Videodrome (1983)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

David Cronenberg

Writer:

David Cronenberg (written by)

Release Date:

4 February 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

First it controlled her mind, then it destroyed her body... Long live the new flesh!

Plot:

A sleazy cable-TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control in a very unusual fashion when he acquires a new kind of programming for his station.

Plot Keywords:

Video | Murder | Hallucination | Tumor | Cult

Awards:

3 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

James Woods	...	Max Renn
Sonja Smits	...	Bianca O'Blivion
Deborah Harry	...	Nicki Brand
Peter Dvorsky	...	Harlan
Leslie Carlson	...	Barry Convex (as Les Carlson)
Jack Creley	...	Brian O'Blivion
Lynne Gorman	...	Masha
Julie Khaner	...	Bridey
Reiner Schwartz	...	Moses
David Bolt	...	Raphael
Lally Cadeau	...	Rena King
Henry Gomez	...	Brolley
Harvey Chao	...	Japanese Salesman
David Tsubôchi	...	Japanese Salesman (as David Tsubouchi)
Kay Hawtrey	...	Matron
Sam Malkin	...	Sidewalk Derelict
Bob Church	...	Newscaster
Jayne Eastwood	...	Woman Caller
Franciszka Hedland	...	Bellydancer

Directed by
David Cronenberg

Writing credits
David Cronenberg		(written by)

Produced by
Pierre David	....	executive producer
Claude Héroux	....	producer
Lawrence Nesis	....	associate producer
Victor Solnicki	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Howard Shore

Cinematography by
Mark Irwin		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ronald Sanders

Art Direction by
Carol Spier

Set Decoration by
Angelo Stea

Costume Design by
Delphine White

Makeup Department
Rick Baker	....	special makeup effects designer
Thomas Booth	....	hair stylist (as Thomas L. Booth)
Shonagh Jabour	....	makeup artist
Steve Johnson	....	special makeup effects artist
Michael Kavanagh	....	makeup effects assistant
Inge Klaudi	....	makeup assistant
Maureen Mestan	....	assistant hair stylist
Mark Molin	....	makeup effects assistant
Constant Natale	....	hair stylist
Bill Sturgeon	....	special makeup effects artist
Kevin Brennan	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)
Tom Hester	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)
Shawn McEnroe	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)
Mark Shostrom	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)
Kevin Sturgeon	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Janet E. Cuddy	....	assistant production manager (as Janet Cuddy)
Gwen Iveson	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John Board	....	first assistant director
Libby Bowden	....	assistant director
Rocco Gismondi	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jon Bankson	....	carpenter
John Bentley	....	carpenter
Enrico Campana	....	set dresser
Kirk Cheney	....	carpenter
Elaine Cohen	....	painter
Janet Cormack	....	painter
Tom Coulter	....	assistant art director
Joe Curtin	....	assistant head carpenter
Barbara Dunphy	....	assistant art director
Bill Gibson	....	painter
Ed Hanna	....	set dresser
Bill Harman	....	construction manager
Simon Harwood	....	painter
Gary Jack	....	set dresser
Nick Kosonic	....	scenic artist
Peter Lauterman	....	property master
Harry Pavelson	....	painter
Thomas Pearce	....	carpenter
Robert Pearson	....	carpenter
Greg Pelchat	....	assistant propman
Reet Puhm	....	painter
Alex Russell	....	head carpenter (as Alexander Russell)
Alan Sharpe	....	carpenter
Bob Sher	....	carpenter (as Robert Sher)
Gareth Wilson	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Charles Bowers	....	dialogue editor
Peter Burgess	....	supervising sound editor
Terry Burke	....	foley artist
Elius Caruso	....	sound re-recordist
Michele Cook	....	assistant sound editor
Paul Coombe	....	sound re-recordist
Gary Daprato	....	assistant sound editor
Bryan Day	....	location sound recordist
Mike Hoogenboom	....	sound re-recordist (as Michael Hoogenboom)
Michael LaCroix	....	boom operator
Beverley Neale	....	assistant sound editor

Special Effects by
James Stuart Allan	....	carpenter: special effects
Frank C. Carere	....	special effects (as Frank Carere)
Robert Rouveroy	....	special effects: video effects creator (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Michael Lennick	....	special video effects
Robert Meckler	....	assistant video effects
Lee Wilson	....	assistant video effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Douglas Allan	....	best boy (as Douglas [Scotty] Allan)
Jock Brandis	....	gaffer
James Crowe	....	assistant camera
Brian Danniels	....	grip
Christopher Dean	....	grip
David Hynes	....	assistant key grip
Maris H. Jansons	....	key grip (as Marris Jansons)
Robin Miller	....	assistant camera
Donna Mobbs	....	camera trainee
Gary Phipps	....	electrician
Rick Porter	....	still photographer

Casting Department
Peter Lavender	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Denise Cronenberg	....	wardrobe trainee (as Denise Woodley)
Maureen Gurney	....	wardrobe assistant
Eileen Kennedy	....	assistant costume designer
Kat Moyer	....	wardrobe assistant
Mary Partridge-Raynor	....	wardrobe assistant
Arthur Rowsell	....	wardrobe master
Kathy Vieira	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Elaine Foreman	....	assistant editor
Carol McBride	....	assistant editor
Michael Rea	....	assistant editor
Christopher Severn	....	color timer
Bill Wiggins	....	post-production coordinator

Music Department
Michael Jay	....	music mix engineer (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Donato Baldassarra	....	transport coordinator
David Chudnovsky	....	driver (as David Chud)
A. Randy Jones	....	driver captain (as Randy Jones)
Allen Kosonic	....	driver
Jerome McCann	....	driver
John Vander Pas	....	driver
Jeff Steinberg	....	driver
Alan Zweig	....	driver

Other crew
Rachelle Charron	....	assistant accountant
David Coatsworth	....	location manager
Pierre David	....	presenter
Denise Di Novi	....	creative consultant
Kirsteen Etherington	....	choreographer
Maureen Fitzgerald	....	bookkeeper
Bonnie Gold	....	receptionist
Angela Gruenthal	....	production secretary
Roger Héroux	....	production coordinator
Lacia Kornylo	....	production accountant
Monique Légaré	....	secretary: Mr. Héroux
Gilles Léonard	....	assistant comptroller (as Gilles Leonard)
Serge Major	....	comptroller
Monik Nantel	....	assistant to executive producer
Gillian Richardson	....	script supervisor
Howard Rothschild	....	production assistant
Ellen Rozen	....	assistant: Mr. Solnicki
Victor Solnicki	....	presenter
Richard Spiegelman	....	production assistant
Jill Spitz	....	unit publicist
Lydia Wazana	....	craft service
Richard Zywotkiewicz	....	personal assistant: Mr. Cronenberg

Thanks
Tom Coppola	....	special thanks: for music
Paul Freedman	....	special thanks: for music
Cheryl Hardwick	....	special thanks: for music
Peter Hedeman	....	special thanks: for music
Michael Jay	....	special thanks: for music
Rosemary D. Merriam	....	special thanks: for music
Maury Rosenfeld	....	special thanks: for music
Michael Werner	....	special thanks: for music
Marty Zofcin	....	special thanks: for music

Production Companies

• Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC) (produced with the participation of)
• Famous Players (produced with the participation of) (as Famous Players Limited)
• Filmplan International (producer)
• Guardian Trust Company
• Victor Solnicki Productions

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1983) (USA) (theatrical)
• S.N. Prodis (1984) (France) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (19??) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (VHS) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• DiscoVision (1983) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Pioneer (1997) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures (2008) (Italy) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Atari  thanks
• Broadway Video  special thanks for music to
• CKEY Radio  thanks
• Film House  mixing facilities
• Film Opticals  opticals
• Harbor Castle Hilton Hotel  thanks (as Harbour Castle Hotel, Toronto, Canada)
• Magnasonic  provided by (Sanyo Consumer Entertainment products) (as Magnasonic Canada Inc., Toronto, Canada)
• Panavision Canada  lenses and Panaflex camera (as Panavision®)
• Paratel  worldwide publicity
• Publifilms Limited  marketing
• T.'n T. Services Ltd.  negative cutting
• Walker/Bowne  casting (as Walker-Bowen Inc.)

Also Known As:

Network of Blood (Canada: English title) (working title)
Vidéodrome (Canada: French title)
Zonekiller (Canada: English title)

Runtime:

87 min | USA:89 min (unrated version)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | Portugal:M/18 | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1983) (theatrical) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1988) (video) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (2002) (DVD) | Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Brazil:18 | Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Netherlands:16 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | South Korea:18 | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | France:-12 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:16 (video rating) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Fleetwood Apartments, 64 St. Clair Ave. W., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC)

Trivia:

An epilogue was planned but never filmed. In it, Max Renn, Bianca O'Blivion and Nicki Brand appear on the set of Videodrome. Bianca and Nicki are shown to have chest slits (vaginas) of their own, from which emerge strange mutated sex organs. The scene was scrapped along with many others due to cost overruns, bad timing (Deborah Harry had stomach flu and James Woods was visiting relatives), and the sheer difficulty of executing such a special-effects scene. A number of other ambitious special effects sequences were also dropped.

Quotes:

[First line]
Man's voice on television: Civic TV. The one you take to bed with you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fear of the Flesh: The Making of 'The Fly' (2005) (V)

Long live the new flesh!

David Cronenberg has turned out a lot of films that range from the bizarre to the slightly less bizarre to the stupefying. I used to think that his update of The Fly was his masterwork, as it certainly is an improvement over the original in every sense of the word. Videodrome, however, is entirely his idea, and what an idea it is. Filmed at a time when VHS and Betamax were still at war for market share, and television was still beholden to some standard of public service, it is hard to imagine what the public of 1983 made of Videodrome. Twenty-three years on, it looks so prophetic that it is truly a wonder Sony or Toshiba are not employing Cronenberg to attempt to anticipate consumer reaction to their consumer format ideas. Shot in a Lynchian shoot-first, work-out-story-later manner, it is testament to Cronenberg's skills as a storyteller that the 'drome works as well as it does. It is also testament to the film's accuracy that in this era of so-called reality television, nobody in a remake-crazed system is trying to remake Videodrome.

Of course, in a film with a theme as speculative as Videodrome, one needs to have a reliable performer. Just like you cannot portray someone going mad with fear a la The Fly if your actor is not up to snuff, one cannot portray a weird conspiracy without an actor of James Woods' calibre. Everything that occurs on the screen from about thirty minutes in is utterly unbelievable, but we buy it because James is so good at selling it to us. His disbelief graduating into terror graduating into acceptance is the rock upon which Videodrome rests, and the respect he gained from me in my recent viewing of Once Upon A Time In America went through the atmosphere during Videodrome. So many films are made with a singular star as its entire focus. Sylvester Stallone made a few, but Woods demonstrates he is more than up to the challenge here. The James Woods of the 1980s and the James Woods post 1990 are really two different people, or so one might think after seeing a film from both groups.

The support cast are mostly adequate, with Deborah Harry demonstrating she could have been an actor. Not that she does anything particularly brilliant here, but she also manages to keep her part of the illusion solid. Sonja Smits helps twist the plot beyond its already unrecognisable shape as the daughter of one of the conspirators in the Videodrome experiment. While these two are secondary to Woods, they also add so much to the story that its hard to imagine the film without them. The world was changing in ways none could have imagined at the time, and as Harry's musical career was left in the cold as a result, her image in this film is iconic of an era. Jack Creley is puzzling as a guru tied into the conspiracy who appears only in video. To cut a long story short, Woods is a pinball, while Harry, Smits, and Creley are the bumpers off which he bounces. In that task, they do a brilliant job, and they are far from the only ones. Videodrome contains a literal cavalcade of actors one wishes they could see more of, just based on their moments here.

The summary in a previous comment says it best: "I don't think I could provide spoilers if I wanted to". I could tell you everything that happens in Videodrome, and it still will not even slightly prepare you for the utter bizarreness to be beheld. The imagery is both disgusting and strangely compelling, the story is beyond odd, and the references to the "new flesh" that pop up like skin cancer cells in the final reels are a mantra that will haunt the viewer long after the film is over. The constant images of videotapes and televisions flexing out to either imitate organic material or swallow the hero whole. It is the ultimate contradiction, that I can find this film so utterly compelling yet so utterly repulsive. There is an unofficial motto among defense lawyers: "if you cannot convince them, confuse them". Videodrome, thanks to its surreal imagery and story that could only be inspired by divergent thought, is both convincing and confusing. Such is the ultimate achievement in storytelling.

Fortunately, the question of whether one can separate their perception of reality from the fantasy they see depicted on a video source has been answered already. It isn't really even a question that needs asking here, as it has long been answered by film. No, Videodrome is about something more, although exactly what that is could be anything David Cronenberg desires. I chose to see it as an example of one man getting so wrapped up in his ideas or fantasies that they utterly distort his reality, an idea subtly hinted at when one character describes his hallucinations causing him a brain tumour rather than the other way around. The new flesh is the idea that drives a given machine, always mutating and altering itself. However you choose to interpret the story of Videodrome, I think the consensus we can all come to is that it is just plain odd. Most of us will never really see the things shown in Videodrome if we take a mix of heroin, crack, and LSD then wash it down with drain cleaner.

It is mostly for these reasons that I gave Videodrome a ten out of ten. You have not stretched your imagination far enough if you are completely repulsed by its imagery. Do yourself a favour and see it now. Long live the new flesh.