eXistenZ (1999)
1999’s eXistenZ is another Cronenberg film, though this time we’ve jumped from the TV-based, pseudo-metaverse of Videodrome into full-on virtual reality powered by biotechnological implants (“UmbyCords,” which connect via “bio-ports” directly into a player’s spine). Antenna Research game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is shot and wounded by a pro-reality extremist, damaging her bio-port; her publicist Ted Pikul (Jude Law) agrees to get his own bio-port to help her test the safety of her latest game, the eponymous eXisteZ. Eventually, they encounter a plot to destroy the game with diseased game pods, but as they dive deeper into layers of virtual reality Inception-style they lose the ability to distinguish what’s part of the game and what exists in reality.
In other words, this is basically about what will happen when QAnon gets Oculus headsets.
