TERRORS OF TELEVISION
A fair number of sci-fi and horror pictures in the
80s betray worries over television: it fools us, it makes us violent, it
brainwashes us, it substitutes illusion for reality, and it even provides a
dimensional gateway for aliens or demons.
Why these fears?
Sociologists point first to the growing popularity of cable television.
According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, a mere 8% of
American households had cable in the early 70s, and only 23% in 1980, but this
doubled to 45% by 1984 and hit 60% by 1989.
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MTV debuted in summer 1981, but what seemed
innovative in some quarters seemed inane in others. Is the proliferation of media channels merely
the proliferation of media junk?
Black Flag's "TV Party" video, a hit on
MTV in 1982, depicted drunken idiots wasting time with television. A typical lyric: "I don't even bother to
use my brain anymore!"
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More controversy arrived with the deregulatory Cable
Act in 1984. Now, with networks no
longer required to give "equal time" to differing opinions, TV shows
became more controversial than ever.
There had been controversial shows in the 70s (M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, and All in
the Family come to mind) but 80s shows took crude and sexual content to new
extremes. Married… With Children (debuting spring 1987) was the most
outrageous of all.
Another effect of deregulation was freedom to
combine commercial content with regular programming. Thus the modern "infomercial" was
born in 1985.
No wonder that Americans and Canadians began using
the term "trash TV" by the late 1980s to describe the pervasiveness of
brain-deadening television content. Tom
Vu, anyone?
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It's also worth mentioning the strange "Dream
Season" of Dallas, possibly the
most watched TV series of the decade. At
the start of the 1986-87 season, it was revealed that the entire previous
1985-86 season never actually occurred; it was only a dream! I mention this because it might have
contributed to the idea - found in several films discussed below - that when
you're watching TV you can't tell illusion from reality.
Many 80s genre films make references to
television. Sometimes, foolish
commercials or shows indicate the correlating foolishness of the North American
public, as in Looker (1981), The Stuff (1985), and RoboCop (1987).
But my concern will be films where the television
itself gets the blame: it enables malevolent forces to invade our homes or
control our brains. Most of these films
are scary, gory, and good.
HERE ARE THE FILMS:
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POLTERGEIST (1982). Who hasn't imagined evil shapes or subliminal
messages in TV static? If you haven't,
you will after you see Poltergeist. Even
the promo posters made TV static seem scary.
The poltergeist(s) aren't bound solely to the television, but it's where
they start.
A young girl is the first victim, which perhaps
betrays parental fears of children spending too much time in front of, or
getting overly influenced by, their sets.
An early comical scene involving dueling TV remote controllers
on the same wavelength seems to set up the idea that television equals trouble.
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HALLOWEEN III (1982). Possibly the oddest entry of the Halloween
franchise, this "Season of the Witch" story involves Pagan occultists
who sell strange Halloween masks to kids and prepare a special show to be
viewed only while wearing the masks.
What happens when you wear the mask and watch the
show? I'll leave out the details, but
let's just say that you and anyone around you won't do any more trick-or-treating
that night, or ever.
The film is supernatural but television technology
itself is part of the story, with evil microchips getting triggered by evil broadcast
waves.
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VIDEODROME (1983). A mysterious pirate television station broadcasts extreme sexual and violent shows to lure and destroy the supposed degenerates who are drawn to this stuff.
Our hero investigates the mysterious signals and is by turns fascinated and disgusted by what he sees. He first hopes to profit from the depravity but he soon finds himself unable to distinguish reality from illusion. One of the broadcasters may be an alien or monster - or maybe not? A helpful professor may "exist" only on videotape.
Taking the conflation of reality/illusion a step further, Canadian writer-director David Cronenberg depicts humans melding with technology: as illusion and reality become indistinguishable, so do machinery and flesh.
Videodrome is the best film on this list: frightening, disgusting, and thought-provoking all at once.
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TERRORVISION (1986). A television set and satellite antenna get a
lot of attention in this flawed but entertaining satire set in a farcical
suburbia. Dad makes a faulty adjustment in the roof antenna
and, wouldn't you know it, the antenna attracts an evil alien blob who had been
converted into energy particles.
Now the blob can enter or exit the television as he
pleases, and among this family of empty-headed idiots, it pleases him just
fine.
Television mostly figures into the first half, and
media of all types is lampooned. Good
80s theme song for the opening credits.
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DEMONS 2 (1986).
Its predecessor, Demons (1985), was set in a movie theater where patrons
are attacked by - or transform into - hideous demons. Now in this sequel something similar happens,
but via television to residents in a big apartment building.
As with Poltergeist and TerrorVision, television
figures mostly into the first parts, being the initial gateway for the evil
intruders. Some excellent effects depict
demons pushing their heads and hands through a "stretched" television
screen.
As with Poltergeist and Halloween III, kids are
specifically imperiled, almost as a warning against negligent parents who use
television as a babysitter.
Historical note: the film is directed by Dario
Argento's son. One of the kids is played
by Argento's daughter Asia at age 10.
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THE VIDEO DEAD (1987). This good direct-to-video zombie picture
gives more attention to an actual television set than any other film on our
list. It's a dilapidated black-and-white
set which only seems to show clips from something called "Zombie Blood
Nightmare."
As you'll guess, the zombies can see us through the
screen. And they will emerge from it.
The film could have been clearer about the set, like
whether it contains a separate dimension or is a gateway to one. But like other films on the list, it plays on
the idea of TV addiction: it gets inside your head so that you can't bear to
destroy it.
The film also suggests what may be a symbolic
solution: place a mirror against the screen so that the television (and
whatever's on) reflects back upon itself.
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THE BRAIN (1988).
This surprisingly scary sci-fi horror picture features the doctor from
Re-Animator teaming up with an evil alien brain.
They use a show ironically titled "Independent
Thinking" to brainwash viewers, to impel murder and suicide, or to lure
unsuspecting fans to the studio where their minds will be consumed.
The alien brain is telepathic but only through
television: its thoughts (and commands) appear as words on a nearby
screen. The movie features ominous shots
of broadcast antennae.
Interestingly, it's the adults who are addicted to
television and the teens who avoid it.
Can the teens save the day?
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SHOCKER (1989).
While it never appears on any lists of Wes Craven's best, Shocker is
among the horror icon's most daring films.
It starts out serious with some brutal murders, and then grows
increasingly nutty.
The occultist killer apparently contacts a demon
through a customized television set. The
demon helps the killer survive the electric chair and transform himself into a
static ghost, first able to possess people he touches and then able to project
himself into people's televisions.
"I'm nationwide now!" he boasts.
He can fly out of a TV set to kill, then back into
the set to hide. But what if our hero
gains that same power? And what if our
hero obtains a remote control?
It's a mishmash of a film, but it's never
boring. Like other films on this list,
it prominently features shots of broadcast antennae (complete with Danger
signs), and it suggests TV distorts perceptions of reality vs. fantasy or
dream.
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REPOSSESSED (filmed 1989, released 1990). This underrated Exorcist parody is best known for co-starring Linda Blair (while she was still making the real Exorcist series) alongside Leslie Nielsen speaking in a German accent.
The devil from the original Exorcist has returned to possess Regan 17 years later. But he's a modern devil now, and he intends to use television - specifically an ostensibly Christian show run by a sham televangelist - to possess thousands of viewers at once.
We get ominous shots of a giant broadcast antenna and a corrupted television studio. But if the wily devil can use television, so can the resourceful priests who recruit all manner of religious and spiritual leaders from around the world to join in a live concert broadcast. Could even Satan himself resist?
It is notable that television has the potential to save us as well as damn us, perhaps an acknowledgement at the end of the 1980s of the medium's power and persistence.
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SEE ALSO:
MIND BENDERS (1987).
This Canadian picture resembles The Brain in depicting adult authorities
hoping to brainwash unruly teens, but here rock music rather than television is
used.
THEY LIVE (1988).
John Carpenter's nutty sci-fi picture joins several of those above in
depicting aliens brainwashing us through mass media, though television plays
only a small part. At the end,
television may even show us the truth.
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Please Note: Photos & videos are presented for illustration and
review purposes only under the 'fair use' provisions of copyright law, and remain
copyright respective rights holders. Date of post: July 2021
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