[ButterCookie]

Videodrome.

Purely because of how damn true it is. That the TV gets inside your head and destroys you. Considering that this film was made in 1983, it's so damn creepy.

Basically:
Max Renn (James Woods) is the president of CIVIC-TV, a sleazy Toronto UHF television station specializing in sensationalistic programming. Displeased with his station's current lineup, Renn is on a seemingly endless quest for something that isn't so "soft" and will "break through" to a new audience.

One morning Renn is summoned to the clandestine office of Harlan, who operates CIVIC-TV's pirate satellite dish which can pirate broadcasts from as far away as Asia. Harlan shows Renn "Videodrome," a plotless television show apparently being broadcast out of Malaysia, which depicts the brutal torture and eventual murder of anonymous victims in a bizarre, reddish-orange chamber. Believing this to be the future of television— (staged) snuff TV—Renn orders Harlan to begin pirating the show.

Appearing on a talk show, Renn defends his station's programming choices to Nicki Brand (Debbie Harry), a sadomasochistic psychiatrist, and Professor Brian O'Blivion, a pop-culture analyst and philosopher who will only appear on television if his image is broadcast into the studio, onto a television, from a remote location. O'Blivion hijacks the interview and delivers a speech prophesying a future in which television supplants real life.

Renn dates Nikki, who is sexually aroused when Renn shows her an episode of Videodrome and coaxes him into having sex with her while they watch it. Renn goes once again to Harlan's office, where Harlan informs him the signal delay which caused it to appear to be coming from Malaysia was a ploy by the broadcaster. In fact, Videodrome is being broadcast out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Renn tells Nikki of his discovery and she excitedly goes to Pittsburgh to try and audition for the show.

When Nikki fails to return to Toronto, Renn contacts Masha, and asks her to help him find out the truth about Videodrome. Through Masha, Renn learns that not only is the footage in Videodrome not faked, but Videodrome is the public "face" of a political ideology movement with unspecified but apparently violent goals. Masha further informs Renn that Brian O'Blivion knows about Videodrome.

Max tracks down O'Blivion's office to The Cathode Ray Mission, a mission where homeless individuals are provided food, shelter, and clothing, and encouraged to engage in marathon sessions of television viewing. Renn discovers the mission is run by O'Blivion's daughter, Bianca. Bianca tells Renn these are side-effects from having viewed Videodrome, which is in fact the carrier of a malicious broadcast signal that causes the viewer to develop a malignant brain tumour. Brian O'Blivion helped to create it as part of his vision for the future, but when he found out it was to be used for malevolent purposes, he attempted to stop his partners; they used his own invention to kill him. In the year before his death, O'Blivion recorded tens of thousands of videos, which now form the basis of his television appearances.

Afterwards, Renn takes refuge on a derelict boat in an abandoned harbour, where Nikki appears to him on television. She tells him he has weakened Videodrome, but in order to completely defeat it, he has to "leave the old flesh." The television then shows an image of Renn shooting himself in the head, which causes the set to explode, splattering the deck of the ship with bloody, human intestines. Imitating what he has just seen on TV, Renn says his final words, "Long live the New Flesh", and then he pulls the trigger.


Mm that was damn long.