"The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television."
Max Renn (James Woods), the president of CIVIC-TV- a fairly sleazy cable television station based out of Toronto- is constantly on the search for hardcore material for his mostly softcore channel. Then, through the use of CIVIC-TV's pirate satellite dish, he discovers a television program called Videodrome. An incredibly realistic depiction of torture and execution, Videodrome has no plot, no dialogue, and no one "stars" on it more than once. Max, believing that he's found what he is looking for, begins to search for the mysterious show's origins, discovering to his surprise that Videodrome is being broadcast out of Pittsburgh, PA.
It's at this point that things start getting . . . weird.
When I first saw this film I hadn't seen much of director David Cronenberg's work, which has a reputation for specializing in what is commonly referred to as "Body Horror:" horror in which the human body is slowly mutated, degenerated, or destroyed. I have a real problem with torture of any kind, so needless to say, I was completely unprepared for just how much Videodrome would disturb me. Frankly, if the idea of a woman willingly putting out a lit cigarette on her own breast makes you cringe, feel free to give this one a miss and check out Cronenberg's more mainstream remake of 1958's The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum (A film that raises the immortal question: if you one day discover that your teeth/fingernails are loose, why in the world would you ever try to pull them out?!)
On the surface, this film bears some striking similarities to Jacob's Ladder. After all, both feature main characters who are being haunted by bizarre nightmarish hallucinations, and insidious cold-war conspiracy theories. But while Jacob's Ladder is certainly frightening, Videodrome takes the whole thing a step further by making you, the viewer, start to wonder if you aren't going to be permanently affected just by watching the movie, much in the same manner as watching the cursed video from 1998's Ringu (remade in America as 2002's The Ring.)
So, be warned. And long live the new flesh.
Check back tomorrow for #15!
I will not be watching this one... I was disturbed just reading about body mutilation - of course my imaginings are sometimes worse than what they actually show!
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