20 Brilliant Mind-F*ck Movies
2. eXistenZ
It's probably possible to write a whole separate library on about the effect of David Cronenbergs movies on his audience's minds, but eXistenZ is the one that fiddles with the grey matter the most. And dont be fooled by the presence of Jude Law, this creepy movie couldnt be less of a Hollywood picture.
This 1999 film is Cronenbergs exploration of video game culture, and its only become more relevant in the decade and a half since its release. Using games in a similar way to how Nolan eventually used dreams in Inception, eXistenZ shows us a world where you can mentally enter a videogame thats so realistic that you cant distinguish it from reality.
Knowing full-well how much of mind-f*ck this is, Cronenberg refuses to let the film settle down. Jude Laws Ted enters a prototype game designed by Jennifer Jason Leighs Allegra to help test it, but quickly begins questioning where real-life ended and the game began. The final third of the film pushes this anxiety even further, with shocking results.