Videodrome

With the films of director David Cronenberg in the 80's, you were almost guaranteed an odd time at the movies. One of the biggest ringing endorsements of this was his 1983 film Videodrome.

The CEO of an adult, pornographic channel, James Woods, whose bored with the tame pornography his station airs, is looking for the next big thing to put his channel on the map. He thinks he might have found it when he comes across a scrambled signal off the satellite. The program is called Videodrome and is a mix of a snuff film and prison torture. He shows it to his pleasure pain addicted girlfriend, Deborah Harry, who becomes obsessed with it. So much so that when he finds out that the signal is coming out of Pittsburgh, she goes there to audition for it. After she goes missing, he tries to find out just who is behind this odd show. But the closer he gets to some answers, the closer he gets to putting himself in danger.

This is a very strange, but terrific, movie. Cronenberg actually came up with the idea for it when he was a kid. When the signal from his antenna television would go to static, he would worry that he would see something that he shouldn't.

Woods is terrific as always. He can play sleazy characters like this in his sleep. Harry, the lead singer of Blondie, is also really good in her first major role. The gory makeup was done by Academy Award winner Rick Baker and it is disgustingly well done.

This is a great sexy and bizarre thriller. One of Cronenberg's best.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.