Stumbling upon a scrambled broadcast of a simulated snuff show called "Videodrome", the president of a trashy TV channel becomes enmeshed in the dark underbelly of video production as he learns that the violence shown on TV isn't nearly as fake as it seems...
There is life before Videodrome, and life after Videodrome. One of the most prescient meditations on the relationship between humanity and the technology they use in the modern age, told through a medium that revels in excess by a director who isn't afraid to push its limits. "Body-horror" at its very best.
Film is dotted with video jargon and ideology which proves more fascinating than distancing. And Cronenberg amplifies the freaky situation with a series of stunning visual effects. (Review of Original Release)
Never coherent and frequently pretentious, the film remains an audacious attempt to place obsessive personal images before a popular audience--a kind of Kenneth Anger version of "Star Wars." (Review of Original Release)
Though Videodrome finally grows grotesque and a little confused, it begins very well and sustains its cleverness for a long while. (Review of Original Release)
The characters are bitter and hateful, the images are nauseating, and the ending is bleak enough that when the screen fades to black it's a relief.. Videodrome, whatever its qualities, has got to be one of the least entertaining films of all time.
Its dense mysteries remain more tantalizing than distancing: No other director integrates the creepy with the cerebral quite like Cronenberg. (Review of DVD 9/13/04)
WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?
There is life before Videodrome, and life after Videodrome. One of the most prescient meditations on the relationship between humanity and the technology they use in the modern age, told through a medium that revels in excess by a director who isn't afraid to push its limits. "Body-horror" at its very best.
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Variety by
Chicago Reader by Dave Kehr
The New York Times by Elvis Mitchell
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias