SYNOPSIS: When Max Renn goes looking for edgy new shows for his sleazy cable TV station, he stumbles across the pirate broadcast of a hyperviolent torture show called Videodrome. As he struggles to unearth the origins of the program, he embarks on a hallucinatory journey into a shadow world of right-wing conspiracies, sadomasochistic sex games, and bodily transformation. Starring James Woods and Deborah Harry in one of her first film roles, Videodrome is one of writer/director David Cronenberg’s most original and provocative works, fusing social commentary with shocking elements of sex and violence. With groundbreaking special effects makeup by Academy Award®-winner Rick Baker, Videodrome has come to be regarded as one of the most influential and mind-bending science fiction films of the 1980s.
| Max Renn | James Woods |
| Bianca O’Blivion | Sonja Smits |
| Nicki Brand | Deborah Harry |
| Harlan | Peter Dvorsky |
| Barry Convex | Les Carlson |
| Brian O’Blivion | Jack Creley |
| Masha | Lynne Gorman |
| Director | David Cronenberg |
| Screenplay | David Cronenberg |
| Producer | Claude Héroux |
| Cinematography | Mark Irwin |
| Executive producers | Pierre David and Victor Solnicki |
| Associate producer | Lawrence Nesis |
| Music | Howard Shore |
| Editing | Ronald Sanders |
| Art director | Carol Spier |
| Special makeup designed and created by | Rick Baker |
| Special video effects | Michael Lennick |
| Production manager | Gwen Iveson |
| First assistant director | John Board |
| Creative consultant | Denise Di Novi |
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:
By August 30, 2004
In 1981, it seemed to me that a new era of fantastic cinema was upon us. With this in mind, I persuaded an editor at Heavy Metal to accept an essay I wanted to write about the new Read more »
By August 30, 2004
A version of this essay appeared in the Village Voice in January 1983. Although it wasn’t obvious upon its release in 1983, Videodrome is a key work in the David Cronenberg oeuvre. For Read more »
By August 30, 2004
“Eroticism,” Luis Buñuel told an interviewer, “is a diabolic pleasure that is related to death and rotting flesh.” No filmmaker conveys this idea with more ingenuity and macabre Read more »
June 23, 2010
Two of our favorite artists, filmmaker David Cronenberg (Naked Lunch, Videodrome) and novelist Jonathan Lethem (who’s written liner notes for us and even set the opening scene of his most recent novel Read more »
February 22, 2009
“If there’s such a thing as an ideal time of day to expose yourself to the deranging, hallucinatory visions of the Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg, midnight might well be it,” writes critic and Criterion Read more »
