Cast: Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, Sandrine Holt, Elizabeth Saunders

Written By: David Cronenberg

Directed By David Cronenberg

Original Score By: Howard Shore

Release Year: 2025

Rated R

Runtime: 120 minutes

There is no known audio description for this title.

What Is It? Several years ago, David Cronenberg lost his wife and started writing a story that reflected his state of mind. originally developed at Netflix for series consideration, it ended up as a film. A grieving husband (Cassel) invents new technology that allows the living to keep constant tabs on their deceased loved ones with high tech graves allowing monitoring. when someone hacks into his system, he relies on his ex-brother in law (Pearce) to help him solve the mystery, but is fueled by ideas and conspiracies by his sister-in-law (Kruger) who is also a dead ringer for his wife.

What Works: From a blind perspective, I was surprised this film is as dialogue driven as it is. Cronenberg uses the script to push interesting ideas about this future we are marching toward, and how technology might be altered in macabre ways to satisfy the whims of the wealthy. While I obviously can’t confirm a total lack of body horror, this isn’t quite as driven as some of his other pieces, by horror, but rather simply the gothic qualities of it. The themes run through the film whether he’s showing you his typical cringe inducing effects or not. While Cronenberg has claimed Cassel is not a direct representation of him, it is hard to fully believe there isn’t a lot of projection in this portrayal.

What Doesn’t Work: Again, still blind, so the lack of audio description certainly does put a damper on a horror drama.While the script may dominate in dialogue more than his previous film, crimes Of The Future, it doesn’t mean he’s necesssarily given up the shock value of what he’s fit into every other film. Aside from the unknown, I did think for the director of dead Ringers to return to the well of twins was a little redundant. I guess when you get up there in age, you start repeating your greatest hits.

The Audio description: Again, there isn’t any, but unlike some low budget indies funded by people I’ve never heard of, I have to believe Cronenberg chooses to not make his film accessible. Audio description just is not that expensive, and it would have made for a broader audience for a film that mostly landed with no major reaction. Blind people watch films, especially on streaming and physical media. With this getting a streaming debut on Criterion, one has to guess a Criterion release isn’t far off, which would have given permanence to the track.

Why You Might Like it: of cronenberg’s movies, it is certainly a little more watchable than crimes Of The future without audio description. Cronenberg poses interesting questions, so if you’re a fan, and you have a subscription to the Criterion channel, why not? The service doesn’t support audio description, so you’re already making a strong life choice.

Why You Might Not Like it: The lack of audio description on a horror film almost always guarantees the most interesting or defining parts of the film are left on the screen where we can’t access them.

Final Thoughts: David Cronenberg is already a master of his craft. Now is the time for him to challenge himself with personal projects like this, as well as the concept of making all his films accessible to blind and low vision audiences by adding audio description. Overall, I thought Cronenberg opened up some interesting themes, and had them explored in dialogue I could follow, and while I did feel left out, I was also engaged enough to not feel my time was completely wasted.

Fresh: 6.8/10