Scanners
Too spicy?
I don't really
believe in telekinesis or telepathic abilities. I'm sure some people
use their brains more than others (The North vs The South for
example), but I don't think someone can burst into flames via thought
power. And would it really be fun to hear people's thoughts? I can
barely tolerate what they actually say. While in real life these
abilities may not be all they're cracked up to be, in horror they
serve as a good plot point. It can create interesting and terrifying
stories or just create some fun action sequences. And if David
Cronenberg at the helm, you know you're in for a wild ride.
Scanners is a
1981 science fiction horror movie written and directed by David
Cronenberg (Videodrome, The Brood). The movie stars Stephen Lack
(Dead Ringers, Head On) as Cameron Vale and Michael Ironside (Total
Recall, Starship Troopers) as Darryl Revok. Over 200 people in the
world are known to be Scanners, humans with the ability to read
(scan) minds through telepathy and cause physical harm through
telekinesis. ConSec, a corporation that specializes in weapons and
security systems, searchers out these scanners in hopes of protecting
them. Scanners tend to not understand their abilities and are usually
committed to mental hospitals because they “hear voices”. Cameron
Vale is a powerful vagrant Scanner who is brought in to ConSec and
trained by Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan, Braveheart, Escape From
Alcatraz). During a conference, ConSec has one of their own Scanners
scan a volunteer from the audience. The volunteer is actually Darryl
Revok, an incredibly powerful Scanner, who uses his powerful to make
the other Scanner's head literally explode. He escapes capture,
killing several ConSec security agents in the process. Following the
incident, Bradeon Keller (Lawrence Dane, Bride Of Chucky, Side
Effects) is brought in as the new head of security. He and Ruth
decide to have Cameron infiltrate the Scanner community and route out
Revock before he can do any more damage. Ruth tells Cameron that
there is a drug called ephemerol that can suppress a Scanner's
abilities long enough to be captured. Cameron eventually finds a
telepathic named Kim Obrist (Jennifer O'Neill, Rio Lobo, A Force Of
One) who has brought together a group of Scanners. They are attacked
by Revok's assassins and have to go on the run. They learn that a
large shipment of ephemerol is being delivered to Revok. What does
Revok have planned with the ephemerol and how will Cameron stop the
most powerful Scanner on Earth?
Feelin' hot, hot, hot!
“Ever
see that scene in Scanners when that dude's head blew up?”
That line is from Wayne's World when Garth is stuck doing the show by
himself. As a little kid, I didn't fully understand the joke, but I
found it funny anyway. Now, after finally seeing Scanners, that line
is even funnier. The scene is quite surprising (despite being one of
the most widely used .GIFs on the internet). We're not quite sure
what is about to happen and it's sheer brutal violence and gore is
almost unparallelled. David Cronenberg is known for his graphic
special effects and “body horror”, but Scanners is relatively
tame compared to some of his other work like The Brood and The Fly.
Most of the body horror doesn't come until the final showdown between
Cameron and Revok. It's quite an impressive scene, full of suspense,
action, insane violence, and great prosthetic work. The science
fiction aspect of Scanners is fairly engaging, even for people that
don't consider themselves to be fans of the genre.
While the opening twenty minutes and
the final ten and full of excitement and bizarre horror, the movie
does get slow in the middle. Rather than focusing on horror or even
science fiction, the movie becomes more of a mystery as Cameron tries
to find out what is going on. It's somewhat interesting, but compared
to the opening, it's downright mundane. If Cronenberg had focused
just on the horror, Scanners would have been utterly terrifying. I
mean, there are a select number of people so powerful that they can
physically throw people across a room just by using their mind. Why
bother with a mediocre mystery that doesn't get solved until the
final scenes? Michael Ironside is a great villain as always and I
would have liked for him to have more screen time. Stephen Lack is
decent as the main hero, though there was something about him that I
just didn't care for. Maybe it was because he went from being a
derelict to a fully-skilled Scanner in the span of about fifteen
minutes. Or maybe he just has a really punchable face.
R.I.P. Mr. Watermelonhead
Scanners is a decent science fiction
horror movie with a few really great scenes. While there isn't as
much body horror as one would expect from a Cronenberg film, we still
get some disturbing images and incredible violence. The film had a
hectic schedule and Cronenberg said that it was a nightmare to make.
The beginning and ending are highly entertaining, but the movie
becomes too much of a mystery while pushing horror to the side. The
movie had a lot of potential, but it just didn't reach the level of
greatness that it could have. Regardless, it's still a fun watch if
for nothing more than heads exploding and veins leaking.
7.5/10
