RensDad666’s review published on Letterboxd:
“Death to Videodrome. Long live the New Flesh!”
I made sure to add a few films from Letterboxd’s Top 250 Horror Films to my Hooptober list, and David Cronenberg’s Videodrome was one of my most anticipated first watches of the entire event. Fortunately, this erotic, psycho-sexual body-horror, mind fk of a masterpiece held up to my lofty expectations and 80’s adoration.
Videodrome feels like some of Cronenberg’s headiest, most conspiratorial work up to this point. A “techno-surrealist” atmosphere begins to dismantle both its protagonist and viewer’s hold on reality early in its intricately woven narrative, and while it’s a movie that begs for a rewatch when it comes to completely understanding what just happened, its story kept its hooks tightly into my psyche, while giving me plenty of societal themes to chew on.
While the medium may have shifted from TV to Smartphones, Dr. O’Blivion’s theories on screens becoming reality, having special names (usernames!) etc are all too prescient 40 years later. Cronenberg’s work holds a thematic weight that stands apart from more traditional horror fare, and I fall more deeply in love with every passing film of his.
Visually, Rick Baker, who also worked on the insanely visionary effects for An American Werewolf in London, authors another set of disgustingly gorgeous body horror moments. Good googly moogly, the Glock, then eventually entire VHS tapes being forced into James Woods’s stomach is absolutely bonkers in the best way, while still looking as horrific as the day it first graced the big screen. Body-Horror still manages to pull my squeamish nature to the forefront, and some very simple, effective moments are still bouncing around my head the morning after.
Nearly every single element in Videodrome worked for my sensibilities. Howard Shore’s original score plays extremely subtly, yet its nuanced synth meets orchestral score backs up Videodrome’s trippy mood, and Renn’s descent into paranoid insanity. And I just had to point out that the names in this film are amazing. Max Renn, Bianca & Brian O’Blivion, and Barry Convex are some of the best monikers in horror history, and we need to acknowledge that.
Another great one from the Patriarch of Body-Horror’s leading family!
📺🕳️📼🪡🩸🤯🔫
