Review of Videodrome (1983) by Anthony M — 13 Mar 2010

Without a doubt one of the weirdest films I've had the pleasure of viewing. David Cronenberg's 'Videodrome' is about Max, who runs an unauthorized television channel in Toronto, Canada which plays softcore pornography to its viewers. However, he feels that he needs something more violent and sexually perverse to entertain his demanding, late night audience.

When he stumbles across a program called Videodrome, which appears to be a pirate broadcast originating from Malaysia he wants to find the origin of the show to broadcast to his viewers, as this is exactly what he is after...Videodrome depicts violence, sexual abuse and murder towards woman but while watching Videodrome, strange things begin to happen and Max's descent into madness start and the conspiracy is unraveled.

The film features great performances by James Woods as Max giving a realistic performance a man undeniably going insane. The stunning Debbie Harry from Blondie was also great as Max's twisted lover.

David Cronenberg's direction was brilliant, I'm already a fan of his work with films like Eastern Promises but I'm looking through his back catalog with films like Scanners and Naked Lunch and I know I'm in for a treat.

Videodrome is without a doubt, one of the strangest movies I've ever seen with the plot being slightly confused at times but this film makes for perfect middle of the night viewing. It is worthy of being a cult classic but I think you need to watch it a few times to fully grasp it in all its glory.