10 Movie Characters Who Discovered That Their Universe Didn’t Exist

8. Existenz (1999)

The Matrix Neo troubled by a spoon
Miramax

At almost the same time that The Matrix and The Thirteenth Floor came out, there was a Canadian picture called Existenz, starring Jude Law as a… person. I’m actually not sure what he really turned out to be. In this film, a game designer played by Jennifer Jason Leigh is unveiling a new type of system which is totally immersive, but a terrorist cell surfaces and attempts to kill her, fearing that her game will upset people’s ability to tell between what’s real and what isn’t.

This film is substantially stranger than the more straightforward Matrix/Thirteenth Floor films, but it has its own quirky charms, like a gun made entirely out of gristle which fires human teeth. I suppose quirky charm isn’t exactly the right word, more like weird body horror. Also, there’s a game console which can catch a disease, and this interestingly blurs the line between computer viruses and biological ones.

Now where I think it has its most lasting effect is in leaving the audience unsure of whether or not the final scene takes place in the real world, or simply in yet another false reality. Indeed, the final line of the film is spot on: when the protagonists of the film stand up and point a gun at one of the game’s beta testers, prepared to kill him, the tester holds up his hands and asks the question, “are we still in the game?” The answer to that, my friend, is a most definitive… maybe?

Contributor
Contributor

I'm a writer living in Indiana, United States, who specializes in horror, both in cinema and literature. I'm a fan of H.P. Lovecraft as well as an aspiring writer who is constantly striving to perfect my craft and become a better version of myself, while also providing for my wife and daughters.