Videodrome (1983)

David Cronenberg, the director of the recent films "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises" takes the question of what reality is to a new dimension in "Videodrome". This film follows a television producer named Max Renn (James Woods) who specializes in broadcasting softcore porn and like on channel 83 Civic-TV (cable channel 12). Max becomes engrossed in finding the next big television program for Civic-TV that will break through to a new audience. Through a satellite dish that pirates television programs from around the world, Max discovers Videodrome, a plotless show where a victim is tortured and murdered by the end of the program. Max goes about trying to discover the source of Videodrome and descends down a rabbit hole of government conspiracies and S&M, and finally into a state of near insanity and confusion.
Videodrome turns out to be a program by the government that gives its watchers malignant brain tumors and causes them to require severe psychiatric help. Max then discovers that Videodrome is actually a plot by the government to eliminate all of the social lowlifes that are fixated on sex and extreme violence to make the world a better place. Max just happened to be in the middle of the testing phase.
"Videodrome" really kept me guessing the entire time until I really sat down and thought about the significances of different events in the film and how they influenced the characters. This truly is an incredibly screwed up movie and the casual viewer should be warned that there are scenes of a shocking nature that probably shouldn't be viewed by the faint of heart, or those with a weak stomach. However, once you get past the beginning of the movie and really get into the character of Max Renn this film is really quite interesting. It's also a great social commentary on what is happening to North American culture as a result of watching too much television. "Videodrome" gets a 3.5/5