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Existenz, with a big X and a big Z. If you're the kind of person who likes cult movies then get used to that name because come 26th April Cronenberg fans are going to have a field day.

eXistenZ—a system based on technology so advanced that it borders on biology. It’s a quantum leap ahead of anything ever imagined possible, apparently.

Forget Super Mario brothers, eXistenZ knocks the fat assed little Italian plumber into a cocked hat and then some because with this game system you not only play the game you plug yourself into it and it plays you!

Before you get excited however I feel I must point out my fears for this movie straight off. The idea is sound and I have to admit I like it. A computer system that's so advanced its actually biological, what a great concept (I have visions of Bill Gates rubbing his chin thoughtfully, hmmm) and what a great premise for a sci-fi movie. But wait - get a load of this plot synopsis as bastardised from the official eXistenZ website...

The air is crackling with anticipation in the small community
hall where dozens of gaming devotees are gathered to experience this ultimate adventure -- one that will forever shatter the line that separates wild and unpredictable fantasy from reality.

What brings such intense realism to eXistenZ is the fact that the game’s driver, a “pod” that bears a resemblance to a living organ, plugs directly into its player’s nervous systems via “bioports” or “spinal jacks,” which have been implanted into each of these  fanatical gamers. Because the pod has access to the memories, anxieties and preoccupations of its players, the direction each game takes depends entirely on who’s playing.

(Here's where it gets silly)

The moment finally arrives, and the eager players plug in for the ride of their lives, rocking and swaying, lost in the dreamy world of the eagerly awaited-innovation. Suddenly, they’re jarred from their fantasy world by an anti-eXistenZialist protester wielding a strange weapon – an organic fusion of gristle and bone, capable of shooting its ammunition of human teeth at fatal velocity. Shouting “Death to eXistenz! Death to the demoness Allegra Geller!,” the man fires the weapon, severely damaging the game pod.

In the pandemonium that ensues, Allegra is whisked away by Ted Pikul (Jude Law), a low-ranking Antenna Research employee who’s serving as a security guard for the event. A chase follows, with the unlikely duo of Allegra and Pikul seeking shelter in a world where nothing is as it seems, and where the villains of the game become real. A world  where the hunters pursue our heroes right into eXistenZ, the game Allegra has invented.

Allegra is strangely at home here, but for Pikul, whose imagination doesn’t extend beyond dreams of the boardroom, it’s a landscape brimming with peril and danger. He’s uneasy in this odd land as he struggles to keep himself and Allegra ahead of the assassins out to cash in on the $5-million bounty that the Anti-eXistenZialists have put on the game genius’ head.

Allegra knows the terrain and its secret inhabitants. When she discovers to her frustration that Pikul has no bioport, she directs him to a seemingly vacant, isolated gas station. There an attendant named Gas (Willem Dafoe) implants a spinal jack into the nervous Pikul, whom Allegra has persuaded into testing the game with her. But, Gas turns out to be murderously untrustworthy as well, tempted by the bounty on Allegra.

With her game pod damaged further, Allegra leads Pikul to an abandoned ski resort where a trusted gaming expert, Kiri Vinokur (Ian Holm) performs a sort of surgery on the eXistenZ game pod and replaces Pikul’s sabotaged bioport with a fresh one. Then, in a secluded chalet, Pikul and Allegra finally find a haven in which they can plug in and let the game begin.

OK, enough already. A gas station attendent/computer genius? All too common round my way. And how the hell did a ski resort get into this mishmash? To give the movie credit however there are certain facets that give me hope. Firstly the director is David Cronenberg and where there's a Cronenberg quality movie-making is sure to follow. Aswell as that the pics I've managed to see so far are intriguing. See the disgustingly fleshy 'pod' at the top of this page for an example. I digress. My advice, check out the real video clip above and judge for yourself...

As if we needed further proof that this will become a cult movie here are some nerdy EXISTENZE TERMS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

eXistenZ
The daring new organic game system which, when downloaded into humans, accesses their central nervous systems, transporting them on a wild ride in and out of reality - an experience intimate beyond expression. It changes every time it is played, adapting to the individuals who are actually playing it. The result is that you have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game.

Antenna Research
The high-tech toy company which developed the eXistenZ games system over a period of five years at a cost of $38 million.

MetaFlesh
The flesh-like material of which the game pod is constructed.(Like metatags but with DNA, ed)

MetaFlesh Game-Pod
The game module, resembling a living kidney, started by depressing a nipplelike protuberance, causing a rhythmic, peristaltic rippling effect. (oooerr, time for a cold shower, ed)

The eXistenZ game-pod is basically an animal grown from fertilized amphibian eggs stuffed with synthetic DNA, a process exclusive to Antenna Research. Because it"s an animal, it has a spine, bones and muscle and is susceptible to disease.

Bioport
Small, Metaflesh permanent spinal jacks positioned just above the belt-line into which the UmbyCord is plugged. The body's nervous system, metabolism and energy is the power source for the --ame.

Bioport Insertion Gun
The device which shoots the port-plug into the base of the spine.

Bioport Plug Puller
A device used to extract defective bioports.

Stud-finder
A device which locates and marks the bioport site on the spine with a special range-finding dye. (alternatively a device which locates Peter Stringfellow at any given time, ed)

UmbyCord
A split Y-shaped 12-foot connector cord resembling an umbilical cord with twisted, translucent, blue and red veiny vessels running just below the surface. UmbyCords plug into ports in the back of the game-pods.

UmbyJack
The jack at the end of the UmbyCord inserted into the bioport.

Neural Surge
A surge in the nervous system caused by fear (similar to an electrical surge), which is very dangerous when one is plugged in as it can destroy the Pod.

Micro-pod
A miniature version of the game-pod, used to download new identities during the course of a game.

Game loop
A repetitive behavioral pattern locking in a player when another player does not know how to advance the plot by saying the correct game line of dialogue.

Gristle gun
A pistol made of bone and gristle, almost like the half-decayed body of a small mammal whose snout is the barrel, and whose rigid hind leg is the trigger (What!!!???, ed). Instead of bullets, the gun shoots human teeth. It is designed to get past any kind of metal or synthetics detector.

Pink-fone
A soft surgical plastic, palm-sized portable telephone, which, when squeezed, emits a swelling diffused pink light from deep inside.

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Cick here  for some Realvideo footage