Review of Videodrome (1983) by Julius N — 01 Aug 2009

Videodrome is the second Cronenberg horror film I've seen, the first being The Fly, and I`ll have to admit that I quite enjoyed this one a little more. Although The Fly was a good sci-fi, horror movie, I think Videodrome was just as good if not better. Both movies are considered `body horror`, which Cronenberg is the master of but The Fly has a little more of that element then Videodrome.

First off, I want to say that This movie`s plot is so complex that I was lost at a few scenes but in the end it all ties together and is amazing at how unique it is. The actors that were chosen were excepyional, especially James Woods and surprisingly Deborah Harry seeing as how this was her first feature film. James Woods plays Max Renn, a cable progrmmer who is quickly losing his mind after discovering a broadcast from Videodrome.

Rick Baker (An American Werewolf In London) does an amazing job with the special effects and tops the transformation sequence in John Landis` film. There are many scenes in this movie that certain effects professionals could not have pulled off, Not even Savini. Rick Baker is the man to choose for these kind of films because he makes the effects looks so realistic.

The whole time I was watching this movie, I was wondering what was going to happen next and whatever I thought or was expecting didn`t happen. This movie is a surprise every scene and was quite ahead of its time when it was released in the eighties.

Not many critics liked this movie, Roger Ebert said it was horrible but raved for ExistenZ, Cronenberg`s basic recreation of Videodrome which was released a few years later. This shows how advanced this movie was.

Easily one of the best movies I`ve seen in a while. And it is definately reccommended for any Cronenberg fan, horror fan, or sci-fi fan as well as any fan of good movies because this one can be enjoyed by anyone.