Videodrome (1983)

Country: Canada
Director: David Cronenberg
Screenwriter: David Cronenberg
Stars: James Woods, Deborah Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky

This delightfully weird movie from Canadian auteur David Cronenberg takes the disturbing tension of his earlier works, like The Brood and Scanners, and ratchets it up to a level all its own.

Tapping into the vapid business of consumer entertainment, Videodrome revolves around a cable television executive (James Woods) who's in a search of the ultimate in programming (pornography and violence, of course). His search leads him to Videodrome, a mysterious and primal broadcast that entertains to the point that it mutates the mind (think Half-Life, not Batman Returns).

The special effects, including a pulsating TV and videocassette vagina, are still undeniably disturbing. Thirty years later, the devices have changed, but Cronenberg's commentary on the changes human beings experience in the face of technology remains urgent. —GT