Remote Control - What is Really Controlled?

Interesting 1988 B-movie about people being mind controlled by their TV's (take note, movie with same title with Adam Sandler was released later that same year, making it difficult to find this movie).

Directed & written by: Jeff Lieberman
Starring: Kevin Dillon, Deborah Goodrich,
Christopher Wynn, Frank Beddor, Jennifer Tilly
Music by: Peter Bernstein
Taglines: “As close to home as your VCR.”
“The ultimate power trip.”
“Your future is in their hands.”





http://houseofselfindulgence.blogspot.com/2008/09/remote-control-jeff-lieberman-1988.html

Unknown aliens from outer space have found an ingenious way to take over
the earth. Utilizing video technology and exploiting the earthlings
dependence on filmed entertainment, the aliens plan to wipe out humanity
by having them kill each other. Now, you're probably asking yourself,
"Why would they kill each other? I mean, human beings hardly ever engage
acts of physical violence." Well, you see, after you watch a 1950s
science fiction movie (also called Remote Control) up to a certain
point, the urge to kill literally inundates your brain with murderous
desire.

http://www.film4.com/reviews/1987/remote-control

While working in his local video store, intrepid Cosmo (Dillon) notices
the link between a weird 50s-style sci-fi video doing the rounds and an
inexplicable spate of violence erupting in his community. It turns out
that the aliens transmit subliminal messages impelling viewers to kill
each other, thereby softening the world up for an intergalactic
invasion. Together with co-worker Georgie (Wynne) and Belinda
(Goodrich), Cosmo sets out to stop the extra-terrestrials before their
tape gets a worldwide distribution deal.


http://80sfear.com/blog/remote-control-1987/

Cosmo (Dillon) is a well-meaning but lunkish teenager working at a
video store. Working along with his best friend, Cosmo has a crush on a
girl who comes in to look for arthouse movies, which he attempts to
quote in order to win her affections. Unfortunately, she already has a
jock boyfriend, and he doesn’t have much to offer her.

Meanwhile, there’s a new video release that’s amazingly popular by
the name of Remote Control. As we see in the opening sequence, Remote
Control is no ordinary VHS – after seeing an onscreen character get
possessed by a signal coming from the TV and kill the person in the room
with them, the same thing happens to the person watching the film!
Naturally, Cosmo and his friend band together, picking up the girl on
the way, to discover the deadly secret behind Remote Control and save
the world before the tape dooms us all.

About the Movie being difficult to obtain

Unfortunately, this is a hard film to get hold of today. As far as I
know, it’s never been officially released on DVD and only had a short
VHS run back in the ’80s. The copy I’ve taken my screenshots from was a
download that was ripped from Swedish TV (hence the subs), and even
that’s not an easy copy to get hold of.