Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Sight & Sound Challenge: Videodrome (1983)

Film: Videodrome (51/250)
Critics Poll: 202nd 
Directors Poll: 174th 
First Time/Rewatch: First Time

I knew going into this one that it wasn't going to be my favorite. I'm not the biggest David Cronenberg fan. Of the films of his I've seen, I've only really taken to The Dead Zone, and that's mostly for campy Christopher Walken reasons. I don't have a strong stomach for gross-out imagery, and I'm impatient when films feel like they're just weird for weirdness's sake. Videodrome has interesting themes at its core: physical reactions to technological/visual stimuli, fetishes and obsession, control, violence, etc, but it's clumsily executed. It's trying to be provocative, but I ended the film being quite bored. I understand that Cronenberg and films like his have an audience, it's just not me. I'd be interested in seeing a film exploring these themes without the cheap looking blood and guts, but Cronenberg's not the guy to do it for me.

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