glassner (02/22/83)
I've read a bunch of reviews of Videodrome on the
net in the last week or so, so when the opportunity arose
last night to see a screening of the film I decided to
postpone studying for my Linear Algebra test and proceed
to the theatre.
What a mistake! I went with four friends, and we
all felt like we had wasted our time. My reactions:
1. In the film the line between reality and hallucination
becomes blurry. Handled skillfully this can create
tension and interest, but in Videodrome I first got
confused, and then ceased to care.
2. His "hallucinations" were reality from the beginning,
since the gun he used to kill Mr. Spectacular Optical
and the others was in his stomach from the first
hallucination we saw. Assuming, of course, that the
whole movie wasn't hallucination. And I will not
state the obvious sexual connotations of the bizarre
rent in his middle.
3. I liked the special effects. Really gory.
4. What's the "Videodrome Effect" anyway? Some signal
superimposed on video? A monster from outer space?
And what's Ms. O'Blivion's angle on this "new flesh"
nonsense? Is the movie as shallow as to say, "Well,
the media programs you, and even if you fight it you're
just cashing in for new programming?" That's not much
of a statement (to me, at least.)
5. And how about the gun that was/wasn't/was/wasn't growing
out of his hand? Symbolic? Significant? Or lousy
work on continuity? (Although on that score I must say
I was impressed ... when he smashed the window of the
Cathode Ray Mission and walked in he actually crunched
glass under his feet! I like detail like that...)
6. And why did he believe Nikki in the boat? She was saying
exactly the same thing ("come to Nikki") there as she said
on the TV when he was hugging her lips. That was a trick
and now he knew it, so why did he believe her?
7. And he trusted Mr. Spectacular Optical to put this really
wierd thing on his head, strictly on that guy's warm
smile and friendly voice. C'mon!
So I guess that about summarizes this flame. I thought the movie was
really pointless ... I liked THE THING a whole lot more!
Flame on!
-Andrew
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