Arrow Video, out now

An advertising executive’s deviant sexual desires are awakened by a near fatal automobile accident, leading him into an underground world of car crash fetishism.

David Cronenberg’s 1996 drama caused quite the ruckus on its initial release, being the target of two newspaper campaigns and getting banned in Westminster. Nearly 25 years later and Arrow are releasing a new 4K scan of the NC-17 cut – but is it still shocking?

I guess it still makes for uncomfortable viewing, and it’s undeniably kinky, but the characters are all so glacial and detached from reality that it’s hard to do any more than watch them dispassionately from afar as they pursue their extreme fetishes. It’s certainly not erotic.

The movie was winner of the 1996 Cannes Special Jury Prize, allegedly to the disgust of judge Francis Ford Coppola, and it’s easy to dislike a movie of such extremes. A symphorophiliac is not someone aroused by Beethoven’s movements, but someone who gets turned on by the staging and watching of a tragedy, in this case car crashes. All of the characters find it increasingly harder to sexually satisfy themselves and so have to progress to the next extreme, with predictable results.

The top rate cast of James Spader, Holly Hunter and Elias Koteas were praised for their braveness in tackling such taboo matter, and it has to be said that it makes for uncomfortable viewing. J G Ballard’s 1973 novel on which it is based was no less controversial on release and like William S Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, considered to be unfilmable – Cronenberg shot both.

Arrow’s release is taken from the original 35mm camera negative, and includes a new audio commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin. There’s also new interviews with director of photography Peter Suschitzky, executive producer Jeremy Thomas, composer Howard Shore and casting director Deirdre Bowen. There’s also archival featurettes with the cast, a video essay on Cronenberg’s use of Toronto as a location, trailers and new writing in a collector’s booklet.

Verdict: When it comes to fetishes, I say each to their own, and I suspect personal opinion on this movie will be very mixed. What’s in no doubt is the quality and quantity of extras packing out Arrow’s extreme package. 8/10