The October Project 2: Day 18

"Long live the new flesh!"

 

Videodrome  (1983)

Directed by David Cronenberg
 A visionary sci-fi / horror masterpiece from that most cerebral of auteurs David Cronenberg. I can't begin to explain how original, compelling and profoundly weird this film seemed back in 1983. It remains one of the director's signature pieces and has lost none of it's power in the last 30 years.
James Woods is excellent as Max Renn the operator of a sleazy cable channel on the lookout for ever more "extreme" material for his station. His personal video pirate discovers just what he's looking for, a show made up entirely of murder and torture, called "Videodrome". As Max investigates further, he begins to have increasingly bizarre but realistic hallucinations. Or are the hallucinations his new reality? I'll never tell. To say anymore would be unfair and wouldn't make any sense out of context but, suffice to say, if you looking for a film combining intellectual content with shocking body-horror, look no further.
There's also a memorably sexy performance by Blondie's Deborah Harry as radio-host Nikki Brand who's not averse to a little BDSM in her lovemaking. This is definitely one for the grownups.