Crash

Film: Crash

Year: 1996

Director: David Cronenberg

Writer: David Cronenberg

Starring: James Spader, Holly Hunter and Elias Koteas

Review:

Ahead of my first watch, this was one of the blind spots that I had for writer/director David Cronenberg. It came out after his heyday in horror. You don’t hear a lot about this one, but it was listed in the Horror Show Guide Encyclopedia. I’ve now given it a second watch when I saw it was playing at the Gateway Film Center on 4K. This also doubles as a Scouring through the Sixes.

Synopsis: 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.

The film starts with Catherine Ballard (Deborah Kara Unger) having a sexual encounter in a hangar. The scene shifts to a film set where a director is missing; he is eventually found in the camera room with an assistant. This is James Ballard (James Spader), Catherine's husband. The couple maintains an open marriage, sharing details of their outside sexual encounters while remaining intimate with each other.

Things all change when James gets in a horrific car accident. He isn’t paying attention to the road and veers off into the other lane while on the highway. He collides with Helen Remington (Holly Hunter) and her husband. The husband goes through the windshield into James’ car, killing him. She oddly flashes him one of her breasts while they’re sitting in the wreckage, waiting for help.

James has a lengthy recovery stay in the hospital. There’s a large brace on his left leg. Catherine visits him there and it turns out; Helen is also in this hospital. The two of them meet in the hallway along with Vaughan (Elias Koteas). He used to do work at the hospital but is now obsessed with car accidents. James and Helen spark up a fling that takes them to a performance Vaughan puts on. It features two stunt drivers reenacting James Deen’s fatal accident. It actually ends in a real car accident.

The two then fall in with this group that also includes Gabrielle (Rosanna Arquette), who has some large scars from her own accident and she walks with a full body brace. James tries to pull Catherine into it as well, but it becomes darker the deeper they get into this interesting fetish.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is with addressing my expectations regarding Cronenberg's body horror roots. While this film isn't as graphic as The Fly or Videodrome, it features painful, realistic scars on James, Gabrielle, and Vaughan along with others. The practical effects and filmmaking effectively render both these injuries and the car accidents themselves with startling realism.

The DVD I own includes two versions; naturally, I chose the more graphic NC-17 cut. I noted that James and Catherine are sexualized from the beginning. While their open marriage seems mutually agreed upon, it is compelling to see how James’s descent into this subculture eventually affects Catherine. Despite her initial interest, she eventually seems to merely tolerate James’s desires, leading to an ending that suggests their arrangement is no longer working. Credit both Spader and Unger for their performances.

Exploring this subculture reveals that their horrific accidents serve as a catalyst to feel alive. Vaughn and his group view these crashes as a form of sexual liberation, where desires transcend gender in favor of pure pleasure. Their highly sexualized nature often seduces "normal" individuals. Ultimately, the drive to reclaim vitality after surviving such trauma is what pushes them back toward the violence of car accidents.

Something to also bring up that this is based on a novel by J.G. Ballard, which a major theme was how the world had become so sterile that these people are pushed toward extreme sensations to feel alive. Other things to include would be the symbiosis of man and machine. We’re seeing cars turn people on. There are also medical prosthetics and braces on characters. This also explores techno-sexuality and symphorophilia, or sexual arousal from witnessing or being in a disaster.

Other themes would include dehumanization. We see the emotional distance between Catherine and James. I get the feeling their arrangement plays in with that. There’s an obsession with traffic, which is a form of connection for James and Helen. Highways though are impersonal, except when drivers are attacking with their cars. There is also transformation through trauma. The scars are maps on the body. It is also redefining beauty, where perfection is no longer the goal.

Last thing for the story is stating that this isn’t a horror film in the traditional sense. There are scenes that are tense when Vaughn and then James are chasing people in their cars. Seeing the performances are tense in the sense of why they would intentionally get into accidents. There is impersonality with the intimate scenes. Scarring, which could be seen as monstrous, is now the beauty standard. The tone isn’t horror but it is still a stressful tension.

The acting performances drive this character study. Spader and Unger are central; He effectively portrays an arrogant man who descends into the group's depravity after his accident. Hunter is solid, sharing a trauma-based kinship with James, though more backstory on her would have been beneficial. Koteas is perfect in an unhinged role, arguably his best. Arquette and the supporting cast round out the film well, which also features significant nudity from the female leads.

All that is left then is filmmaking. I’ve already credited the cinematography and framing for the car accident scenes. Anything in a car like that was good. Going along with this, I do think that being able to capture the landscape. It is a city, with highways to get everywhere. The side streets also have an industrial feeling. There are limited effects here but they were done practically. Those all look good. It is mostly the aftereffects of accidents. Other than that, the soundtrack fits what was needed in building the atmosphere.

In conclusion, this is a compelling character study that, while not traditional horror, embraces the body horror associated with director Cronenberg through its painful, realistic depiction of scars and car accidents. The film follows James’ descent into an underground subculture that finds sexual liberation and vitality in vehicular trauma. This adaptation of Ballard’s novel explores complex themes of techno-sexuality, symphorophilia, and the search for extreme sensation in a dehumanized world. Driven by excellent performances, especially from Spader and Koteas, and supported by effective practical effects and an industrial atmosphere, Crash is a film defined by its stressful tension and provocative redefinition of beauty through trauma.

My Rating: 7 out of 10