Videodrome (1983) : Arrow Video Limited Edition (2015)

Videodrome (1983)

Dir. David Cronenberg

Seeing is believing. Until we see something in its physical aspect then its reality is questionable.

What then of television? The device is visible but the transmission invisible. The pictures enter our mind the same way as everything else, but their 'reality' can be entirely fictitious. Sure, we're programmed to know the difference, but what if the programming changes or the difference slips away? Is seeing really believing, then?

By the same token, at what point does violent sex become sexual violence? When does flesh and distinction cease to follow the accepted rules?

Torture. Murder. Mutilation. Videodrome.

Director David Cronenberg's masterpiece.

The Arrow Video edition uses the same HD Master as the Criterion edition did, only the encode is different. If you already own the Criterion and have no interest in the wealth of additional features that Arrow provide, then there's little reason to double-dip. Conversely, if the extras do appeal to you, then there's every reason to fork out again because all in all, despite the shortcomings of the book (see below), it's a beautiful package. Be aware, though, that the Blu-rays are locked to Region B and the DVDs to Region 2 (because Criterion still hold the rights in the US), so you'll need a region-free player if you're outside of the correct territories. For those of you that wish to know, the extras are:

• Audio commentary by Tim Lucas, the on-set correspondent for Cinefantastique Magazine and author of Videodrome: Studies in the Horror Film.
• David Cronenberg and the Cinema of the Extreme – A documentary programme featuring interviews with Cronenberg, George A. Romero and Alex Cox on Cronenberg’s cinema, censorship and the horror genre.
• Forging the New Flesh – A documentary programme by filmmaker Michael Lennick on Videodrome’s video and prosthetic make up effects.
• Videoblivion: A brand new interview with cinematographer Mark Irwin.
• A brand new interview with producer Pierre David.
• AKA Jack Martin – Dennis Etchison, author of novelizations of Videodrome, Halloween, Halloween II and III and The Fog, discusses Videodrome and his observations of Cronenberg’s script.
• The complete uncensored Samurai Dreams footage with additional Videodrome broadcasts with optional commentary by Michael Lennick.
• Helmet Test and Betamax – Two featurettes by Michael Lennick on effects featured in the film.
• Camera (2000) Cronenberg’s short film starring Videodrome’s Les Carlson.
• Fear on Film: A round table discussion from 1982 with Cronenberg, John Carpenter, John Landis and Mick Garris.
• Promotional featurette with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Cronenberg, James Woods, Deborah Harry and Rick Baker.
• Original theatrical trailer.
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of four Cronenberg films: Transfer (1966); From the Drain (1967); Stereo (1969); Crimes of the Future (1970).
• Transfer the Future – Author and critic Kim Newman discusses Cronenberg’s early works.
• Collector’s Booklet.

(NOTE: the bulleted text used above is copied from Arrow's own site.)

Early Works (1966-70)

Dir. David Cronenberg

Transfer (1966)

Cronenberg's first film is a short lasting just six or seven minutes in which a psychoanalyst and patient explore the nature of their roles and of their relationship, but in a field not an office. It's all a bit Goddard, but there's the beginnings of specific concerns that would go on to become something darker and more sexual.

From the Drain (1967)
Two men spend time in a bathtub while fully clothed. It sounds like something Beckett might come up with. There's an odd comedic aspect to it that I wasn't expecting to be so upfront. Beneath that there's an unease about an unknown horror that might come up from the drain, a reversal of what it would typically do. It's twice as long as the previous work.

Stereo (1969)

The first of the early films to be shot on 35mm. The New Wave influence is still very much there, but he's clearly making it fit his model, as opposed to fitting his narratives into the existing forms. The intuitively thought-provoking study of sexuality carried out by the Canadian Academy for Erotic Inquiry puts us in the role of observer. The clinical study of the 'deviant' side, beyond just the visual, shows that Cronenberg was surely reading and channelling JG Ballard years before he made Crash (1996). It's 65 minutes in length and, to be honest, it feels longer.

Crimes of the Future (1970)

The follow-up to Stereo is also on 35mm but in colour. It has the same kind of dry, analytic V/O, is set in a similar kind of sparsely populated campus environment, and once again stars Ronald Mlodzik. It’s visually striking, inspired, no doubt, by the French New Wave but not adhering to either Right or Left bank completely. The audio that accompanies the imagery is bizarre. Some of the sounds are recognisable, but others I can only describe as the kind of noises things that grow in laboratory Petri dishes might make if such things made sounds that were audible to the human ear. If you thought Stereo was pretentious wankery, then it’s likely you’ll feel the same way about Crimes. It's altogether too feety for my liking.

Long Live the New Flesh (2015)

Authors: Various  |  Page Count: 100

The book is the same size as the two digipacks that hold the four discs; it fits perfectly beside them, indistinguishable as a book until removed from the sturdy box. It’s a hardback with quality paper stock befitting the imagery.

It really is beautiful to look at, but the content is less pleasing. The majority of the text is reprint from Cronenberg on Cronenberg (1996), part of the Directors on Directors Series that was published by Faber and Faber and is still currently in print. If it had been OOP then I’d have considered the reprint useful, but excerpts from a book that can be easily picked up from all the usual places isn't a noteworthy addition.

The new writings are the usual Arrow bullshit, including a scholarly but down-to-earth appraisal that places the film in a social and cultural context.

However, the pages detailing the alternate versions of the film are commentary on what you've just watched on the Blu-ray (provided you had the good sense to watch before reading).

While a lot of it is interesting to the student and fan (i.e. the people for whom the package was assembled), the volume of reprint cheapens it, in my opinion. Still, the films are the main draw and in that Arrow can't be faulted. If you can afford it, then it's an edition worth owning.