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We’ve covered Terry Gilliam, and we’ve done David Lynch, so now it’s time to give a little love for one of the weirdest directors to ever have a lasting career in Hollywood: David Cronenberg. Cronenberg is of course most famous for popularizing the concept of body horror (a subgenre that involves disturbingly graphic mutations of the human body) as a film genre, in films such as his remake of 50’s cult ‘classic’ The Fly and his adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ classic novel Naked Lunch. In more modern times ol’ Dave has stepped away from the body-bending that made him famous to tackle more serious drama, A History of Violence, etc. While I’m sure those films are quite interesting (I’ve heard good things about Cosmopolis), I have to wonder whether he would ever consider dipping into the well of insanity to pull out another legit horror movie. A movie like Videodrome.
In a world not entirely unlike our own, television is taken super serial. Max Renn (James Woods) is the owner of Channel 83 or Civic TV, a cable network that has become infamous for its risque programming, heavy emphasis on softcore porn and extreme violence. One day Max’s tv pirates intercept a strange program that features incredibly realistic scenes of torture, which goes by the name of Videodrome. Max is sure that Videodrome is going to be the next big hit for his controversial Channel 83, all he needs is to do is buy the broadcast rights from whomever owns it. The deeper down the rabbit hole Max goes, however, the more mysteries that pop up. Is Videodrome just torture porn for people like Max and his girlfriend Nicki Brand (Blondie’s Debbie Harry) to get off to, or does it carry a more sinister purpose? Who are its owners, and what is their ultimate goal? And what is the deal with the hallucinations and crazy TV cults? All this and more when you decide to watch David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. Just don’t stand so close to the screen, okay?
In this brave new world of the 21st century, where endless violence and sex is a google search away, Videodrome might not as relatable to movie audiences as it was in the early 80s. Still, it has all the ultraviolence, deviant sexuality and disgusting mutations that I’ve come to expect from Cronenberg’s body horror films, and seeing all the crazy shit that special effects could do back then is fascinating to me. The major thing that Videodrome lacks in my opinion is coherency, which was also a problem for Tetsuo: The Iron Man. After a certain point, all attempts at narrative seem to been pushed aside in favour of gross gun hands and sticking hands in James Wood’s hole. Which is fine, I love gross gun hands, but the ending was one of those ‘that was the ending?’ type of thing, and I don’t know if I would have had that same reaction if I knew what the fuck was going on or why people were doing the things they were. If your tastes in horror lean towards the weird and inexplicable, you might want to try out some Videodrome this Halloween.
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