Videodrome

Director - David Cronenberg (Scanners)
Starring - James Woods (John Carpenter's Vampires), Sonja Smits (TekWar), and Deborah Henry (Tales from the Darkside: The Movie)
Release Date - 1983
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "First it controlled her mind, then it destroyed her body... Long live the new flesh"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

      Do you ever see a film that gets a lot of recognition but you have no desire to watch it?  Maybe it is the poster work, the DVD or VHS artwork, or who was cast in it that just doesn't seem interesting to you.  Well, that was me with the David Cronenberg flick Videodrome.  I have seen many Cronenberg flicks and liked them all but something about this one just didn't interest me.  I rented the VHS in middle school but after 15 or 20 minutes I was bored and turned the damn thing off.  It wasn't until this time last year I was in a local used record store where I found the two disc Criterion Collection DVD with the packaging that resembles a BETA tape.  The store was asking $4 so I grabbed it.  I figured I would eventually give it a go and if I don't like it then the DVD would still look great on my shelf.
     The film follows Max (Woods) who is the CEO of a small UHF television company that is slowly going down the drain.  Max is looking for new sleazier programming to reel in the audiences.  He hired a man to pirate television signals and de-scramble them so he can find new programming.  The man was able to find a snuff show where masked men in rubber water suits torture and kill young women.  The show is called Videodrome and he wants to find them to use on his station.  Max shows the show to his sadomasochistic girlfriend who is turned on by the act and travels to Pittsburgh to be a on it.  When she does not return to Toronto he speaks to an art director with ties to the porn industry.  She does some digging and discovers that Videodrome is actually fake and begs him not to pursue it any further.  He does not heed her warning and pushes further.  He starts to hallucinate and his body starts to mutate.  The closer he gets to the the source of the fake video feed he discovers that it was a conspiracy by the tech that found the fake footage and a huge corporation that works for NATO manufacturing weapons.  They brainwash Max in to killing the board members at his station but his next target reprograms him.  Max then sets his sights on on the man behind the company responsible for all this.
     This is one of those movies that bores the living shit out of you until the 30 or 40 minute mark before completely mind-fucking you. About half way in I thought I was going to be giving this one a bad review but it finished with a bang...literally.  The acting is great by Woods but lacking by the majority of the cast.  Some people are just hard to express facial expression just like Kristen Stewart.  Almost everyone in this film is guilty of that.  It was like watching a movie with the entire cast wearing Michael Myers masks.  In some scenes where the character should be freaking the fuck out we get nothing.  Just a bland face with dialogue spewing forth like diarrhea.  I know everyone associated with this film can act and convey emotions they just chose to not do it in this film.  The story seems complex but it is very simple when you really think about it.  Deep down this is just an experiment getting out of hand and killing it's creator.  The same storyline as thousands of 50's and 60s drive-in flicks.  The story is very effective and crafts one hell of an 80s flick once you make it through the 30 to 40 minute mark.  A little trimming at the beginning of the film would have helped this one out a lot.  Finally, this film boasts some impressive practical effects making it a solid 80s flicks.  Sadly, we don't get a lot of those special effects until the very end.  I would have loved to see more of that throughout the entire running time.  Overall, this film is a great watch that does not seem that appealing to the eye at first.  You will have to force yourself to watch it and you will thank yourself when you do.  I highly recommend it.