Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

64% Tomatometer 64 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings

"Crash" is about the strange lure of the auto collision, provoking as it does the human fascination with death and the tendency to eroticize danger. Most motorists will slow down to stare at the scene of a collision; they may feel their pulses quickening and become aware of the fragility of their own bodies. The characters of "Crash" carry this awareness a step further, cherishing and nurturing it. For them, a car collision is a sexual turn-on, and a jolting life force they come to crave.

Crash

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Despite the surprisingly distant, clinical direction, Crash's explicit premise and sex is classic Cronenberg territory.

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Critics Reviews

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Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Peter Bradshaw Guardian It risks being laughed at, and there is a definite, tiny grain of Razzie absurdity that is a part of its weirdly hypnotic high-porn torpor. Rated: 4/5 Nov 27, 2020 Full Review Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Rob Humanick Slant Magazine [A] necessarily disturbing and equally profound inquiry into human desire, however self-destructive. Rated: 4/4 Nov 12, 2012 Full Review Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly For a movie obsessed with the connection between sexual intercourse and car accidents, David Cronenberg's Crash could hardly be more stationary. Rated: C- Apr 4, 2011 Full Review Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Sam Moore Vague Visages While the bodies of these David Cronenberg characters are fusions of technology and skin, the acts that they engage in are also a sort of fusion. Jun 5, 2024 Full Review Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Yasser Medina Cinefilia Somehow, its start hooks me with its original premise extracted from the fictional engine of J.G. Ballard, but I'm afraid its erotic vehicle of symphorophilia loses fuel and crashes on repetitive roads. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 6/10 Jun 21, 2023 Full Review Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Michael Atkinson Spin It's a landmark movie, the kind of film that carves out its own exclusive territory in the cultural forebrain and dares us to cross its border. Dec 27, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Joshua M Deep allegory about toxic and broken relationships! Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review 雅苏 典 都是些直白的感官刺激,不咋逻辑,也不太高级 Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/18/24 Full Review Conrad S This film crawls through a part of your brain you didn't know you had. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/01/24 Full Review David W While a bit on the softcore pornographic side for my taste, Cronenberg's 1996 Crash explores cars as extensions of the human body. In his typical style, this exploration focuses heavily on the sexuality and horror this extension can entail. The heavy use of sexual imagery is presented in a highbrow, arthouse style that mostly elevates the film above mere 'Skinemax' style exploitation. For that reason and the interesting portrayal of the human-car relationship, I would watch this again. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/24/24 Full Review Fagnetha A Kind of perfect, even if it constantly hovers on the edge of failure. Beautiful and dark, it's a really unique film… Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/19/23 Full Review dogpetdog For the DVD of this film the back cover has a quote from the New York Times, Janet Maslin. She says, 'Sex and car crashes'. Boy, that's informative, isn't it? Well, truth be told, that's all it is. A bunch of weirdos all get to know to know each other who all have the same fascination; Car crashes get them hot. How they even all meet is absurd. James Spader's character meets Holly Hunter by, you guessed it, crashing into her. And it just so happens she too is sexually excited by car wrecks. After his accident James meets Vaughn at the hospital who just so happens to be obsessed with this junk too. Eventually they all meet 'the group' who are all into this fetish. I've seen this movie more then a few times. It's a solid one star movie. Some of the most awkward sex scenes you've ever seen in your life. Besides James and his girlfriend, most of the other sex happens in cars. Not a lot of room to move? Everybody in their little group does each other, basically. Then there's the car wash scene. About the most awkward 5 minutes of your life. That's a pretty long car wash? The movie is shocking at first, and maybe even erotic in it's own way, if that's what you were hoping for. But after the shock factor, there's no story, the appeal goes away. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 07/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

David Cronenberg Director James Spader James Ballard Holly Hunter Dr. Helen Remington Elias Koteas Vaughan Deborah Kara Unger Catherine Ballard Rosanna Arquette Gabrielle
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Synopsis "Crash" is about the strange lure of the auto collision, provoking as it does the human fascination with death and the tendency to eroticize danger. Most motorists will slow down to stare at the scene of a collision; they may feel their pulses quickening and become aware of the fragility of their own bodies. The characters of "Crash" carry this awareness a step further, cherishing and nurturing it. For them, a car collision is a sexual turn-on, and a jolting life force they come to crave.

Director
David Cronenberg

Producer
David Cronenberg

Screenwriter
David Cronenberg

Production Co
The Movie Network (TMN), Telefilm Canada

Rating
NC-17

Genre
Drama

Original Language
English

Release Date (DVD)
Nov 17, 1998

Box Office (Gross USA)
$3.4M

Runtime
1h 40m

Sound Mix
Surround
Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

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