Scanners are people with telepathic and telekinetic powers, and this breed came from from a side effect from a tranquilizer that some women used during pregnancy. Revok is one of those evil scanners who doesn't let anything stand in his way of power. At the same time, Cameron Vale is a scanner too, but doesn't see things as Revok do, and tries to infiltrate his group of scanners. Along the way, his search leads him to find out a dark secret about himself, and where he really is from.
I'm a big fan of Cronenberg (The Fly, Videodrome, eXistenZ), but while Scanners is a pretty good movie, it's far from his best work. It's a really good idea, but on film some of it feels not that great when executed. My only real problem with Scanners is that, besides that the acting is a bit stiff, it starts off really good but doesn't quite manage to stay as interesting the whole film throughout. Although, this is not a major problem and it doesn't mean that it's a hard or dull film to sit through, as it is actually suspensefull and quite action-packed.
I guess that it's most famous for the exploding head scene, which is a really cool scene. Unfortunately, that scene comes very early on and for the rest of the movie, you find yourself waiting for some similar thing to happen, but it never comes. Still, it has a bit of gore but not that much, although the action and the suspense makes up for a lot. Michael Ironside plays the evil villain Revok, and definitely stands out compared to the rest of the cast. Our 'hero' Cameron (Stephen Lack) is ok, but far from great, and his acting feels way too stiff at times.
Like with some other of David Cronenberg's films, Scanners has a story that is original and interesting, and is the best thing this movie has to offer. And like others of the director's films, the story deals with things that can be applied on society itself, and can be interpret in different ways. While I think it's a really good movie, it's not half as touching or makes you really feel something for it like with The Fly, to mention one film. It's a good and somewhat memorable flick, but doesn't really manage to have that same strong effect as some of his other films have had.
In the end, it has all those elements that Cronenberg's films are know for, something that makes him a brilliant director and writer. Although it has its problems, but at the same time, most of those problems are pretty easy to overlook as well. One thing though that was hard to ignore was the somewhat awful score. It was not all that bad the movie throughout, but at times it's just an irritating mess. It might fit the concept, nevertheless, it's easy to get a serious headache from listening to it as well. The ending is pretty good and has some gore to offer, but unfortunately it's not an ending that makes you go wow. But Scanners has a strong storyline, and that is one major thing that overshadows all those little negative things.
Not as much a horror film as a thriller mixed with sci-fi, but that has its horror elements together with some gore as well. It sure has its problems, but most of them are relatively easy to ignore and never really makes the movie turn bad either. Scanners has a really cool story, and is quite an interesting flick that is definitely worth checking out.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Telepathy 2000
MOVIE YEAR: 1981
DIRECTOR: David Cronenberg
WRITING CREDITS: David Cronenberg
GENRE: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
CAST: Stephen Lack, Michael Ironside, Jennifer O'Neill
COUNTRY: Canada
RUNTIME: 103 min
RATING: 7/10
Scanners Website/IMDB Click here
Scanners Trailer Click here
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