Videodrome
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| Videodrome | |
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| Directed by | David Cronenberg |
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| Produced by | Claude Héroux |
| Written by | David Cronenberg |
| Starring | James Woods Deborah Harry Sonja Smits Peter Dvorsky Leslie Carlson Jack Creley |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Cinematography | Mark Irwin |
| Editing by | Ronald Sanders |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 4, 1983 |
| Running time | 89 min. |
| Country |  Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5,952,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | $2,120,439 (USA) |
Videodrome is a 1983 sci-fi horror Canadian film directed by David Cronenberg.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Videodrome begins with the daily routine of Max Renn (James Woods), president of CIVIC-TV (Channel 83, Cable 12), a sleazy Toronto UHF television station, on his endless search for new material with which to titillate his viewers. CIVIC-TV's pirate satellite dish (run by technogeek CIVIC-TV worker Harlan (Peter Dvorsky) receives transmissions of the sadistic, plotless program Videodrome that depicts only torture and murder in a bright orange room: snuff TV. He encounters Professor Brian O'Blivion (Jack Creley) (a Marshall McLuhan parody) on a chat show, who communicates only through video recordings of himself. Renn asks Harlan to learn more about Videodrome, and is told that O'Blivion is behind the program. He visits the "Cathode Ray Mission", run by O'Blivion, and meets Bianca O'Blivion, the Professor's daughter.
Later, Max receives a videotape, sent to him by O'Blivion, warning of a fascist socio-political force called "Videodrome". Afterwards, Max slowly grasps that he has begun hallucinating graphically violent and metamorphic acts showing the malleability of the human flesh. Bianca O'Blivion tells him the hallucinations are the intended side-effect of the Videodrome signal, which is maliciously provoking brain tumours in the viewer. Alone later, Renn sees his belly metamorphose and develop a wound. His lover, radio psychotherapist Nicki Brand (Debbie Harry), a sado-masochist prone to self-mutilation, appears in his recurring visions of the Videodrome room. She disappeared after going to search for the whereabouts of the Videodrome locale in order to audition for a role on the show (it is later revealed that like all of Videodrome's previous "contestants", she was killed).
The producer of Videodrome, businessman Barry Convex (Leslie Carlson), of the Spectacular Optical corporation calls on Max Renn. He asks Max to put on and wear a helmet that records one of his hallucinations. As the story is told entirely from Renn's point of view, reality and hallucination merge, becoming indistinguishable. Later, Convex and his partner Harlan (who, as it is revealed, has betrayed Renn) tell Renn that, by inserting the Videodrome signal in violent television programs, they are morally purifying North America so that it can survive the tough times ahead. Renn is coerced to accept amorphous meaty "video tapes" via his abdominal wound. Under the influence of their violent programming, Max secretes a gun within his abdominal video cassette slot, later discovering that it too meatily metamorphoses with his hand. He goes to the CIVIC-TV offices and shoots his business partners. The intended next target, Bianca O'Blivion, then reprograms him to betray and destroy Spectacular Optical. She tells him that through Videodrome's influence, he has the power to morph his body and externalize his thoughts and hallucinations. When Harlan attempts inserting another tumourous video cassette into him, Max metamorphically fuses a grenade to Harlan's hand, which explodes and kills him. He then shoots and kills Barry Convex during a trade show, causing Videodrome tumors to erupt from his head and torso, and shouts "Death to Videodrome! Long live the New Flesh!" to the audience of businessmen and women before throwing the microphone down.
Afterwards, Renn takes refuge on a derelict boat in an abandoned harbor, where Nicki appears to him on television. She tells him he has weakened Videodrome, but that in order to completely defeat them, he has to leave the old flesh. He then sees a TV set showing an image of himself pointing his handgun to his head, saying "Long live the New Flesh." His on-screen image shoots itself and the TV set explodes, spraying human intestines on the deck. Max Renn then imitates the action he has just watched, and squeezes the trigger; the screen goes blank and a gunshot is heard.
[edit] Production
As a young man, Cronenberg attended the University of Toronto--first studying science, but eventually gaining his degree in Literature. Marshall McLuhan was a lecturer in media studies at the University during the same time (the early 1970s), and is often credited as an influence on Cronenberg's ideas for Videodrome.[citation needed] Canadian rumours of mind-controlling television from right-wing extremists in the United States also inspired the story. The concept of brain tumor-inducing television programs is an urban legend dating to the 1940s, when people believed television signals to cause brain tumors.
Videodrome pioneered the flicker-eliminating technology used to film a television screen's images; before, film images were superimposed onto blank television screens. Videodrome used Betamax videotape cassettes because VHS videotape cassettes were too large to fit the faux abdominal wound.[citation needed]
Alternate titles of Videodrome were Network of Blood and Zonekiller.
"Civic TV" refers to a real Canadian television station, CityTV, notorious for broadcasting soft-core pornography among its programming. One of Max's business partners is named Moses likely in reference to CityTV co-founder Moses Znaimer.
The pornographic video Samurai Dreams, of which only five seconds are seen in the film story, was made specifically for the film. The five-minute film is in The Criterion Collection DVD edition of Videodrome.
[edit] Videodrome books
At the time of its theatrical release, Videodrome was supplemented in the marketplace by a novelization. Though credited to "Jack Martin," the novel was in fact the work of acclaimed horror novelist Dennis Etchison. The story told by the novel differs from the final cut of the movie, as Etchison's lead time required him to base his work on an earlier draft of the screenplay.
Videodrome is also the title of a detailed book-length study of the film, from pre-production to its echoes throughout pop culture a quarter century after its release, written by the novelist and film critic Tim Lucas. The book contains Lucas's eyewitness report of the filming, essays and criticism, and on-set interviews with David Cronenberg, James Woods, Deborah Harry, Rick Baker, Sonja Smits, Les Carlson and many other crew members. It was published by Millipede Press in September 2008.
[edit] Reception
The film scored fourth as Bravo TV's "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments". It was also selected as one of the 23 Weirdest Films of All Time by Total Film.[1]
Videodrome's cult film status has made it a popular source for sampling and homage in Electro-industrial, EBM, and heavy metal music. It ranks tenth on the Top 1319 Sample Sources list [1] and has been sampled in dozens of songs.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Videodrome |
- Videodrome at the Internet Movie Database
- Videodrome at Allmovie
- Videodrome at Rotten Tomatoes
- Videodrome review at InternalBleeding
- Criterion Collection essays
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