Scanners: The Showdown (1995)

good back-story, and good acting

Excellent adaptation.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I enjoyed SCANNERS 2 and SCANNERS 3, which I thought had effective spins on the original SCANNERS movie. Recently I saw SCANNER COP, and I enjoyed that movie as well, so I eagerly rented SCANNER COP II when I found it at my local video store. Unfortunately, this entry in the series, while not really awful, is disappointing all the same. I will admit that the movie never has a boring moment, and it boasts some good make-up effects and other gory moments. Despite this, the movie comes across as quite cheap at times, with shabby sets or locations that look like they were shot in abandoned warehouses. There is also a subplot involving the hero's long- lost mother that seems awkwardly tacked on, and is hardly worked on for the most part. The biggest problem is that much of the movie seems to be repeating itself, with the villain doing the same things over and over. If you've seen the other entries in the series, you might as well watch this, but definitely keep your expectations low.

once again,we have B movie with Z grade acting.the dialogue in this one,as in the previous Scanner Cop movie is cringe worthy and delivered the same way.thought the acting wasn't great in this one,our hero,played by Daniel Quinn,has actually improved from the previous movie.not a lot,but some.i didn't find the story particularly compelling,and again,like in the previous film,i really did care either way about the characters.except for one.that would be the villain played by Patrick Kilpatrick.i don't know what it is,but the guy makes a great villain.he just has some quality.plus,in this movie,he was really having fun with the role.one other thing i want to mention.the movie was far too disgusting,for no reason.i don't mind disgust when it serves a purpose,but that isn't the case in this movie.anyway,my vote for Scanner Cop II is a 4.5/10

Scanner Cop II like the original features scanner Samuel Staziak (Daniel Quinn) who has now made detective in the L.A.P.D. Samuel is currently trying to locate his natural birth Mother & enlists the help of Carrie Goodart (Khrystyne Haje) who happens to be a scanner herself & runs the 'Trans Neurol Research Center', an organisation set up to help scanners such as themselves. Samuel now takes a special form of Ephemerol which lets him have all the advantageous abilities associated with being a scanner without any of the negative side effects. Samuel often puts his scanner ability to good use in the fight against crime in Los Angeles but Samuel's past returns to haunt him. A powerful, & mad, scanner named Karl Volkin (Patrick Kilpatrick) is out for revenge after Samuel put him away in a bust that ended up with Karl's Brother being shot dead. Karl has developed a way to absorb other scanners power & life-force thus increasing his, in a fight to the death Samuel must face the most dangerous adversary he ever has...Directed by Steve Barnett, who also is credited as post-production supervisor, this is the second & to date last Scanner Cop film which in itself was a spin-off from David Cronenberg's Scanners (1981), a film which I personally can't get on with at all despite it's good reputation. In a series of just two films there is a 50/50 chance that Scanner Cop II will be better than it's predecessor Scanner Cop (1994) right? Well unfortunately even with those odds it isn't, although having said that it's not too far behind it & it's still a fairly decent way to pass 90 odd minutes. The script by Mark Sevi moves along at a nice enough pace but feels very similar to the original. Also like the original Scanner Cop II is as much a police thriller as horror & the decision to take Samuel out of uniform & into plain clothes as a detective was a bad one in my opinion, this is just another cop in a leather jacket running around lifted straight from any number of 80's & 90's low budget action films. The uniform gave Samuel a certain vulnerability & distinctiveness which is missing here as he uses his powers to sort situations out like freeing hostages & in the process defusing a bomb by simply staring at it. In the original Samuel had conflicts with himself & was a well developed character with more depth than usual but in this he is just your average 'save-the-day' action hero with a bad hair cut.Director Barnett takes over from Pierre David who acts as producer here, he directs with competence but Scanner Cop II has no real style to it. The special make-up effects could have been better & the gore is somewhat restrained, there are some splitting, bubbling, pulsating skin effects & melted bodies but little else except for the obligatory head explosion which you have to wait until the last five minutes to see & frankly it isn't worth the wait & doesn't even come close to the fabulous exploding head from Cronenberg's original.With a very healthy sounding budget of about $4,000,000 Scanner Cop II should look a hell of a lot better than it does, I mean 4 big ones is a lot of cash for a film such as this, I really can't see where the money went. No major stars, no big action scenes, very limited special effects & only one split second head explosion? You tell me where the money went. The acting was OK & Kilpatrick has a certain intensity & makes for a good villain (am I the only one who thinks he looks like Michael Ironside?) but Quinn definitely isn't all guns blazing action hero material.Scanner Cop II is a decent enough way to pass 90 odd minutes but just don't expect any kind of classic, worth a watch especially if you enjoyed the original.

This movie, like the other Scanner movies made past the first one, had good make-up effects, but also some less-than-par acting (the hold-up/hostage scene with the three thugs was so bad it was hilarious). But other than that, the movie was very entertaining in my opinion. Carl Volkin, played by the intimidating-looking Pat Kilpatrick, is an escaped criminal scanner on the loose, trying to become the most powerful scanner in the world. He accomplishes this by draining the life force of various scanners around the city, resulting in some bizarre melting/death sequences. In the end he has to contend with Sam Staziak, the most useful cop on the police force (obviously). There's a few cool-looking face-contorting illusion sequences, and a head explosion in the end (of course). Overall this movie was fast-paced, the acting was a little hard to swallow, but the special effects were awesome for a b-movie. I'd recommend it if you like innovative sci-fi or cop action movies.