The Fly
David Cronenberg 1986 UK/Canada/US (1st time; DVD)
A hermit scientist experimenting in the teleportation of living objects falls in love with a journalist, but finds he has somehow fused himself with an insect during one of his tests.
Heartbreaking film which wastes no time at all in introducing its characters, developing them, and ultimately destroying them; it may or may not be about AIDS, but any social comment found by critics is besides the point: this is a beautifully crafted, wonderfully executed film with a fine balance between horror, romance and humour. Goldblum is fantastic.

Videodrome
David Cronenberg 1982 Canada/US (2nd time; DVD)
An operator of a cable TV programme responsible for graphic violence and softcore porn happens upon a mysterious show which takes over the mind; then the body…
Fast-moving thriller with complex visuals: what we are watching is often somebody watching somebody or something else, and the introduction to Deborah Harry's character is brilliant, with the most simple of pans to a live TV set-up, behind which she sits, and on which she is shown. Deeply rich with intertextuality throughout, Brian O'Blivion, who never appears on TV ("except on TV"), warns our protagonist that hallucinations could possibly take over his whole concept of reality; and so the second half of the film degenerates into an extended fantasy of dreams within dreams and frames within frames, before it explodes upon itself.