Cronenberg Stories

The fourteenth entry of the 2022-2023 Film Journal brings David Cronenberg's horror classic, "Videodrome". Here, I contend with the film's truly bizarre aesthetic, world, and ideas; trying to make sense of the highly unusual picture's one-of-a-kind nature. Custom poster by Agustin R. Michel.

The Historian They said Polybius was an urban legend. They were wrong. When fifteen-year-old Cosmo finds the machine in a dying arcade, he becomes the latest in a long line of "players" chosen to archive the dreams of a forgotten god. Each level is a memory. Each death, a resurrection. Each symbol, a warning. The more he plays, the more the world around him unravels. A haunting journey through code, memory, and the ruins of divinity.

She died in New York. She woke in Rustwood. After being pushed in front of the subway C-Line, Kimberly Archer finds herself in an impossible town with a husband she's never seen before and a life she can't remember. The rain never stops, the phones don't work and the doctors think she's delusional. Kimberly only wants to get back to her fiance in New York. But for that, she needs the help of Fitch, a madman who believes something dark lives at the heart of Rustwood. He'll help her, so long as she joins him on his mission to burn the town to the ground. Kimberly might be crazy. Then again, she might be the only sane person left. People are disappearing from the streets, and something black and foul is stalking her in the night. Rustwood has plans for Kimberly, and if she doesn't find a way out soon she'll be lucky to survive... RUST is a serial small-town horror story in the style of Cronenberg, Lynch and King.

Todas as noites, às 2h17, Elias Varga embarca em um trem que não deveria existir. Restaurador digital de cadáveres para funerárias, Elias passou anos reconstruindo rostos esmagados, queimados e mutilados para que famílias enlutadas pudessem fingir, por alguns minutos, que a morte ainda possuía alguma dignidade. Consumido pela insônia após o suicídio inexplicável da esposa, ele descobre acidentalmente uma estação subterrânea escondida sob a cidade - limpa demais, silenciosa demais, impossível demais. Lá embaixo, um trem sem maquinista atravessa túneis que parecem respirar. Dentro dos vagões, passageiros conversam sobre receitas, novelas e preços de mercado enquanto seus corpos apodrecem lentamente diante dos olhos de Elias. Mulheres com o crânio aberto. Homens sem rosto. Crianças rastejando no teto. E algo pulsando sob a estrutura metálica da composição. Mas o verdadeiro horror não está nos corpos mutilados. Está na naturalidade bizarra. Quanto mais Elias retorna ao trem, mais a realidade da superfície começa a perder consistência. E quando os mortos começam a reconhecer seu nome, ele percebe uma verdade aterradora: talvez aquele trem não esteja transportando passageiros. Talvez esteja esperando por ele há muito tempo.

Cornelius had always had a fascination with teeth. He found them to be exquisite items, though his obsession had always remained an unknown secret, even from his wife. However, once his baby is born without the bones in her gums, his secret transforms into something more sinister. He starts a collection for his little girl that he must complete, even if that means sacrificing all in his life and releasing his inner violent nature.