Videodrome

For those of you who remember the hay day of the videocassette and cable television, you'll probably remember this movie with some fondness. This is one of David Cronenberg's best films from the eighties; it showed us the dark side of the video industry and the possibility that subliminal messages were being added to the video signal. Of course the idea of completely controlling an individual by mind control is total fantasy, or is it. Sex, violence, murder, a new evolution in television has come and its complete control of the viewers minds is the prize its after. With the idea that people could be brain washed by remote, this film took on a dimension in horror that, at the time, was new and totally thought provoking. The blending of reality and hallucination is so complete here that you never quite know where the real world ends and the fantasy begins. James Woods is perfect as the cable programmer in search of the next great thing on cable to offer his audience. This is also Deborah Harry's first major film appearance and after you see her in this role its hard to believe that she didn't do much more acting after.
I'm a big fan of David Cronenberg's work and the earlier films that he did are by far some of the best horror movies out in the market today. The film itself is a little dated since technology has taken us past the videocassette era, and on to the DVD and beyond. But think about it, if the idea of broadcasting a subliminal signal over a cable wire were questionable, how much easier would it be to send that signal from a space satellite to your dish at home directly.