Scanners (1981)

Very disappointing...

Sadly Over-hyped

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

David Cronenberg's Scanners is a very original and well made thriller that is a head exploding good time. This flick deals with people with special telepathic and telekinetic abilities known as Scanners. The government is studying them and there is a rogue Scanner that wants to use his powers to rule the world(Michael Ironside). Ironside is great here as baddie Darryl Revok and is one of my favorite on screen villans. While the film is classified mainly as horror, this has elements of sci fi and a high tech thrillers as well. Scanners is a pretty intense and cerebral film that delivers on suspense and gore. Along with other Cronenberg classics like The Brood and Videodrome, this is very much a thinking person's horror that is very original and effective that separates itself from a lot of dumb and generic slashers at the time. Scanners holds up well and is highly recommended to aficionados of horror and science fiction that haven't seen this. Excellent.

Central plot was intriguing. Man discovers he has telekinetic powers, gets recruited by company to harness his powers in a fight against a rival organisation (run by an uber-telekineticist). Investigations, mind-games, confrontations and action ensue.Despite the decent plot, it feels rushed towards the end. Final scene comes out of the blue.Two things stopped this from being a much better movie, and potential sci fi classic. Firstly, the performances are horrendously bad. There is hardly a credible performance to be seen. Patrick McGoohan and Jennifer O'Neill are probably the best of the lot and they're just so-so. Stephen Lack is pretty dull in the lead role, and Michael Ironside goes in the opposite direction, overacting as the bad guy.Furthermore, this movie contains some of the worst bit-part acting you'll see in a mainstream movie. eg The guy who falls backward before being shot!Second negative aspect: the production. Everything seems cheap and B-grade. Worst of all is the sound. It feels as if the dialogue was dubbed into the movie, and not synced very well with the actors' lips - it's that bad.Overall: reasonably entertaining and not a total waste of time. Plus you get to see the famous exploding head scene...

'Scanners' has all the Cronenbergian tropes that you'd expect from one of his films. You get the gross scenes with the body horror, you get the somewhat fictional idea of mental problems and powers and to some extent you can also sense an allegorical element underneath the crazy images and visuals. I think in 'Scanners', Cronenberg is making a statement about the state of Cold War existing at the time between the US and Soviet Russia and the inherent espionage element of the scenario. I think one can find biblical references in the script in terms of the battle between Lucifer and Michael. Cronenberg's directorial sense and his style of storytelling is something that has always intrigued me. His scripts and subject matters always tend to feature high concepts and allegorical depth. His stories are set in a world which is close to our own world with some sci-fi fantasy-esque flirtations. 'Scanners' is no different. Consequently his films tend to involve some weird, larger than life characters and exaggerated mannerisms and deliberately over the top acting. But in order to pull off these heightened mannerisms expertly, you require really skilled actors. I think 'Scanners' suffers a bit in this regard. The acting here is probably deliberately off-putting and weird, but I don't think it completely works. The script itself is a bit weak too compared to other Cronenberg screenplays. There are inconsistencies when it comes to a scanner's and in particular, Cameron's powers and what he can and can't do and there are loopholes. The character of Kim Obrist pretty much has no purpose to serve, except offer the viewer a connection between Kim and Cameron and in some way humanise the blank slate of Cameron.Having said all that, 'Scanners' still remains entertaining and intriguing enough. Cronenberg conjures up almost a B-movie like visual texture for the film and the film has a very raw, stripped down look to it which I found charming. However. the greatest and most admirable element here is the special effects scenes involving Cronenberg's distinctive body horror. One has to give a special mention to the makeup artist Dick Smith, for his work here. There are certain images in the film that have become quite rightly iconic. 'Scanners' in my eyes, is not one of Cronenberg's best. It has its fair share of problems. However, it still offers some rewards to he viewer in terms of Cronenberg's images, body horror and his weird style of storytelling.

(*Favourite movie-quote*) - "I'm gonna suck your brain dry!"..... (What a pleasant thought, eh?) Amongst all of the confusion, violence, and gore that prevailed in 1981's "Scanners" - It was really clear (right from the start) that Canadian director/screenwriter, David Cronenberg had actually put some reasonably intelligent (though far-fetched) thought into this Sci-Fi/Horror film's story-line.Featuring a well-chosen cast of competent actors - Scanners' story about a ruthless manhunt, escalating paranoia, and manufactured telepathy did tend to take itself a little too seriously - But, for the most part - Its story's suspense and tension was sustained surprisingly well as the action built up into the inevitable "final showdown" of a brand new breed of terror.Anyway - If you are a fan of pre-CGI Sci-Fi/Horror, then Scanners' awesome make-up effects are sure to blow your mind (literally). And, Michael Ironside's portrayal of the evil, power-hungry villain, Darryl Revok, will surely get right under your skin like you could never imagine.