David Cronenberg’s Crash getting an uncut NC-17 4K restoration

23 years ago, David Cronenberg’s Crash debuted at Cannes Film Festival, earning the last-ever awarded Special Jury Prize. The 1996 erotic thriller has always been surrounded by controversy, an obvious outcome of the film’s pornographic tendencies surrounding infidelity and fetishizing car crashes and death. For those who somehow felt the theatrical cut didn’t go far enough, however, fear not, as the uncut NC-17 version is getting a 4K restoration.

Set to premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, the 4K restoration comes from Recorded Picture Company and Turbine Media Group. Cronenberg himself supervised the updated alongside the movie’s director of photography, Peter Sushitzy. Plus, multiple film experts advised on the conversion of the film’s original negatives to ensure the preservation of grain structure and detail (via The Playlist).

(Read: David Cronenberg’s Top 10 Films)

“Strange to think that this movie needed restoration,” Cronenberg noted in a statement. “Seems like only yesterday that we were shooting it. Just emphasizes the fragility of our beautiful art form, but also its resilience. Wonderful to see it and hear it in its full glory after its loving resurrection by Turbine.”

For those unfamiliar, Crash is an adaptation of J. G. Ballard’s similarly titled 1973 novel. The sexy cult classic follows a married couple, James and Catherine Ballard, as they seek new forms of sexual gratification. After James almost dies in an automobile accident, the two become followers of a scientist and quasi-cult leader who fetishizes car accidents.

Following the Venice screening, to production companies will seek wider distribution for the highly detailed, highly graphic version of Crash.

David Cronenberg’s Crash getting an uncut NC-17 4K restoration
Ming Lee Newcomb