Videodrome
1983 · Directed by David Cronenberg
Original language: English
- horror
- science fiction
- mystery
The story
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.
What it’s like
Grimy, saturated late-night video: sickly magenta and sodium-orange light bleeding through cheap studio sets, cathode glow spilling across dim apartments, and the wet, fleshy practical effects that make bodies look like they're pulsing from the inside. Cronenberg's camera stays measured and deliberate, with close static frames that let unease build before anything erupts. The sound is a mix of tinny broadcast chatter, hum of tube sets, and a synth-heavy score that feels like a fever dream. The mood is queasy, paranoid, and sardonic, a slow spiral into media-saturated hallucination where the line between screen and skin keeps dissolving. Violence is frequent and graphic, with gore, torture imagery, sexual content, and body horror that lands hard and unsettling rather than playful. This is not gentle viewing. It suits a late-night, alone-in-the-dark watch for viewers who enjoy philosophical body horror, uneasy satire of television, and films that turn their own medium into a weapon.
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