an underground coterie of sick weirdos who find car crashes sexually arousing, who trade crash test video porn, etc., but in describing the scenario with those nineteen words I've done only slightly less towards making a good movie out of it than Cronenberg did. I suspect the REASON there's no story is also the reason that none of these people have any kind of life at all - no work, no play - outside their shared fetish, and that they don't utter so much as a single line of dialogue (not even a "nice weather we're having") that doesn't relate directly to it. Cronenberg simply couldn't be bothered with all that stuff. If he can cut directly to the subject matter and show us the car crash fetishists being car crash fetishists, why should he bother showing us anything else? To avoid making a movie as unbearably tedious as this one, that's why.

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English Swedish

Release Date:

21 March 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Crash

Filming Locations:

Graydon Hall Drive, North York, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$738,339, 6 October 1996

Gross USA:

$2,664,812

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,664,812

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