Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Videodrome (1982)

Average user rating

1 review

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Cronenberg has always crossed the line between taste and distaste with his combinations of vile glop-horror and social criticism, and this is no exception. A cable TV programmer (Woods) becomes increasingly intrigued by the hardcore S/M movies he is beaming down from satellite, and so does his girlfriend (Harry), a dead-eyed sensation-seeker with cigarette brands on her breast to prove it. The plotline becomes too contorted to go into here, and far, far too weird; sufficient to note that Cronenberg's most interesting trick is to eradicate the difference between hardware and software by giving his hero a pulsing vagina-like slot in his stomach through which he can be programmed by... it gets much worse. There are distinct signs of strain in the plot convolutions, not least in the spectator's loss of faith over indiscriminate and cheating use of hallucination; what certainly survives is Cronenberg's wholesale disgust with the world in general. CPea.

Author: CPea

Time Out Film Guide

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

James Saunders said...

Posted on Dec 24 2009 16:33 How has the review managed to misunderstand both the movie and science! The video tape is the software it contains images which rewrite his actions, this is how normal videoplayers work, maybe the reviewer is only used to the digital age. As for the plot it's quite clear, there's a group of people that want to cleanse the debauched via our hero's cable channel and their tumour inducing broadcasts. However they are not the only ones that have plans fro the power of the broadcast. Also if cronenberg is disgusted with the world why does the film turn and play out the way it does?
Rating for film 4
Rating of review 1

Report as inappropriate