Videodrome

Cronenberg, fresh from the success with Scanners (1981), digs deep into the mysteries of the human body, mind and soul in 1983 movie Videodrome. The story circles around unscrupulous TV-president Max Renn, who stumbles upon what seems to be a live snuffTV broadcast. Caught in what eventually turns out to be a Pittsburgh-based media exploration of the human psyche, Max slowly loses control over both body and mind.Starring James Woods in the part of the sleazy Renn, the film is perhaps the most efficient in treating the Cronenberg theme of “man-meets-machine”. In retrospective, the film was years before its time and has an impact on filmmaking still today. Not only did Cronenberg foresee the fascination of today’s reality TV-shows, but with its innovative special effects, Videodrome was also a science fiction movie groundbreaker. The symbolic use of machines as creepy, gory things turned into objects of sexual desire have become classic Cronenberg trademarks. Andy Warhol apparently described Videodrome as “A Clockwork Orange for the 1980’s”. Considering the censorship debate it stirred, he might have been right.ELIN LARSSON

Medverkande
James Woods, Sonja Smits, Deborah Harry: Producent
Claude Héroux: Manus
David Cronenberg: Foto
Mark Irwin: Musik
Howard Shore: Talat språk
English