Videodrome - Lilith Likes to Watch Trick & Treat 2024!

---

Title: Videodrome
Year: 1983

Starring: James Woods, Deborah Harry

Director: David Cronenberg

Synopsis:  As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon “Videodrome,” a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought. - Via Letterboxd.com

Lilith's Notes: You know the Cronenbergs from Rick & Morty? This is what they're talking about.

Buy: Amazon 

---

"I was made for that show."

Some films are just on the verge of suitable for Lilith Likes to Watch. Sometimes there’s not enough meat, or the film is too into it’s own politics, or I’m just bored and have nothing to say. Videodrome rides the line where I can question if it’s right for me to review. I decided the answer was yes because of two factors.

It’s Halloween-y as fuck

And that right now, there’s an entire generation who will never know the tactile wonder that was analogue television. Something that I find to be tragic.

You, yes you, eighteen year old scrolling through Youtube on your phone, looking for creepy, sexy Halloween-y film clips to excite you and turn you on, you will never know what it’s like to flip through television channels at 2am, and suddenly come across some of the weirdest, lo-fi imagery you’ve ever seen. And you came into it half-way so it’s not like it will tell you the name of this movie. Or maybe you fell asleep and it was all a dream? Or maybe you were a little high or drunk so you imagined it? It was a fever dream. It’s now your white whale.

Videodrome is that experience made flesh. Literally.

So the way I see it, I'm performing a service.

Max (played by James Woods) is the head of a tawdry television station that broadcasts debauchery. But, Max isn’t satisfied and he wants something harder. His pirate–hacker friend Harlan (played by Peter Dvorsky) comes across a feed where a woman is being tortured in a red room with a clay wall called Videodrome. Max can’t get enough. He’s obsessed.

While attending a talk-show, he meets Nikki Brand (played by Debbie Harry). Together they watch Videodrome and Nikkie confesses she's a masochist and is interested in auditioning for the show.

But what is Videodrome? Is it more than just a horror show? A fetish series? Or is there something more sinister hidden through the hiss of the television static?

The co-mingling of sex and violence on the airwaves has been a pearl-clutchers nightmare since the invention of not just television or radio but of entertainment itself. Videodrome explores this idea with slimy, mind-bending aplomb. What can terrify can also titillate, and the power of suggestion is mighty.

Even though I sort of went on a tangent at the start of this review, I had never seen Videodrome until now. It had been on my list for years but I figured it was a mood-watch. Apparently, this October, I was in the mood for body horror and naked Debbie Harry.

And to her credit, Harry is stellar in this. She’s sultry and smoothe, and she has tangible chemistry with James Woods. I was on their side and wanted them to explore their S&M inklings together. Of course, that’s not what happens. Or is it?

This movie is gory and gruesome, but alluring. It’s a wild ride full of twists. But really, Videodrome evokes a time that is gone to the past, and in so many ways, there will never be another movie made like this one. It’s a classic, and has earned that title long ago. Imaginative and horrifying with stellar performances by the entire cast. Everyone here, from the acting to the effects put their best foot forward and delivered something no one had ever seen, or maybe even wanted to see, and may never see again.

Best Moment: There’s a scene where Max and Nikki are making love and he uses a needle to pierce Nikki’s ear.

Worst Moment: The plot is a touch confusing and I needed to look it up to make sense of it. That might be a me problem though.

LILITH'S SCORE: 4/5 - A Halloween Treat! Not the best thing I’ve seen, but probably my second favourite Cronenberg film. I give it the highest respect for what it is though.

Until next time, my voracious voyeurs. I’m Lilith, and I’m always watching.