Released in 2022 Crimes of The Future is the eighteenth feature film from Canadian writer-director David Cronenberg. It’s set in the near future where humans have adapted to their synthetic surroundings- by either evolutionary deviation or self-modification. It’s a world where surgery & pain are used for sexual pleasure, and performance art either relates to organ removal, deranged body modification, or autopsies. The film sees the director reconnecting with his body horror routes, as well as weaving in elements of dark humour, troubling drama, and satire. Here from Second Slight is a new UHD/Blu-Ray boxset- taking in a new commentary track, and a few other new extras. As well as archive commentary/ interviews- with the set coming presented in a ridged slip sleeve, a one hundred- & twenty-page book, and six art cards.

Crimes of The Future was shot in Greece- with the film’s world built around rundown, graffiti-splattered streets- largely seen at dusk or after. Stark and bleak business officers,  or barren apartments with strange bio-electric equipment in, which either helps you eat, or sleep. Or shadowy performance spaces. The film runs at the one hour and forty-seven-minute mark- and largely remains both engaging & disturbing throughout.
 
The film's two lead characters are the shambling & constantly coughing Saul Tenser( Viggo Mortesen) and female performance artist Caprice(Léa Seydoux). The pair live and work together- with Saul being the main focus of Caprice's performance- as he puts on an automated operation table- with the new organs he grows in his body being removed in front of an audience.  
 
Added into the mix we have the National Organ Registry- which records new & bizarre organs. It’s run by the shifty & bearded Wippet (Don McKellar)- who is assistant by the limp-haired, and shadily perverse Timlin (Kristen Stewart). As well as a group who have surgically modified their bodies to eat plastic- one of their number has fathered a boy who can seemingly digest anything.
 
As well as the performance art operations. We have sexualized cutting/ wound making, deranged facials, and most disturbing a child autopsy. So it’s most certainly not a film for everyone. Both leads are perfect in their roles- Mortesen really sells a man who's terminally uncomfortable in his own body, and Seydoux has a rewarding character arch as her mindset & what she is willing to do shifts- to some very disturbing places. But the real surprise here is Stewart- as the perverse & unsettling just under-the-surface office worker. The small surrounding cast is  equally well picked/ realized too
 
After spending the last twenty or so years of his filmography focusing on thrillers- be they psychological, action-bound, or gangster-focused. Or dramas- be they historical, lightly sci-fied, or satirical. It’s certainly wonderful to see Cronenberg returning one more to the Sci-fi/ body horror genre with Crimes Of The Future. And while at points the film plays like a greatest hits package- there is enough new and worthy here to provoke thought, unsettle, and generally dig into.

This new limited disc release from Second Sight features both UHD & Blu-Ray discs. With the set been presented in a rigid slipcase with new artwork by Marko Manev. It comes with a one-hundred-and-twenty-page book featuring new essays by Reyna Cervantes, Tim Coleman, Joel Hartley, Rich Johnson, Mikel Koven, Phil Nobile Jr, Ian Schultz and Hannah Strong. With six collectors' art cards.

We get a good selection of new & archive extras on the discs. On the new side, we get from commentary by Caelum Vatnsdal- who wrote the key/ main book on the Canadian horror genre- They Came from Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema. Initially, he comes off a little monotone & clipped in his commentary- but in time warms up, and we get some interesting observations on the film & Cronenberg’s work in general. He goes from discussing the director's use of opening credits, and how he always puts thought into these. He points out actors as they appear, and discusses the troubling opening scene. He talks about the film's set design, and how Cronberg has had the same set designer since The Brood (1979). We find out that initially, the film was going to be made in Toronto- but it had to shift to Greece/Canadian production, shot in Greece due to funding. He talks about the film's lead actor Viggo Mortesen- how this is the fourth film he’s done with the director, and how well they clearly work together. He comments that bizarrely a few of the films cast members have appeared in Werewolf vs Vampire films. He talks about his first experience with Cronenberg's filmography- Scanners (1981) which he saw when it first came out in Canada, and he touches on the media controversy in the country at the time regarding the film's infamous exploding head scene. He discusses how all of the director's films often hit near or around the one-hour-and-a-half mark, and comments on why this may be. Later he discusses how the film relates back to the director's other work, and the several underground societies in the film to hand. He talks about how the director & long-term score composer Howard Shore met- as well as giving details about Shore’s musical background. And of course much more- so it’s well worth a play, just give him a chance to warm up a bit!

Otherwise, on the new extras side, we get the following- The Bureau Man(26.59): an interview with actor Don McKellar. Painkiller: (10.19) interview with producer Robert Lantos. The Most Wonderful Dream (17.34) interview with cinematographer Douglas Koch. The Code of David (22.38) interview with editor Christopher Donaldson. New Flesh, Future Crimes: The Body and David Cronenberg – a video essay by Leigh Singer.
 

On the archive side, we have the following: Undeniably a Love Story:  interview with David Cronenberg. Things Change: interview with Viggo Mortensen. The Chaos Inside: interview with Léa Seydoux. The Heat and the Grime: interview with Kristen Stewart. The Making of Crimes of the Future. Production Design Materials. Short film: The Death of David Cronenberg. So a very nice selection of most worthy extras that really enrich the film.
 
With this release of Crimes Of The Future, Second Sight has given us the definitive version of the latter-day David Cronenberg film. With a lovely presented set- crammed with excellent extras both old & new. So if you have any interest in Cronenberg’s work/ and or body horror sci-fi- this is most certainly a must, must buy release!.