Videodrome

Cronenberg is certainly ONE of the finest, his placement on a scale of 1-10 is purely subjective.
I believe that Videodrome was Cronenberg's attempt to criticize himself, the controversy surrounding the James Woods character is very reminiscent of the stuff that Cronenberg had to deal w/.
The film also addresses the notion of an idea being lethal and/or infectious, i.e. The cancer bullet scene.
He hates censorship obviously, but Cronenberg's work is all about looking inside oneself literally and figuratively.

I liked James Woods' tape slit.

Videodrome is my favourite Cronenberg film. It's incredibly prophetic in the way it treats technology. An update for the internet/DVD age? Oh, please! But Cronenberg has been spared by the remake plague so far, not even the proposed SCANNERS remake has gotten off the ground so far.

BTW, we really do need a special edition DVD of VIDEODROME with audio commentary and all that stuff. The US disc is actually the only uncut version at the moment, being unrated and containing the NC-17 cut of the film and not the R rated butchered version that is available everywhere else.

You know we've been threatened w/ another Fly remake, right?
In response to the Why? factor, I believe it was the potential director who proclaimed..."Well we've never actually seen The Fly fly have we?"

Cronenberg is my favorite director, and VIDEODROME is my favorite of his films. He is the master of the bizarre, yet extremely intelligent plot, and this film is no exception to that. His ideas about the "new flesh" and the TV screen being the retina of the mind's eye are some of the most intiguing ideas in any film, and VIDEODROME is a spectacular epic of a film that holds nothing back.

James Woods is one of my favorite actors, and he is absolute perfection as Max Renn. He has a sleazy quality that you can't help but love. The supporting cast all capture every shade and nuance of their characters as well.

Cronenberg's writing and direction is very tight and imaginative as all hell. His brilliance absolutely shines through every scene of this film, and he is truly a cinematic mastermind. Cronenberg has some of the most innovative, interesting, and imaginative ideas to ever be put down on celluloid, and every film he has done proves this.

The film's special effects by Rick Baker are flawless. Absolutely astounding and disturbing effects, and they show how truly great he is at his craft. From the pulsating videotapes to the gun that melds withs Woods' hand, his effects are perfect.

The film is also full of classic scenes. The scene where Woods whips the television with the whip is quite disturbing, and you've gotta love the two scenes where Woods gets revenge. There are so many others I'm leaving out though. The film is simply classic through and through, and in a career full of masterpieces, I think this is Cronenberg's milestone. Oh yeah,... LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!!!

I too would love to see a new, packed DVD release of this classic. I remember catching the TV cut years back, which included several scenes not in the theatrical version or the extended director's cut.

Yeah, I've heard of it but I don't really consider that a remake of the Cronenberg film because that one already was a remake and not an original.

There's also been this DEAD ZONE TV series that I've never watched a single episode of ...

I dunno HOW anyone could remake a David Cronenberg film, seeing as how the man's visual sense is so much a part of his storytelling, which lends itself to his writing, and vice versa. It would have to be a beat-by-beat thing, and what the fuck is the use of that (unless you're Gus Van Sant, of course)?

I think Existence was his own remake of Videodrome. He more or less updated the themes but didn't go into them as much.

I've never heard of a Cronenberg film called "Existence"...amateur!

I don't see eXistenZ as a remake or return to the same themes as Videodrome, except perhaps the theme of overstimulation that runs throughout many of Cronenberg's films.

You have the basic plot: A corporation with apparently right wing leanings who wish to cure the world's ills by putting forth these Videodrome transmissions in absolutely sick snuff porn (women being beaten while attached to an electrified wall), to 'weed out the weaklings'. The effect of seeing these transmissions are either 1.) a new growth in the brain that will innovate perception and effectively take the viewer of Videodrome to the next evolutionary place (as Professor O'blivion suggests) or 2.) insanity and suggestability as the tumor from the transmission grows inside the viewer. Then you have the corporation vs the O'blivion camp using Max as a tool to attack the other side.
Wren's fatal flaw is his fascination with the signal in the first place. He is turned on by the imagery, despite himself. Wood's performance is alternately slimy and vulnerable but always effective.

Among the evident subtexts is the question "Does seeing something on film or TV affect the viewer at the same depth as seeing something in real life?" From the imagery Cronenberg puts forth, like the whipping of the older lady and Nikki Brandt while they are contained inside the TV, it would suggest that Cronenberg believes the answer is yes.

Part of the difficulty of the latter part of Videodrome is that we as viewers don't quite know what we are seeing. What is hallucination and what isn't? The fact that we as viewers each have to make that distinction for ourselves makes this film extremely haunting.

My reaction to Videodrome the first time I saw it was anger. I read the novelization twice and saw the film 4 more times before it took it's rightful place as a work of genius. There is so much going on, it's hard to digest it all in one viewing.

EOD

I GUESS I'M JUST A FUCKING IDIOT THEN.

Hell YES!!! great observation! This ties directly into Cronenberg's allegiance to William S. Burroughs and his 'word is virus' theme.