248 Videodrome
- cdnchris
- Site Admin
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
- Location: Washington
- Contact:
- MitchPerrywinkle
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 1:26 am
Re: 248 Videodrome
So I saw this for the first time about a month ago during a horror movie marathon with some friends, and though I had seen some of Cronenberg's other films ("The Fly" and "A History of Violence") I was still disturbed by this film. It's a strange film, and I'm not sure if it entirely works (it seems a little too abstract in places for it's own good), yet it bears a strong social critique beneath the gore and special effects. It's downright eerie how prophetic the film was twenty years before "Saw" and "Hostel" hit theaters and how people would dub them with the moniker of "Torture Porn". Cronenberg knew that our culture was very rapidly beginning to lose the distinction between sexuality and violence (much like the main character's distinction between reality and hallucination), and how both could be easily exploited by the media for money and power. Yet even when we 'rebel' against the system
there's always someone else to take it's place. In the end, it may already be too late.
Overall, a highly intelligent social indictment of the media and how it influences our perception of reality. I might have to see it again in the future to determine if it's a masterpiece, but I'm certainly glad Criterion has it in their catalogue.
SpoilerShow
as James Woods does near the end,
Overall, a highly intelligent social indictment of the media and how it influences our perception of reality. I might have to see it again in the future to determine if it's a masterpiece, but I'm certainly glad Criterion has it in their catalogue.
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: 248 Videodrome
Very glad they kept the Betamax looking case with the slipcase for the Blu-ray. It was one of the best packaging designs out there, and the lovely and disturbing menus are intact too.
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: 248 Videodrome
Apparently, the Universal Europe edition of "Videodrome" has significantly more picture than the Criterion, making it look like the Criterion severely zoomed in for information.
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: 248 Videodrome
Way too much headroom in the Universal Europe release.
- stevewhamola
- Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:20 pm
- Location: NWT, Canada
Re: 248 Videodrome
I wouldn't discredit the Criterion entirely. CC's edition is advertised as a "restored high-definition digital transfer of the unrated version" approved by both director and cinematographer. And if the framing was wrong on the DVD, surely it would have been corrected on the Blu (ala Rushmore).
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: 248 Videodrome
This. Those stills look awful.dwk wrote:Way too much headroom in the Universal Europe release.
- tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am
Re: 248 Videodrome
Clearly. Probably post-processes to death, as usual with Universal. I'm really afraid of what will be released from them newt year. They announced a marvelous year of tremendous restaurations, but if they can't handle properly a transfer, what's the point ?mfunk9786 wrote:This. Those stills look awful.dwk wrote:Way too much headroom in the Universal Europe release.
Anyway, I still have an issue with the Criterion (which I don't own yet in HD) : comparing the CC VS Uni, the CC seems heavily cropped, but more than this, the cropping being not centered, the compositions seems now quite off-centered.
-
- Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:31 pm
Re: 248 Videodrome
This is something I've noticed more on my (many) repeat viewings of Videodrome. I find something darkly funny about it, that Barry Convex's gurgled screaming is still being picked up by the microphone & amplified by the auditorium speakers, and everyone in the lobby seems strangely uncurious about this gurgled shrieking, as if it's part of the trade show. :)colinr0380 wrote:I love that sense of there being a 'big event' occuring but that after such a scene there is an aftermath and that different people around 'the event' have experienced or witnessed the scene in different ways. It adds a sense of verisimillitude but also is an interesting way of showing how information about the event is expanding beyond the semi-public space of an exclusive, invitation only kind of event to the wider knowledge of the outside world - that very brief moment when a shocking event is still a relatively intimate experience and there is a world outside that is still relatively innocent of the knowledge of what has taken place.
Repeat viewings have led me to find more of the humor in Cronenberg's films. I think you have to watch Videodrome 3 times before you can really pick up on the humor. The first viewing should be a totally immersive & unsettling mindfuck of an experience. The 2nd viewing is to watch the film with a different perspective and/or appreciate the craftsmanship & artistry of cast & crew.
And I haven't even mentioned the additional 2 viewings with the excellent audio commentaries. James Woods is a rare actor who can delivery a commentary as intelligent, observant & engaging as the director [too bad Debbie Harry's less perceptive comments are spliced in].
I LOVE this film.
-
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:35 am
Re: 248 Videodrome
Question: is the transfer outdated/could use an update? I am wanting to get this for the flash sale going on right now. Looked at the beaver comparison caps to the arrow blu which says and looks identical and i know the arrow has more features so which version should I get?
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: 248 Videodrome
Very few titles wouldn't benefit from a new 4K scan, but the transfer is fine. As for your second question, I think the Cronenberg commentary on the Criterion is of far more value than anything exclusive to the Arrow.
- Gregor Samsa
- Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:41 am
Re: 248 Videodrome
The Criterion commentaries are excellent, but the Arrow does have important extras in its own right like the deleted scenes from the TV version.dwk wrote:Very few titles wouldn't benefit from a new 4K scan, but the transfer is fine. As for your second question, I think the Cronenberg commentary on the Criterion is of far more value than anything exclusive to the Arrow.
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: 248 Videodrome
Guess I'd forgotten those scenes from the TV version. Still, I think I'd still prioritize Cronenberg's commentary over the deleted scenes. But that is just me.
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: 248 Videodrome
This film continues to grow on me considerably over time and I now see it as a kind of parent film to Assayas’ demonlover which obviously owes a lot to it. This lives in less of an intangible space of existential dread (which isn't saying much, considering that film dominates that title) and opts for more external manifestations as attempts to make tangible the anxiety of moral flexibility toward nihilism in the wake of globalization. The narrative doesn’t necessarily feel cohesive but its unpredictability and at times nonsensical threaded directions feel more and more in step with the idea of identity disintegration that comes with relieving oneself of values and convictions, and this is presented exceptionally well. The commentary on media as both an outlet to project our Freudian sexual and aggressive drives, as well as a weaponized influence of mind-controlled violence, is spoken about openly but the threat of this isn’t fleshed out to obnoxious levels and instead the film exists in murkier space of contradictory people, which could even be read as scratching at humanistic if they weren’t so aloof and given more space to emerge from their mysteries; but the “deviant” kinks are recognized without an overflow of camp and certainly not judgment (Debbie Harry's character in particular is one that is allowed to be complex in her nature, embracing the hypocrisy in mankind which I see as incredibly validating and humanistic, but her eccentricities and vague sense of self trump that reading and overshadows a very interesting character). In some ways this is the closest Cronenberg came to making a John Waters film. The exciting twist here is that in the overwhelming abundance of content, the absence of philosophy causes the characters to turn towards the only ones that exist: those of extreme sensations, philosophies of videodrome, psychosexual impulses of escapism through self-destruction; or on the other hand, an ironic desperation in manipulating and sabotaging the public as the only way of preventing the social apocalypse through nationalist global comparison.
The film not only validates cynicism specifically around cultural fear, but it’s lightweight and entertaining enough to welcome a nightmarish rollercoaster ride in safety (the opposite of the Assayas film), while remaining unsettling in giving few holds for the audience to grasp onto character, so we instead identify most with the atmospheric pressure which is weaponized to prompt us to confront our own philosophies. Though because these are vague and there isn't a forced position we are trapped in, we can choose our adventure to be one of admiration and awe rather than self-analysis, and the film works broadly enough on both levels to make an impact, even if not as piercing of one as other films that spark existential dissection verging on crisis. I'm not sure if this is a strength or not, but there's enough room for readings across that spectrum. And the idea of where women fit into this picture as objects, signifiers, guides, the independent variables that initiate change in the male or the dependent ones on which society controls (or both) is a whole other conversation I don't have a great handle on, aside from that - probably rather generous - reading of Harry's role.
The film not only validates cynicism specifically around cultural fear, but it’s lightweight and entertaining enough to welcome a nightmarish rollercoaster ride in safety (the opposite of the Assayas film), while remaining unsettling in giving few holds for the audience to grasp onto character, so we instead identify most with the atmospheric pressure which is weaponized to prompt us to confront our own philosophies. Though because these are vague and there isn't a forced position we are trapped in, we can choose our adventure to be one of admiration and awe rather than self-analysis, and the film works broadly enough on both levels to make an impact, even if not as piercing of one as other films that spark existential dissection verging on crisis. I'm not sure if this is a strength or not, but there's enough room for readings across that spectrum. And the idea of where women fit into this picture as objects, signifiers, guides, the independent variables that initiate change in the male or the dependent ones on which society controls (or both) is a whole other conversation I don't have a great handle on, aside from that - probably rather generous - reading of Harry's role.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: 248 Videodrome
An expanded version of the soundtrack is on Apple Music and I presume elsewhere on streaming. Maybe not the wisest thing to listen to in the middle of the night but my god is it compelling film music.
- Adam X
- Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am
Re: 248 Videodrome
I remember listening to the Crash soundtrack while on the road. Bus, car, I don’t remember, but it certainly added a certain mood to the trip.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: 248 Videodrome
This would make a very interesting double feature with Annihilation
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: 248 Videodrome
A couple funny things happened accompanying last night's viewing of the 4K disc, the first being that the disc stopped a few times right in the middle of the movie. I did the old Nintendo trick of blowing into the system and cartridge so I could get back to those crude digital fantasies. The other is as I put it back in my now sizable Criterion collection, one I would probably be jaw on the floor as it would be back when I joined this place, the paper art work was torn and on the other side it was all black so appropriately I flipped it around from the cover with the VHS labeled “Long Live the New Flesh”.
Felt less darker in the 4K image then how I experienced it before, on admittedly a rather puny color tv. On the 65” appendage it has obviously more depth but I can appreciate that this manages to have a scope in the story that the streets of Toronto might betray on some level as opposed to something “futuristic”, or indeed like Blade Runner, a movie which this shares some common ground with. That aside this stands pretty well alone in other regards and I see it's influence in today's science fiction, no less some of the very real things we deal with now.
Felt less darker in the 4K image then how I experienced it before, on admittedly a rather puny color tv. On the 65” appendage it has obviously more depth but I can appreciate that this manages to have a scope in the story that the streets of Toronto might betray on some level as opposed to something “futuristic”, or indeed like Blade Runner, a movie which this shares some common ground with. That aside this stands pretty well alone in other regards and I see it's influence in today's science fiction, no less some of the very real things we deal with now.
- denti alligator
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:36 pm
- Location: "born in heaven, raised in hell"
Re: 248 Videodrome
This UHd vs Arrow‘s?
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: 248 Videodrome
I've got my eye on the Arrow release on ebay, going for decent enough prices might snatch one in the spring. This quote struck out as being true for me, especially with the lengthy time in between and maybe what is my own desensitization to what one might consider tough. It's maybe one of those films that gives me pause about it long after seeing it. And seeing more in it, like the humor even in the face of the horror. Watching David in interviews never feels like a chore because of the natural storyteller he is but just also how damn funny he can be about it and himself too.GG Pan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:58 amRepeat viewings have led me to find more of the humor in Cronenberg's films. I think you have to watch Videodrome 3 times before you can really pick up on the humor. The first viewing should be a totally immersive & unsettling mindfuck of an experience. The 2nd viewing is to watch the film with a different perspective and/or appreciate the craftsmanship & artistry of cast & crew.
This could not be any truer now then it was four years ago. The lurid, “video nasty” feeling of both films embed the nightmarish quality of this* and the much more tech-noir feeling of Assayas’ film. Beneath all of that kind of pokes for me at self-reflection on what I can handle to watch. To how this applies in a time so different from 40 years ago, when there is as little mystery about the depths of which man will go as we see also it's triumph. Neither director has done much about the latter from what I have seen of their work, and maybe is better or best for it.therewillbeblus wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 5:55 pmThis film continues to grow on me considerably over time and I now see it as a kind of parent film to Assayas’ demonlover which obviously owes a lot to it. This lives in less of an intangible space of existential dread (which isn't saying much, considering that film dominates that title) and opts for more external manifestations as attempts to make tangible the anxiety of moral flexibility toward nihilism in the wake of globalization.
*The Toronto is strong in this one as it is in his best stuff, but it was as jarring to see how different it feels from when we see the more hallucinatory scenes then when we watch Max on the streets of Toronto (having since seen Taxi Driver I feel like those moments might have been reflected especially when we see him outside towards the end) , or even in the Cathode Ray Mission which just looks like an empty gymnasium/church.