Videodrome
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.
Why it matters
A hallucinatory dive into media paranoia and body horror that still feels eerily prescient in the age of digital saturation.
- David Cronenberg blends visceral practical effects with cerebral sci-fi to twist reality and flesh alike.
- James Woods delivers a manic, desperate lead performance that captures the era’s media anxiety.
- A prescient critique of television’s power to manipulate—and mutate—viewers long before the internet age.
- For fans of body horror and paranoid thrillers seeking a disturbing exploration of technology’s dark mirror.
Director
15 horror films in catalog
From the Drain 1967
Crimes of the Future 1970
Shivers 1975
Rabid 1977
The Brood 1979
Scanners 1981
Videodrome 1983
The Dead Zone 1983
The Fly 1986
Dead Ringers 1988
The Nest 2013
The Death of David Cronenberg 2021
Crimes of the Future 2022
Four Unloved Women, Adrift on a Purposeless Sea, Experience the Ecstasy of Dissection 2023
The Shrouds 2025
Cast
Horror DNA
Gore
100
Slow Burn
83
Psychological
100
Supernatural
100
Creature
55
Disturbing
100
Fun Factor
50
Cerebral
99
Survival
0
Paranoia
