Cronenberg (pt. II)
Videodrome
Scanners
The last time we visited David Cronenberg’s filmography, we watched Eastern Promises—a dark and mysterious film that was ultimately grounded in humanity. Tonight’s films certainly had a lot to say about humanity, while telling stories outside of reality. Neither of tonight’s movies had Viggo Mortensen in them (unfortunately) like our other previous Cronenberg watches, but they featured every trademark of this director’s career. Creatively, albeit over the top body horror via Rick Baker’s melting skin-like special effects, mind control, and general mind fuckery that isn’t always palatable—this is what Cronenberg is known for, and what we were presented with this evening. Videodrome, Cronenberg’s answer to humanity’s violent, voyeuristic, sexual desires was everything and less than I expected. James Woods, aptly cast as a sleazy, chauvinistic, exec of a television network that plays various types of depraved porn and torture videos, lead this film with ease, alongside the striking and talented Debbie Harry—who surprisingly did not feel out of place. You can imagine why this film was so cutting edge in 1983, on the brink of reality tv and decades before the advent of social media, as Videodrome seeks to expose the darkest parts of our overstimulated society. There are echoes of this film in so many present day narratives about technology becoming so immersed into our culture that it becomes a part of our psyches, and while the bleak message in Videodrome is clear, its execution was puzzling—to say the least. The concept was salient and disturbing, only matched by its disturbing special effects. Its references to our culture of immorality and excess are so heavy-handed though, that it did feel a bit weak to have such an ambiguous final act. Without giving too much away, the film tends to suffer from an overdose of meta, and to me it felt less and less attached to the story and its morals as it progressed. Perhaps by growing up in a version of this reality that Cronenberg imagined I’ve become desensitized, but I wasn’t entirely satisfied by Videodrome. Although I must admit that Nikki Brand, Max Convex, and Bianca Oblivion, are incredible names that would lend themselves so well to drag. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the stage: Bianca Oblivion! Our next feature was originally going to be Night Breed, my sister’s choice. But it turns out that Night Breed is a Clive Barker film, despite his arguably Cronenbergian monsters. We made a last-minute switch (easy to do with Cronenberg’s vast filmography) to Scanners, the 1981 mind and body horror classic. The cover of this film scared the shit out of me as a child, so it feels like fate to be watching it now. Scanners was a slow, suspenseful thriller with a unique, imitable premise and some memorable death scenes. Both of these films had elements that reminded me of Possessor, Brandon Cronenberg’s techno-horror. Videodrome fittingly had a fast-paced, anxiety-inducing sense of urgency to it, while Scanners took it’s time building its mystery and adding to its mayhem. Scanners could translate well to a remake, considering the influence that telekinesis and mutants have had on our cinematic culture. The shockingly bad acting from the appropriately named lead Stephen Lack, along with some abrupt, therefore confusing, scenes were a bit of a distraction, but all of these problems could easily be fixed. David Cronenberg has always dared to explore subversive and unexpected territory, within his horror stories and his dramas, but in my opinion, he’s only gotten better over time. He’s supposedly working on his first body horror film in over twenty years, with his and my muse: Viggo Mortensen and I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but everything about that feels right. If you’re a fan of stomach-turning, mind-boggling films with a somewhat erotic edge to it, or if you like a good, unpredictable drama with a somewhat erotic edge to it, you have plenty to choose from with Cronenberg—the king of gross and weird.
