From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!upstill
Newsgroups: net.movies
Title: Videodrome
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.827
Posted: Tue Feb  8 13:57:48 1983
Received: Fri Feb 11 04:32:18 1983


   Let's say that Videodrome is for those with very, um, special tastes.  
The plot concerns the operator of a small Toronto television station who is 
on the lookout for ever more titillating shows with which to pander to
his audience.  He gets more than he bargained for when his head pirate
discovers a signal coming off of satellite of a show called Videodrome,
which is nothing more or less than snuff TV: one room, two masked men and,
usually, a woman to torture.

   Great idea, thinks our hero, maximum raunch on a minimal production
budget.  But upon further investigation he gets much more than he bargained
for.

   Videodrome, the movie, is very strong stuff.  It is "about" the 
relationship between the media and the audience, strongly (and explicitly)
implying it is a hypnotic, sadomasochistic bond.  How do you explicitly
imply something?  With very overt symbolism and imagery, which will come
as no surprise to anyone familiar with David Cronenburg's films: the images
here are as horrific as anything you've ever seen.

   I like Cronenburg a lot, but there are two major problems with this
film:  first, the theme of media criticism is usually highly obvious in
the way it's presented, although there are a lot of ideas going into it.
The other problem is that the world he creates (one of hallucination vs.
reality) seems to have no real definition, no consistent rules: at first,
the hero's hallucinations have no effect on others, and he is under the
control of them.  Later, he is controlling them and they DO affect the
outside world.

   You might get the idea that this is a very ambitious horror film.  That
is the correct impression.  I just wish it had been more successful.