Videodrome (2014)

Absolutely the worst movie.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Decent idea. Boring Movie. Crappy Script/Dialogue/Plot, Acting, Cinematography, Music, Set/Lighting. Very Poor.The idea of the movie was fine. But the script/plot sucked all to hell. Crappy scenes. The acting was incredibly boring. James Wood is a decent actor, but here it's freaking embarrassing. At least if the sets and lighting and cinematography and music was decent there would be some technical aspects of the movie to entertain the viewer. No, we are presented with poor crap all the way.The plot was a joke. Where was this thing going? I don't know. I don't care.My rating is an F, 1 star for effort. This is what happens when you try to write and direct your own film. No one to say, hey wait, that's not so good, try again. IMDb current rating is a 7.3. That is incredible! This is the same guy who made the remake of the Fly, good movie. And Scanners, decent movie, with tons of amateur problems.

"Videodrome" has a lot of small elements with potential, but it never develops any of them into a worthwhile payoff. Some viewers might be dazzled if it's their first time ever seeing a movie that isn't 100% Hollywood clichés, but if you want a memorable story, good characters, or a powerful experience, Videodrome will be a waste of time. Even if we set aside characters & story, this film simply fails to be exciting or fun unless you are very easily impressed. Given this flick's overblown reputation, I guess there are a lot of easily-impressed people out there.Many people consider this film shocking and dark, but it simply isn't! All the "gory" or "twisted" scenes are either lightweight or silly- looking. James Woods discovers a secret TV broadcast of torture scenes called Videodrome. The characters never shut up about how twisted & violent these scenes are, but they look like every amateur torture scene from a zero-budget movie. It's just some guy lightly smacking a toy "whip" against a woman's ribs, & then she vaguely flinches in the wrong direction. There are also some incredibly boring "S&M" scenes which had me laughing because they were so dull & tame, yet Cronenberg gave them huge dramatic emphasis like they were totally edgy.People also LOVE to call this film "prescient," but the social commentary just amounts to clichés about how TV controls people & can be a propaganda tool. These ideas had already been around for decades. If anything, the film's themes are downright conservative, especially with its almost 1950s-esque fear of sex & violence!Sure, the film belabors some "creepy" imagery, but all of this is frankly cartoonish & wacky instead of disturbing. You'll find more disturbing imagery in an episode of Ren & Stimpy.Returning to plot and characters: This movie halfway develops LOTS of ideas, then just fails to deliver on anything. The plot starts off as social commentary, then forgets about this completely. James Woods has a friend named Masha who gets just enough screen time to feel tedious, then abruptly disappears from the story. The film heads in a surreal, otherworldly direction, then has a clichéd third act where James Woods just has to kill some paper-thin bad guy who wants to rule the world.James Woods as Max Renn does an OK job in the lead role, but his character never develops; calling him 2-dimensional feels like an overstatement. Max' buddy Harlan is quirky, but the actor fails ridiculously any time he has to emote. The women in the film are HORRIBLY directed: every single one of them is stilted & unnatural. Sonja Smitts and Debbie Harry share the gimmick of talking... really... REALLLLLY... slowly, because Cronenberg thought this sounded dramatic. It doesn't. Neither of them ever emote, unless you count the same exact head-bobbling movement Cronenberg (that creative genius) had them do. This is a huge problem when they both have such important characters with heavy screen time!The film has a villain who is never threatening, compelling, or interesting. He is supposed to be a powerful corporate executive, but he has NONE of the strength or charisma such a man would need. He acts more like a manager at a shoe store or something. This is also a problem, since we're supposed to take him seriously as a threat.And then there are minor characters like Masha, played by Lynne Gorman. Gorman talks and talks for way too long, and she never acts. She just says her lines in a ridiculous vaguely foreign-y accent. This might have sounded cool and dramatic in the '50s, but in the '80s it's just plain stupid and laughable.When I saw all these shoddy details piling up, I only hoped that Videodrome would end on a comedic note, with a self-aware punchline recognizing how stupid it was. Perhaps the whole thing would be a satire on the scifi trends of the '80s! But no, the film ends with no irony, no energy, nothing to make its 90-minute runtime worthwhile to anyone who isn't easily-impressed.

Of all David Cronenberg's films, "Videodrome" would have to be his relevant. The concept of how television or the media in general controls what we see or what we perceive of subject matter is a disturbing truth. The film is in a sense like George Orwell's "1984" but as imagined by the master of body horror cinema, David Cronenberg.The premise of "Videodrome" revolves around TV executive Max Renn (an immensely unsettling performance by the excellent James Woods) and his obsession with the titular station takes the viewer down a dark rabbit hole of hallucinations, perverse interests, a society that feeds off sex and violence and gross-out moments galore. Lending a feminine touch of perversity to the film in her break-out acting role is "Blondie" singer Deborah Harry as the sadomasochistic Nicki Brand who helps kick-start Max's ultimate downfall into an even more amoral shell of a man.The film heavily relies on the powerhouse performance of James Woods as the morally corrupt Max Renn. Woods pulls out all the stops for the role as he goes from a charming, but despicable smut peddler for his television station to an instrument of destruction not only for himself, but for humanity around him though Max is unaware as his mind deteriorates due to "Videodrome"'s power. James Woods never loses his charm even as Max descends into his delusions even further, but the viewer can tell it won't end well for Max as his mind is susceptible to any form of influence around him.The other key to the film's enduring legacy and intrigue are its terrifying scenes of Max Renn's delusions and the genius effects created by Oscar winning makeup artist, Rick Baker. Baker's arguable masterpiece in "Videodrome" would be the film's infamous cassette slit in Max Renn's abdomen which is first seen halfway into the film. I myself found myself squirming uncomfortably in my seat, clutching my stomach watching James Woods as Max stick his hand into the slit (which was made in a prosthetic torso placed in front of actor James Woods who was glued to the sofa). The film's other memorable squirming scene is Max's hallucination of Nicki on his television and his head melds to the television or the scene near the close of the film is unsettling.If you want a thought-provoking body horror, give "Videodrome" a try but be warned that it is not for the faint of heart.

Protagonist Max Renn runs the sleazy Channel 83 in Toronto and is constantly on the lookout for the next thing. Then one of his employees shows him something strange; a satellite broadcast known as Videodrome that appears to show torture and murder. At first they can only lock onto the signal for a minute and believe it is being broadcast from Malaysia… later they learn it is actually coming from Pittsburgh! Soon after he first sees Videodrome he starts to hallucinate and from then on it is hard to know what is real and what he is imagining. In what follows we see a strange opening appear in Max's abdomen; he later inserts Betamax tapes into this slot. He investigates the company behind Videodrome and learns that it is a plot to effect everybody… will he be turned into their pawn or will he destroy Videodrome?This is definitely a very strange film; indeed for much of the time we don't know if what we are seeing is actually what is happening or if it is just part of the hallucination; in fact there are parts that look as if they are meant to be real but we are later told weren't… of course there is no way of knowing if that later information is real or not! It might sound very confusing but it isn't… it almost doesn't matter if what we see is meant to be real… that is the point of Videodrome. While there are only a few scenes that would qualify as a bit gross there are several disturbing moments. The pre-CGI special effects are impressive and add to the films strangeness… most notably the strange slot that appears in Max's abdomen and the way a gun fuses to his hand and becomes part of him. James Woods does a fine job portraying Max Renn as things get weirder and weirder; making us believe that the character believes in what he is happening to him. Overall I'd certainly recommend this film if only for its weirdness; there are some disturbing moments but nothing that is likely so offend horror fans.