Videodrome (1983)

Dir: David Cronenberg

Cronenberg at his most outlandish, imaginative best. If you've not seen it, just stop reading this stupid website and go buy it. If you have seen it, you'll know already about what a brilliant piece of work it is. When cable programmer Max Renn (James Woods, intense as ever) discovers a pirate satellite channel that just shows torture porn all day, he thinks he's hit paydirt, until he discovers that repeated viewings cause bizarre and dangerous hallucinations. There's a self-styled TV prophet, Brian O'Blivion (of the Cathode Ray Mission) involved, a ton of whacked-out, eye-popping violence and more ideas than most directors manage in a career, let alone a single film. The intelligent approach that never once patronises the viewer or lessens the impact with needless exposition makes "Videodrome" a unique, thought-provoking experience, although a sad reminder of how there are maybe no maverick directors like this left in the horror genre. What happened, guys? ****