Movie Substrate · Film

Videodrome (1983)

★ 7.3 · 2,455 ratings on TMDB

First it controls your mind. Then it destroys your body.

Videodrome poster★ 7.3

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.

DirectorDavid Cronenberg
CastDavid Bolt, Debbie Harry, Jack Creley, James Woods, Julie Khaner, Leslie Carlson
GenresHorror, Mystery, Science Fiction
The emergence reading

Videodrome keeps every mind human — it fights its subject at zero distance. The story fights on E8/E9/E10 of the E0–E14 reality ladder.

zero-distanceCA
⇄ Parameter shift — the dial this world turnsrigor: loose
E8perceptionbroadcast signals can directly rewire brain tissue, inducing hallucinations and malignant growths (technology · universal)
Also inFilms that alter a rule of reality
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Same rung, same subject

Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.

Thor (2011)E8/E9/E10Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)E8/E9/E10Doctor Strange (2016)E8/E9/E10The Dark Knight Rises (2012)E8/E9/E10Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)E8/E9/E10Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)E8/E9/E10

Same subject, different rung

The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.

World War Z (2013)E4/E14 · Horror, Science Fiction28 Weeks Later (2007)E4/E12/E14 · Horror, Science FictionBlade: Trinity (2004)E4/E6 · Horror, Science FictionLand of the Dead (2005)E11/E12 · Horror, Science FictionInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)E13/E14 · Horror, Science FictionSpecies (1995)E4/E11/E14 · Horror, Science Fiction

Also bends a rule of reality

Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.

Avatar (2009)alters at E8 · same rung · looseInception (2010)alters at E8 · same rung · looseInside Out (2015)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorousSpider-Man: No Way Home (2021)alters at E8 · same rung · looseGet Out (2017)alters at E8 · same rung · looseUs (2019)alters at E8 · same rung · loose

Same people

Shared director or cast.

The Fly (1986)dir. David CronenbergA History of Violence (2005)dir. David CronenbergEastern Promises (2007)dir. David CronenbergWhite House Down (2013)James WoodsThe Virgin Suicides (2000)James WoodsCasino (1995)James Woods