"Why should a healthy mind die just because the body is not healthy?  There just seems to be something wrong with that." - David Cronenberg in the book, _Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century_ by Mark Dery.

directed:

•  _Videodrome_ (vhs/ntsc)

• faces - James Woods, Deborah Harry
• detroit techno track _Unusual Channel_ MP3 (192k) by Scan 7 off of _Dark Territory_ CD on Tresor #057
• singer songwriter dance rock track _Video Violence_ MP3 by Lou Reed off of _Mistrial_ 12" (1986)
• track _Scared To Live_ by Psychic TV off of _Jack The Tab/Tekno Acid Beat_
• sample: "The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye."
• 604 track _Brainwash Nation_ MP3 (160k) by Shakta off of _The Enlightened Ape_ CD on Dragonfly/Nova Tekk (1999)
• sample: "The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye; therefore the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain...  Therefore whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore television is reality. And reality is less than television."  - from the film _Videodrome_
• track _Sexual Orientation_ by EBN (Emergency Broadcast Network) off of _Telecommunication Breakdown_
• samples: "I've got something I want to play for you." @ 0:00;   "You're ready for something new." @ 2:15 - both from the _Videodrome_

• Videodrome (1982) is probably Cronenberg's most complex and provocative film, in both form and content. It deals with a vast constellation of issues that infest the late twentieth century: mass media landscapes, censorship, the effect of technology on humanity, loss of stable identity, violent sexuality, mind control... All these themes are woven together in the film via the body-mind of one individual,  Max Renn (James Woods). Renn runs a small cable TV station, Channel 83, which specializes in softcore sex and hardcore violence. While looking to commission a new show, he is intrigued by the latest illicit interception made by Harlan, Channel 83's satellite broadcast pirate. Renn watches a short scene from a show called 'Videodrome'. We see a rust-red chamber, lined with electrified clay, in which naked women are beaten and tortured by men clad in enveloping black uniforms. No plot, no dialogue, no characters, just "torture, murder, mutilation". Max tries to track the show down, encountering an intricate maze of leads, and it is revealed that what he has seen is in fact a prototype of a new TV show to be broadcast in the near future by a large, sinister defence corporation, CONSEC. He had been shown pre-recorded tapes by CONSEC plant Harlan to expose him to a signal which is transmitted together with the televisual images. The violent imagery supposedly opens up neural receptors, allowing the signal itself to sink in, and to eventually induce a tumour (or new organ) to grow in the brain—which in turn triggers bizarre hallucinations. It is also revealed that this Videodrome signal was invented by an eccentric, McLuhanesque media prophet, Brian O'Blivion, who was killed by CONSEC—they intend to utilize his creation to facilitate extensive mind control over the population.
• _Crash_ (vhs/ntsc)
• alternative rock brit pop track _Killer Cars_ MP3 by Radiohead off of _The Bends (Japanese Import)_
• based on the novel by J.G. Ballard
•   novel inspired Government Issue's _Crash_ 12", Jawbox's J. Robbins
• _The Brood_ (1979) was David Cronenberg's first film with 'name' actors—starring Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar. Reed plays Dr Hal Raglan, a maverick therapist who has set up a retreat to practice the controversial technique he has developed, known as Psychoplasmics. It is here, at The Soma Institute, that the film begins.
• _Dead Zone_ (vhs/ntsc) basedon the novel by Stephen King
• industrial track _Deadzone_ MP3 (192k) by Somatic Responses
• industrial detroit techno track _The Dead Zone_ MP3 by Ibrahim Alfa off of _Gangsta Chic ep_ 12" on Horspielmusik (2000)
• face - Christopher Walken

  

Antero Alli: "The physical body is the visible manifestation of the so-called Subconscious Mind. The body is the fingerprint of the soul, a Rorschach of the Self.  Nothing can be hidden. The body communicates it all." These last two sentences may be the motto of Cronenberg's work; the unconscious is never as un-conscious as we like to think.

film _Total Recall_ (vhs/ntsc)

David Cronenberg was set to direct and even wrote a few drafts of the script before Paul Verhoeven took over.
 
  

_The Fly_ (vhs/ntsc) (1986)

•  faces - Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis

David Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian horror and science fiction film director. He is famous for creating the genre of "body horror", exploring people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the psychological is typically intertwined with the physical.

Cronenberg's films follow a definite progression, a movement from the social world to the inner life. In his early films, scientists modify human bodies, which results in social anarchy (E.g. Shivers, Rabid). In his middle period, the chaos wrought by the scientist is more personal, (E.g. The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome). In the later period, the scientist himself is altered by his hubris (E.g. The Fly). This trajectory culiminates in Dead Ringers, in which a twin pair of gynecologists spiral into codependency and drug addiction.

Cronenberg's later films tend more to the psychological, often contrasting subjective and obective realities (eXistenZ, M. Butterfly, Spider.)

Date of birth
      15 March 1943,
      Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Filmography as: Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
Director filmography
   1.eXistenZ (1999)
     ... aka Crimes of the Future (1998) (Canada: English title: working title)

   2.Crash (1996)
   3._M. Butterfly_ (1993)
   4._Naked Lunch_ (1991)

• track _Modus Operandi (Part Two)_ MP3 by Symbiosis off of _Clandestine Electronic Subculture_ CD on Domestic Recordings (1996)
• sample: "not consciously ...this is all happening telepathically..." - sampled from the film _Naked Lunch_  based on the book by William S. Burroughs - spoken by actor Iam Holm

   5.Dead Ringers (vhs/ntsc) (1988)
     ... aka Gemini (1988) (Canada: English title: working title)
     ... aka Twins (1988/II) (Canada: English title: working title)
   6."Friday the 13th" (1987) TV Series
     ... aka "Friday the 13th: The Series" (1987)
     ... aka "Friday's Curse" (1987) (UK: repeat compilations title)
   7._Fly, The_ (vhs/ntsc) (1986)
   8.Dead Zone, The (1983)
   9.Videodrome (1983) (G)
  10._Scanners_ (vhs/ntsc)(1980)
     ... aka Telepathy 2000 (1980)

  11.Brood, The (1979)
     ... aka Clinique de la terreur, La (1979) (Canada: French title)
  12.Fast Company (1979)
  13.Rabid (1977)
     ... aka Rage (1977/I)
  14.Shivers (1975)
     ... aka Frissons (1975) (Canada: French title)
     ... aka Orgy of the Blood Parasites (1975) (Canada: English title: working title)
     ... aka Parasite Murders, The (1975)
     ... aka They Came from Within (1975) (USA)
  15.Jim Ritchie Sculptor (1971)
  16.Crimes of the Future (1970)
   17.Stereo (1969)
  18.From the Drain (1967)
  19.Transfer (1966)

Filmography as: Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
Writer filmography
   1.eXistenZ (1999)
     ... aka Crimes of the Future (1998) (Canada: English title: working title)
   2.Crash (1996)
   3.Naked Lunch (1991)

   4.Dead Ringers (1988) (G)
     ... aka Gemini (1988) (Canada: English title: working title)
     ... aka Twins (1988/II) (Canada: English title: working title)
   5._Fly, The_ (1986)
   6.Videodrome (1983)
   7.Scanners (1980)
     ... aka Telepathy 2000 (1980)

   8.Brood, The (1979)
     ... aka Clinique de la terreur, La (1979) (Canada: French title)
   9.Fast Company (1979)
  10.Rabid (1977)
     ... aka Rage (1977/I)
  11.Shivers (1975)
     ... aka Frissons (1975) (Canada: French title)
     ... aka Orgy of the Blood Parasites (1975) (Canada: English title: working title)
     ... aka Parasite Murders, The (1975)
     ... aka They Came from Within (1975) (USA)
  12.Jim Ritchie Sculptor (1971)
  13.Crimes of the Future (1970)
   14.Stereo (1969)
  15.From the Drain (1967)
  16.Transfer (1966)

Filmography as: Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
Actor filmography
   1.Last Night (1998) .... Duncan
   2.Extreme Measures (1996) .... Hospital Lawyer
   3.Stupids, The (1996) .... Postal Supervisor
   4.Crash (1996) (voice) (uncredited) .... Auto Wreck Salesman
   5._Moonshine Highway_ (1996) (TV) .... Clem Clayton
   6.Blood & Donuts (1995) .... Stephen
   7.To Die For (1995) .... Man at Lake
   8.Trial by Jury (1994) .... Director
   9.Henry & Verlin (1994) .... Doc Fisher
  10.Blue (1992)
  11.Nightbreed (1990) .... Decker
   12._Fly, The_ (1986) .... Gynecologist
  13.Into the Night (1985/I) .... Group Supervisor

Filmography as: Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
Producer filmography
   1.eXistenZ (1999)
     ... aka Crimes of the Future (1998) (Canada: English title: working title)
   2.I'm Losing You (1998) (executive)
   3.Crash (1996)
    4.Dead Ringers (1988)
     ... aka Gemini (1988) (Canada: English title: working title)
     ... aka Twins (1988/II) (Canada: English title: working title)
    5.Jim Ritchie Sculptor (1971)
   6.Crimes of the Future (1970)
    7.Stereo (1969)
   8.Transfer (1966)

Filmography as: Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
Editor filmography
   1.Jim Ritchie Sculptor (1971)
   2.Crimes of the Future (1970)
    3.Stereo (1969)
   4.From the Drain (1967)
   5.Transfer (1966)

Filmography as: Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
Cinematographer filmography
   1.Jim Ritchie Sculptor (1971)
   2.Crimes of the Future (1970)
    3.Stereo (1969)
   4.From the Drain (1967)
   5.Transfer (1966)

Filmography as: Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
Notable TV guest appearances
   1."Newsroom, The" (1996) playing "Himself" in episode: "Meltdown: Part 1" (episode # 2.4) 1997
   2."Maniac Mansion" (1990) playing "Himslef" in episode: "Idella's Breakdown" 1992

Usenet: alt.cult-movies.cronenberg

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