Videodrome → Ultra HD Blu-ray, Arrow Video
BY THE EARLY 1980s Canadian writer-director David Cronenberg found his career at a crossroads. The filmmaker's formative low-budget features, including Shivers (1975), Rabid (1977) and The Brood (1979), had managed to bridge the gap between exploitation and art house cinema with their mix of transgressive body-horror and philosophical underpinnings, but he hadn't yet graduated to the 'big league'. Then came the success of his head bursting sci-fi thriller Scanners (1981), which made Hollywood sit up and pay attention.
Among the offers that came the director's way in the wake of Scanners were opportunities to helm Flashdance (1983) and Return of the Jedi (1983), which he turned down. It's interesting to imagine what Cronenberg might have brought to such big-budget projects (Top Gun was another that would land on his desk) but he wasn't - at this point - interested in directing somebody else's material, not when he had one of his own ideas percolating.
Hollywood was still keen to tap into the talent of Cronenberg, however, which is how Universal Pictures ended up entering the disturbing world of Videodrome.
Network nightmare
'I think it's amazing that Universal Pictures went with Videodrome, produced it and distributed it,' revealed the filmmaker in the 1992 book Cronenberg on Cronenberg. 'They approved the project on a one-page description and were co-investors... In retrospect I realise how extraordinary and unusual it was; first, that they even partially financed it - they were one of the most conservative major studios - and second, that they allowed it to continue once they saw what it was becoming. Generally, the system destroys pictures like Videodrome before they get to the public.'
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Denne historien er fra December 2022-utgaven av Home Cinema Choice.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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AV Avenger
You should think twice before accepting an invitation to play Resident Evil 4 with spatial audio in a haunted prison, warns Steve May
Catalogue classic Star Wars: Ep. VI - Return of the Jedi → Ultra HD Blu-ray, Disney
Forty years on from the movie's cinema release, Anton van Beek ponders what might have been if things had gone a little diff erently during the making of Return of the Jedi…
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M&K Sound V12
TIME ON TEST: Three years REVIEWER: Steve Withers
Sony 'bar demands to be upgraded
This well-specified Dolby Atmos soundbar may have a mid-range price tag, but you'll soon want to spend more, cautions Steve May
Short and sweet
Marantz's compact AV receiver returns with a new look and boosted features – Jamie Biesemans slips it into his AV rig
Discreet delivery
A slim, stylish Scandinavian on-wall system impresses Mark Craven with its handling of the sweet stuff
One project, two rooms
Dan Sait reports on a custom install where a JVC PJ/ Atmos system is joined by a stylish media den
THE KING OF B RDA HOLLYWOOD
Three of his movies have taken over $2billon at the global box office, he's pioneered SFX and 3D technologies, and he's been to the very bottom of the Pacific Ocean. That's James Cameron by the way, not Anton van Beek
System selector!
Given three similar budgets, Mark Craven, Steve May and John Archer assemble three different AV setups focused on movies, streaming and gaming
