Customer Reviews

eXistenZ: A Novelization

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eXistenZ was a very good movie, but the book version...!
Of course, novellisations of movies tend to be bad, but this one was way in at the deep end of bad. There was no tension, no suspense, and the writer managed to give away every surprise plot-point before its time. The characters are flat and lifeless, the dialogue is corny and unrealistic... I refuse to believe this guy ever won awards for his writing, which is what the back of the book claims. Maybe he was paying attention when he wrote the award-winning stuff.

I'd been trying to rent "eXistenZ" for some time, but couldn't find it anywere. Finding the illustrated novel based on the movie, I snatched it up and consumed it. The watercolor panels provided enough clarity to make out what was happening, leaving your imagination to fill in the details of each scene. An excellent substitute/companion to the movie.

Existenz was more like amovie than a video game. The whole origin of the game was to kill the creator of it. The movie centered around video game creator Allegra Gellar. During this time the game creators were worhiped like gods and players can actually enter the game. Things turn sour when certain people try to kill Gellar. She must then go into hiding with her guard Ted Pikal. Soon Gellar must go inside the game because she feels the game is sick. She insists that Pikal come iwth her and he agrees. This movie was wierd but I like the idea of people actually being a part of the game. Thas was very intriguing. The ending has a twist to it.

Priest's book isn't a good transposition of Cronenberg's eXistenZ, in my opinion. I'll give you some short items: 1. there are many different things and episodes between them 2. the author describes characters' feelings in a way that has no correspondance with their behavior 3. the book explains really EVERYTHING! The readers should have the chance to try to play their own game! 4. why in the end TranscendenZ and not transCendenZ? Anyway, I'm not a writer, only a reader, and I hope you will not get angry for my comments! Bye, Paola