Crash (1996) | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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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.

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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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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

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Rob Humanick

Slant Magazine

[A] necessarily disturbing and equally profound inquiry into human desire, however self-destructive.

Rated: 4/4

Nov 12, 2012

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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

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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

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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

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

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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 3D W A lot to think about. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/23/25 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 Read all reviews

Crash

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Cast & Crew

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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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Crash

Crash (1996)

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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

References

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crash_1996