by Chris Snelgrove
| Published
Hollywood's attempts to show us a scary future often fail. For example, after decades of movies about killer robots trying to kill us, it turns out that the real robot threat is that artificial intelligence is simply killing all our creativity. However, one recent sci-fi film instantly became the scariest modern entry in the genre, because its depiction of the future is particularly rooted in the collective fears of the present day. This movie is by David Cronenberg Future crimesand you can now stream all its bleak beauty on Hulu.
Not a remake
Future crimes (unrelated to Cronenberg's previous film of the same name) follows a pair of male and female performers with a seriously twisted gimmick: in this world where many humans have developed evolutionary quirks, a male has the ability to grow new organs. Accordingly, his partner regularly turns the surgery into a performance, allowing an interested audience to see the live removal of his organs. Life is relatively good for these artists, but all that changes when they are involved in police efforts to find and prosecute a group of rogue evolutionists.
Cast Future crimes It's based on some big names, including… Lord of the Rings The legend Viggo Mortensen is the man who can grow new organs. His partner is played by Léa Seydoux, a French actress who Western audiences may know from her performances in films such as Sand Dunes: Part Two The last two films of Daniel Craig in the James Bond series, ghost and No time to die. Kristen Stewart She also has a small role, and if anything, she's more infectiously engaged in that role than she was in The Amazing Stranger Love lies bleeding.
Bad version
Unfortunately for these actors as well as the superhuman body horror director David Cronenberg, Future crimes It was a failure at the box office. It earned just $4.6 million against a budget of $27 million. However, like much of Cronenberg's work, the film has gained a growing cult following since its initial release, and it's only a matter of time before it receives critical reappraisal from audiences in the future.
Meanwhile, everyone who saw this groundbreaking film didn't know what to make of it. on Rotten tomatoes, Future crimes It received a critical rating of 80 percent, with critics noting that Cronenberg hits some of his oldest themes in new and exciting ways. Of course, the film only received an audience Popcornmeter rating of 50 percent, with many who have seen it claiming that it doesn't have much to offer anyone who isn't already a Cronenberg fan.
Most accessible to Cronenberg
However, on this front, I simply have to disagree. For one thing, Future crimes It is one of the most accessible films Cronenberg has ever made. Its plot is more linear than, say, Scanners or Video arena. Also, while the film focuses on bizarre elective surgery as performance art, I found it lacking some of the more disturbing body horror elements of Cronenberg's classics such as rabid or The fly.
Plus, you don't have to be a Cronenberg fan to enjoy what's there Future crimes I must say about the horrors of modern society. A subplot about humans evolving to eat plastic seems terrifyingly relevant amid growing research into the massive amount of microplastics that permeate our bodies. And the basic plot about surgical performers shines a dark, bitter light on our media habits. If millions of people enjoy watching other people's pain and misery on TikTok and YouTubeIs it really a stretch to think that future audiences will enjoy watching someone literally get ripped apart for entertainment?
Of course, you won't be able to answer this question until you stream Future crimes On Hulu. Will you find this a calm and enjoyable reflection of modern society or just an exercise in Cronbergian excess? You won't know, of course, until you watch Tomorrow's Crimes Today and decide for yourself.
