Long before the days of virtual reality and the internet, this little low-budget gem came out to an unprepared audience. The film stared James Woods, another incredible (and intense!) actor, and Deborah Harry, better known as the lead singer for Blondie, in her first cinematic role. Again, a Sci-Fi / Horror flick which really creeped me out and provided a wealth of audio sampling material for such projects as DFS, SON OF SKY, ARCHANGEL, CYBERACTIF, and many more!
Videodrome stars James Woods as a soft-porn cable programmer who late one night runs across a cable show called Videodrome that delved into territory that repels and fascinates him - a program that seems to show unedited sessions of sexual torture, mutilation and murder. He begins a search for the source of the show, with thoughts of capitalizing on it, when he meets the ever-so-kinky Nicki, played with luscious abandon by rocker Debbie Harry. The two finds their attraction has a definite S&M bent to it and they are soon exploring the dangerous edges of sex and sensuality. Nicky disappears soon after expressing an interest in taking part in a Videodrome taping, and Woods frantically searches for her. What he finds threatens life, limb and sanity.
James Woods as Max Renn
Deborah Harry as Nikki Brand
Max's assistant Harlan
Max Renn runs Civic-TV, a cable softcore / hardcore channel. His satellite-pirate partner intercepts a coded transmission containing a snuff-show. Very simple, very cheap, very real. No story, just torture and murder. The trace of this transmission leads to a man called professor Brian O'Blivion (!). After this, Max begin to suffer from sporadic hallucinations. Soon he understands that the hallucinations are triggered by a tumor inside his head, which is caused by massive doses of coded signals, hidden in the Videodrome transmissions. It shows later, that the tumor is in fact another organ, controlled by a company called Spectacular Optical.
Nikki's lips appear to be speaking directly at Max (James Woods) through the TV
"The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears in the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television."
Brian O'Blivion’s Cathode Ray Mission grants the misfits of society a chance to recover back into "the real world" by pumping TV-transmissions into their eyes. By the tv-soap operas and talkshows they gain some of the social competence they lack in the cold, unsocial industrial world of ours. "Watching TV will help patch them back into the world's mixing board."... Where else do we learn how to act in a social acceptable way?
"The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye.
Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain [...].
Therefore - television is reality. And reality is less than television."
(Prof. Brian O'Blivion)
James Woods and Deborah Harry
"Long live the new flesh"
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