Crash

Written and directed by David Cronenberg and based on J. G. Ballard’s 1973 novel of the same name, Crash tells the uncomfortable (and controversial) story of a group of people who are turned on by car crashes, a unique form of paraphilia.

After hitting Dr. Helen Remington (Hunter)’s vehicle in a critical car accident, film producer James Ballard (Spader), a man in an open marriage, and Remington, whose husband died in the crash, begin an unlikely affair that seems to take place exclusively in and around automobiles. While he is recovering, Ballard meets Vaughan (Koteas), a man who leads a bizarre subculture of people who fetishize car crashes, car safety tests, and traffic accidents in general. As Vaughan’s unusual cult meetings intersect with their lives, Ballard finds deeper meaning not just in his marriage, but in mankind’s increasingly intertwined and disturbing relationship to technology.