VIDEODROME A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 2000
Almost twenty years ago I read the review of David Cronenberg's SCANNERS and the author explicitly described that film as "the work of a sick man". Such harsh words shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with the films that Canadian director used to make in 1970s and early 1980s - science fiction films based on some disturbing ideas of dehumanisation in modern society. Even more disturbing thing for the contemporary audience was the graphic depiction of such dehumanisation in the form of explicit violence and realistic gore. One of such films is VIDEODROME, written and directed by Cronenberg in 1983, science fiction thriller which dealt with the effects of television on human perception of reality.
The protagonist of this film is Max Renn (played by James Woods), producer of the small TV station in Toronto. In order to fight more powerful competition, he based his program almost entirely on the broadcasts that feature realistic violence and soft-core pornography. Recently, a mysterious satellite program called "Videodrome", unscrambled by his trusted technowizzard Harlan (played by Peter Dvorsky) has caught his attention. It consists of nothing more than scenes of torture and Max, although warned that "Videodrome" might actually be snuff film, begins searching for their producers. This happens after his girlfriend Nicki Brand (played by Debbie Harry) got aroused by the programme and expressed desire to star in the program. After some time, Max is convinced that the author of "Videodrome" is Brian O'Blivion (played by Jack Greley), eccentric TV theorist who communicates with the rest of the world via recorded tapes. In the meantime, Max begins suffering from bizzare hallucinations involving his television set. Explanation for such phenomenon is given by O'Blivion's daughter Bianca (played by Sonja Smits) - "Videodrome" is actually a signal which is able to cause brain damage to the viewers and permanently alter their perception of reality.
VIDEODROME is often referenced as one of the Cronenberg's most ambitious works. Dehumanisation as the consequence of technological progress - Cronenberg's favourite subject - here takes shape in the form of media manipulation and technology able to totally blur lines between real world and artificial realities. Cronenberg, whose Max Renn might be seen as some sort of alter ego, however absolves technology from its share of responsibility for media-induced alienation. In the endless debate about the role of media in the rise of modern-day violence and other forms of human depravity, Cronenberg puts some of the blame on primordial instincts of human subconscius, with media being solely the catalysts for subsequent destructive behaviour. Because of that VIDEODROME is considered prophetic film by many.
However, those fine ideas have great difficulties in reaching audience. In the beginning plot and characters work quite nicely, but gradually film begins to deteriorate as quickly as the mental state of its protagonist, and practically nothing on screen makes sense, except Rick Baker's make-up talents, responsible for some effective but often revolting effects (like protagonist's stomach turning into vagina- like VCR) and numerous scenes of gratuitous violence. These scenes of carnage are here probably to compensate lack of Cronenberg's ideas, manifested in his ability to find adequate or comprehensible ending. To make things worse, some of the quasi- ideological technobabble and television idolatry now looks terribly outdated in the age of Internet and virtual reality. On the other hand, some of the images in the film are quite impressive - especially Jack Greley as television guru (probably inspired by real life Canadian TV theorist Marshall MacLuhan) and American rock-singer Debbie Harry playing some really sick puppy. However, those scenes can't save VIDEODROME from being seen as a movie that failed to fulfil its potentials.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
Review written on September 25th 2000
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr E-mail: drax@purger.com E-mail: dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr
Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian http://film.purger.com
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