The conquest ofindividual will by a violence-riddled medium is the bleak subject ofCronenberg's macabre sci-fi thriller. The film expresses a siegementality through media seer Brian O'Blivion, who raves that "the battlefor the mind of North America will be fought in the video arena." The"arena" is a televised S&M dungeon with true-to-life production values.Max Renn, played with unctuous detail by James Wood, is a smarmy cableoperator looking for sordid programming to boost his subscribership.He's soon mesmerized by a pirate transmission, Videodrome, picked upfrom a satellite. "Torture and murder. No plot. No characters. Very,very realistic. I think it's what's next," says Renn. His obsession withthis cutting-edge show brings the erotically driven entrepreneur intocontact with bizarre media fanatics battling for the "video word madeflesh." Cramming the screen with hallucinatory passages, Cronenbergtransforms his medium into the message. Real and induced experiencebecome muddled as the Videodrome "signal" accelerates evolutionarychanges in Renn's body. His inability to distinguish between reality and"programming" is TV-glut in extremis. Eventually, the "programming" winsout as the more substantial alternative. Videodrome's frenzied finaletransforms Renn into the very personification of the violent, sexualperversity perpetuated by television. O'Blivion's dismalproclamation-"Television is reality and reality is less thantelevision"-nihilistically lingers in the final moments. (Warning: RickBaker's gruesome effects are not for the weak hearted.) Steve Seid