Scanners (1981)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Austen R

  
  Scanners is David Cronenberg's classic sci-fi/horror film that put body horror on the map. There's little to be said about the movie, because if you're familiar with Cronenberg and his body of work, you already know he's interesting in society's excessive… More
  Scanners is David Cronenberg's classic sci-fi/horror film that put body horror on the map. There's little to be said about the movie, because if you're familiar with Cronenberg and his body of work, you already know he's interesting in society's excessive interest in sex and technology. The bad news: The DVD transfer is horrendous. There's a huge audio sync problem that becomes more and more prominent as the film progresses. I'm not sure if this is a fault of the source print, or what; but it doesn't do the movie justice. Hopefully some distributor will be able to fix this problem in the future, but it may not be possible. Audio sync problems aside, Scanners is one of Cronenberg's most notable achievements. I give it a 95%. (He's still the king of gore.)

• Coxxie M

  
  The beginning of David Cronenberg's career makes the second half of Rob Zombie's career look like Quentin Tarantino's career.

• AJ V

  
  Another great sci-fi horror movie from Cronenberg. The special effects are so cool, and the story is interesting. I love this movie.

• Jim H

  
  The second major scene sets the tone for the entire film. Two "Scanners," people who have telepathic and telekinetic abilities, do battle. The loser's head explodes. Literally fucking explodes. I've seen my fair share of gore, in real life and in cinema, but… More
  The second major scene sets the tone for the entire film. Two "Scanners," people who have telepathic and telekinetic abilities, do battle. The loser's head explodes. Literally fucking explodes. I've seen my fair share of gore, in real life and in cinema, but this hits a ten on the fucked-up scale. And during the rest of the film, I feared that I was going to see another man's head turn into a watermelon-versus-bottle-rocket horror show. I think this fear is the film's only real achievement. I know we don't watch science fiction for these elements, but the acting is truly horrid, featuring Stephen Lack in the most wooden, forced performance I've seen in a long time, and the dialogue was about as stolid and cliche as anybody can write. Also, I question how a telepath could communicate with a computer; this seems to break the rules the film sets up. Finally, when the Scanners battle, all we get is the sight of straining faces and the sound of a screeching crescendo. I don't know how to improve these moments, but I know that this effect does make for compelling cinema. Overall, Cronenberg's early work, which I'm seeing for the first time, is not as good - relies too much on gruesomeness - as his later work (cf. <i>Crash</i> and <i>Existenz</i>.

• Jeff "

  
  David Cronenberg's film Scanners is one of his best films along with Videodrome. Cronenberg has always had a unique flair to being able to twist an audience's imagination. Scanners is a fascinating film to pushed the boundaries of ones imagination. It's got a pretty… More
  David Cronenberg's film Scanners is one of his best films along with Videodrome. Cronenberg has always had a unique flair to being able to twist an audience's imagination. Scanners is a fascinating film to pushed the boundaries of ones imagination. It's got a pretty good blend of action and horror with a psychological approach that makes Scanners a memorable film. Memorable in the way that it's one psychologically disturbing and terrifying film, and memorable because of the ground breaking special effects. The film also displays a strong performance by Michael Ironside, a formidable character actor as the film Antagonist and Stephen Lack as the films Protagonist. Scanners is a solid Sci Fi horror film and is one of director David Cronenberg's very best films.

• Cassandra M

  
  Well, were to begin? First off, when I first saw Scanners, it really didn't do that much for me. Nowadays, I've learnt to view the film through more enlightened eyes, and appreciate it for the masterpiece that is most rightfully is. Apart from the much-lauded… More
  Well, were to begin? First off, when I first saw Scanners, it really didn't do that much for me. Nowadays, I've learnt to view the film through more enlightened eyes, and appreciate it for the masterpiece that is most rightfully is. Apart from the much-lauded 'exploding head' scene (which could have used a little more blood spattering everywhere) one of the film's most chilling scenes is at the very beginning when the lead character, Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) causes a woman to have a fit in a shopping mall before being captured by a pair of heavies. The scene was so convincingly played out that it really shock me up. The more interesting aspect is the fact that most of these 'scanners'(or telepathic curiosities as the CEO of Consec calls them) are usually forced to live on the fringes of society as their telekinetic powers are feared and misunderstood by many. It would seem that the director, David Cronenberg, was using this plot device as a metaphor to comment on society's prejudicial attitudes towards the mentally ill. Like many of his low-budget horror films right up to 'The Fly' (1986) 'Scanners' has a very subversive, fly-on-the-wall take on society's ills. The modern society portrayed in 'Scanners' is a world viewed through the eyes of the outcast. Throughout the film, there is a general feeling of starkness, from the synthesiser-tinged score by Howard Shore, to the general sparse look of the film. This gives the viewer a rather apt feeling of coldness and isolation. Michael Ironside steals the show as the unhinged renegade scanner, Darryl Revok, who has a vast army of scanner converts at his disposal ready and willing to annihilate anyone unfortunate enough to stand in their way. The only down side, however is the casting of Stephen Lack as Cameron Vale. Although he makes a fairly decent effort of playing his part, Lack just doesn't seem to have that much-needed 'spark' to bring his character to life. All in all, 'Scanners' comes highly recommended as a 'must-see' feature. <a href="http://photobucket.com/images/scanners" target="_blank"><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q255/gavdiggity/Scanners.gif" border="0" alt="scanners Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a> <a href="http://photobucket.com/images/scanners" target="_blank"><img src="http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w123/keithkauspedas/scan26b.jpg" border="0" alt="scanners Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a> <a href="http://photobucket.com/images/scanners" target="_blank"><img src="http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p13/pinknoize/scanners.jpg" border="0" alt="scanners Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a> <a href="http://photobucket.com/images/scanners" target="_blank"><img src="http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/teegerz/scanners.jpg" border="0" alt="Scanners Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>

• Tim S

  
  Great special effects but an often boring storyline.

• Wahida K

  
  10 Seconds: The Pain Begins. 15 Seconds: You Can't Breathe. 20 Seconds: You Explode.

• Anthony L

  
  Classic Cronenberg, I love this film. The special effects are still good today, a CGI version would never be able to match the class of real gore of the films from the mid 70's- mid 80's. Michael Ironside should be the bad guy in all films, mind you, he pretty much is.

• Robert C

  
  An interesting premise, poorly executed.

• Ross C

  
  Typical Sci-Fi mystery plot like any good Outer Limits episode. It's not really as much of a horror flick as the publicity material would have you believe and there's no jumpy scenes. Now I know where FSOL got their quotes from for Lifeforms.

• Stephen M

  
  A shadowy organisation recruits a powerful telepath (Stephen Lack) to find and neutralise an equally powerful telepath (Michael Ironside) with world domination on his mind. I must have seen <i>Scanners</i> half a dozen times over the years, and every time I've watched… More
  A shadowy organisation recruits a powerful telepath (Stephen Lack) to find and neutralise an equally powerful telepath (Michael Ironside) with world domination on his mind. I must have seen <i>Scanners</i> half a dozen times over the years, and every time I've watched it I've enjoyed it less than I thought I would. I read that it was greenlighted and rushed into production very quickly, without a proper script, and it really does show. The important scenes are all there, but the transitional material threading them all together is perfunctory in the extreme, making the movie relatively fast-paced but difficult to follow; it's like a join-the-dots picture, done in invisible ink! This lack of connective substance also has the effect of making the hero's investigation seem far too straightforward. For instance, at one point he chances upon a drug vial with a mysterious corporate logo on it, and in the very next scene he's already managed to infiltrate the laboratory that produced it. Cronenberg wraps things up with a piece of logic straight out of the James Bond book of spying: if you snoop around long enough you will eventually be shot with a tranquilliser dart, waking up exactly where you need to be, just in time for the final showdown. Unusually for Cronenberg, <i>Scanners</i> doesn't even have the saving grace of originality on its side; utilising the same theme - telepaths, exploited by sinister agencies as potential weapons - De Palma's superior <i>The Fury</i> beat <i>Scanners</i> to the screen by nearly three years, and even the soft and cuddly <i>Star Wars</i> saga has a thread of parapsychology running through it. On the subject of <i>Star Wars</i>, the genealogical soap-operatics at the end of <i>Scanners</i> resemble those of <i>The Empire Strikes Back</i>!

• Daniel J D

  
  Very quirky. It's not terrible. It's not great. It just is. And what it is is worth seeing at least once.

• Pierluigi P

  
  Extremely subtle, gory and fun attempt of an action/sci-fi thriller with the usual Cronenberg trademarks such as machinery of evil and horror from within. The creepy Michael Ironside, the exploding head and the final scanner duel make the film worthwhile.

• Curtis L

  
  Terrible, with two capital T's. Like this- TTerrible. The only good parts are when the bad guy blows up a dude's head in the very beginning, and when...oh wait, no that was the only good part. And the ending? The movie has all kinds of stuff to wrap up, and instead the… More
  Terrible, with two capital T's. Like this- TTerrible. The only good parts are when the bad guy blows up a dude's head in the very beginning, and when...oh wait, no that was the only good part. And the ending? The movie has all kinds of stuff to wrap up, and instead the bad guy magically sucks up the mind of his brother and they are one. Then end. Wow. Crap.

• Aaron N

  
  Paul Ruth: You are 35 years old, Mr. Vale. Why are you such a derelict? Such a piece of human junk? [pause] The answer's simple. You're a scanner, which you don't realize. And that has been the source of all your agony. But I will show you now that it can be a source of… More
  Paul Ruth: You are 35 years old, Mr. Vale. Why are you such a derelict? Such a piece of human junk? [pause] The answer's simple. You're a scanner, which you don't realize. And that has been the source of all your agony. But I will show you now that it can be a source of great power. This is a neat sci-fi thriller from director David Cronenberg that has a very good premise that could have been a better movie if the characters were handled better than the plot. The story involves a select group of humans with an extraordinary power. Cameron Vale: You called me a scanner. What is that? Paul Ruth: Freak of nature, born with a certain form of ESP; derangement of the synapses which we call telepathy. One of these scanners is Cameron Vale. He starts out at the beginning of the movie acting as a bum, before being recruited by a big company to stop another Scanner, played by Michael Ironside. Ironside's character, Darryl Revok, is a powerful scanner bent on creating scanners all over the world, ruling over them, and getting rid of anyone in his way. It is now up to Cameron to find Revok and stop him before it is too late. Opposed to other Cronenberg features, which involve characters facing situations that usually have an extraordinary or at least conflicting dilemma to deal with but keeps its emphasis on the characters, this film is more about its plot, which becomes a little silly. There are evil corporations, people held at gun point with bad guy dialog in there way, and car chases. Also, Stephen Lack as Cameron Vale is kind of bland. I can see why he was chosen for the part, his eyes are perfect for being a scanner, but the villain Revok is a much more interesting character that we do not see enough of. A movie focusing on him could have been even cooler. However, the concept of this movie is really good and there are a lot of memorable moments, including the climatic scanner battle, and other scattered moments thanks to the good looking effects and the coolness that is Michael Ironside. Frequent Cronenberg collaborator, Howard Shore, also delivers a good score that works for the film. Programmer: There's no need for that. It's just internal switching. Braedon Keller: Yeah? No one's ever switched off a scanner before!

• Emily A

  
  Hoohoohoo! Wouldn't it be great to be able to make people's heads explode? This is such a great argument in favor of fully testing chemicals before releasing them to the general population for consumption. Well written, well acted and such a great take on movies about… More
  Hoohoohoo! Wouldn't it be great to be able to make people's heads explode? This is such a great argument in favor of fully testing chemicals before releasing them to the general population for consumption. Well written, well acted and such a great take on movies about psychics.

• Lafe F

  
  This movie involves dangerous telekinetic individuals who can physically harm people with their minds. This movie had great head-exploding effects, but the story didn't thrill me much. It was sort of like "The Fury" and "The Brood". Michael Ironside is great… More
  This movie involves dangerous telekinetic individuals who can physically harm people with their minds. This movie had great head-exploding effects, but the story didn't thrill me much. It was sort of like "The Fury" and "The Brood". Michael Ironside is great as one of the scanners. It looked and felt very Canadian, which it was.

• xGary X

  
  Famous for it's exploding head scene, this film is far more restrained than you would think. It's obviously very low budget, and the effects and performances reflect the fact, but it has some interesting ideas and a fine ending.

• Dean M

  
  This movie has been widely over-praised! Although it contains much of interest - not to mention the famous exploding head scene - the acting is, Michael Ironside magnificently excepted.

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