Videodrome - 1983 - David Cronenberg

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Civic TV programmer Max Renn(James Woods) is always looking for sleazy programming to air on channel 83. Max feels that the only way for his little station to compete is to show people things that they cannot get anywhere else. One day Max is invited to appear on the Rena King show to defend himself and his programming. On the show he meets Nicki Brand(Deborah Harry) and Prof. Brian O'Blivion(Jack Creley. Max and Nicki start dating and Max shows here a tape of a show call Videodrome. Nicki decides that she wants to get on the show and goes to Pittsburgh to find where it is made. Max tries to track down the company that is making the show so that he can get it for channel 83. This leads him back to Prof. O'Blivion and into a strange world of hallucinations and violence. Death to Videodrome! Long live The New flesh!

David Cronenbreg is a director that, hit or miss, is always interesting. Videodrome is both of it's time and very forward looking. 1983 was a time of the cathode ray tube and video cassettes. But references to how TV is more real than real life point to the reality TV movement of the past few years. The world of Videodrome is connected by the television in a way not unlike the way the internet connects the modern world. But there are times in the film where it's age really stands out. When O'Blivion's daughter is going to send Max a tape she asks him what format he would like it in and there are nomorous shots of Atari 2600 systems and joysticks. When Cronenberg is on his game there are not many better.
8/10

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