What is eXistenZ? According to the glossary to David Cronenberg's new picture, it's a new organic game system that, when downloaded into the central nervous system, can transport a person in and out of reality, changing every time it is played by adapting to the individual user.

In other words, Cronenberg is back in his familiar groove. He has long been fascinated by the ways in which new technology moulds and manipulates the humans who believe they are its masters.

Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as the creator of this mysterious new game. Her invention backfires on her when she finds herself targeted by a group of assassins who call themselves "the realists".

Intriguingly, despite the science- fiction trappings, eXistenZ has distinctly literary origins. Cronenberg was inspired to write the story by the Salman Rushdie affair. What, he wondered, happens when an artist is condemned to death merely because of something he or she may have created?

He may have set out to make a thriller "about a game designer on the run from fanatics", but when he started to write, he became more and more curious about the game itself. He decided that if he was so desperate to get into the game, any audience would want to do the same, and that it was a pleasure that he could not deny them. Geoffrey Macnab