Rating: 
Summary: Five stars for originality minus one for bad presentation...
Review: Sorry to have to do that, folks, but the awesome potential of this movie's premise could have been best executed by the likes of Don Taylor (director of 'Omen 2'). This isn't to attack David Cronenberg; I enjoyed 'Shivers' immensely and he finally lost that damned annoying muddy sound on 'The Fly'. Even so, the movie possesses more than one air of cheap video nastiness about it. The justly famous head explosion is something that has to be seen to be appreciated for what it is: a classic effect by the standards of any era, let alone 1981! Down to the acting. McGoohan is laughably good, his trademark baritone and bushy beard adding much credibility to his role as the directing professor. Lack lacks anything to make him stand out which bolsters the realism of his role (another reviewer hit on this) and the way he is received by the rest of the cast. Clearly, Cronenberg did not want the raw excellence of the film's novel feel to play second fiddle to any greater actors. Still, there's a good deal of second rate movie talent here (come on...we have to be realistic at the end of the day) and a great deal of budget seems to have been ploughed into everything but the abominably impeded sound. The great dilemma about 'Scanners' is whether to treat it as a real horror film or to be more rational and relegate its status to that of cult hit. Bearing in mind that 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', 'The Evil Dead' and 'Halloween' greeted cinema audiences with an identical appearance, it's hard to slam this film by forbidding it to 'make it' also. It's just that 'Scanners' just doesn't possess as much of the stuff that did it for the aforementioned three. Cronenberg, while good here, just can't pull off Hooper's spirit-crushing style or Carpenter's cheap (yet effective) camera method. What 'Scanners' has is a magic born of a killer story aided by a plausible plot and hampered only by its competition and that bloody awful sound job! Definitely worth the money for a rental but I'd be careful about playing for keeps unless you absolutely love Cronenberg's EARLY work. Remember that many of his titles from this period have been slaughtered by movie critics all over. I'm not saying to run with the herd here but I do believe that that consensus must have been some sort of indicator as far as the picture's intrinsic value goes.....there's no smoke without a fire, although the fire in 'Scanners' leaves at least a very well done charred corpse in its wake. Recommended by this scrap of flesh to serious and not so serious students of film everywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: AGGHHHHH MY HEAD!
Review: The only thing I liked about SCANNERS is the scene where a mans head blows up. It is without a doubt one of the most realistic head blowing up scenes ever. I laughed. This is still, a very slow, dull movie and the only cronenberg film I like is THE FLY
Rating: 
Summary: Devastating.
Review: Though comments have rightly been made about the dated status of this movie (don't laugh at the incredibly slow typing speed of the computer engineers -- this was before the real Information Age!), Scanners hasn't lost its edge or intelligent menace. Watch the sequels to see how much havoc was wreaked on this concept, and then you'll see the craft Cronenberg instilled into the horror sequences here. A suitable cast helps -- the strangely colourless Stephen Lack, who is an uninteresting protagonist in the beginning but turns out to be the exact thing the movie needed; Patrick McGoohan (who later won raves for his performance in Braveheart) adding a touch of authority and melodrama; and psychotic Michael Ironside. His final interaction with Lack, which I've watched about 30 times, succeeds on their respective intensity, a great Howard Shore score, impeccable editing, and on-the-mark special effects. Put this one in your library as one of the most original and engrossing of horror and sci-fi movies, and bear it in mind should you ever venture into one of the sequels. The Christian Duguay-directed Scanners 2 and Scanners III made "Scanners" a shameful moniker, but the original holds up to any other horror classic, giving The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead, Freaks and Halloween a run for their money.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and intelligent
Review: I think this movie takes the cake as Cronenberg's most confusing movie. But I found it ( after a second viewing ) to be quite easy to understand. You have to pay close attention. Great affects and gore makes this a sci-fi gem. Micheal Ironside of Toatl Recall gives an excellent performance.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Cronenberg! Love it, or leave it alone!
Review: This was really the 1st commercially acceptable Cronenberg film to come along at the time. 'Rabid' and 'The Brood' were both dismissed as being a little too 'out there,' while 'Shivers' was filed under camp classic. All three of these films do warrant viewing, but I would start with this film. I have been a fan of this film since it was in first-run at theaters in 1981 & today, it still delivers the goods at all levels. For gorehounds, Dick Smith's makeup work may seem a little dated (especially in today's world of digital FX), but it was considered revolutionary in its time. This is one of the films that helped usher in the lame attempts at splatter/shock/teen hack-n-slash during the early '80s. Mr. Valenti (head of MPAA) would probably brand it with an 'X' today. Aside from FX, the plot is very interesting and believable. It deals with the side effect of a drug initially prescribed several years ago (to say more ruins the movie, unless you've already read the other 'reviews'). This side effect is a form of mind control & it is the focus of the movie. All the leads do a great job & the music (by Cronenberg and Jonathan Demme fave Howard Shore) is quite effective, keeping in mind that it IS a sci-fi film and it WAS 1981. The slightly ambiguous ending (which follows one of the most viceral "final battles" ever filmed) will leave you thinking if your mind is open. Love it or hate it, this film is classic Cronenberg. If it grosses you out or your mind is closed down to only allow safe, thin, hollywood plots and stories through, then please, don't bother with this film. If you love it, then open your mind even further & go rent Videodrome, followed by The Naked Lunch.
Rating:
Summary: a terrifying sci-fi classic.
Review: this is the movie that inspired akira, this is not horror cause horror movies don't have exploding heads and i personaly recommend it to akira fans.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic needy of a new outfit
Review: Back in the good old days of Beta-Max, I used to own this video and watch it on a fairly regular basis. Now I own a VHS (and my Beta has died), and I lost Scanners. Last year, I managed to get a copy of it, and sat back to watch it again. I was genuinely surprised - not because I'd forgotten what happens, but because it has aged. This is not to say it is any worse - it's still all the film it used to be...but you'll see the early eighties written all over this film, down to the clothes and the special effects. Okay...I'm putting people off now. It's not bad! The film still has a first rate plot. The acting is still impeccable. I'm still confused as to exactly what the end means, but there you go. Buy this film and watch it. You will enjoy, and you may agree with me. hopefully, some up and coming director will get a copy, and decide that this is a movie that can be remade for now. Hopefully, he'll actually speak to Cronenberg and get his input. When he does, I'll be first in the queue at the cinema.
Rating:
Summary: A Nightmarish Sci-Fi Thriller
Review: "Scanners" can be best described as Classic David Cronenberg ("The Fly", "Videodrome", and "The Dead Zone"). It has a perfectly balanced storyline of intelligently-written sci-fi/horror/mystery overtones and "horrifically real" visual and makeup FX by Dick ("The Exorcist") Smith. The makeup especially should have been Oscar-nominated, but that's the lousy AMPAS' overwhelmingly uptight stance on horror films for you! "Scanners" will definitely appeal to both sophisticated viewers and gorefest fanatics alike! I'd have to say that Cronenberg really began to master his surrealist sci-fi craft with this 1980 story about a race of hypertelekinetic human beings that has the power to build a bright global future of limitless potential or to be the planet's most formidable force of evil. Their explosive mental abilities are an unintended birth defect attributed to a once-popular sedative marketed in the 1940's for pregnant women called Ephemoral. The plot evolves around a trio of these superminds: Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack), Kim Oberst (Jennifer O'Neill), and their power-mad archnemesis Daryl Revok (an indellibly malicious Michael Ironside who was another overlooked Oscar candidate). Vale is a derelict Scanner who is discovered and captured by agents of the secret intelligence agency Consec. It turns out that one of Consec's directors is the doctor who created the infamous Ephemoral and is in need of Vale's help in tracking down Revok, the head of an underground coalition of rogue Scanners bent on destroying the very society that created them. With the help of Dr. Paul Roofe (Patrick MacGoohan), Cameron learns about who he is and how to control his mind's awesome capabilities. Also, he learns about Revok, of which we learn that "at the age of 22, he was diagnosed as being heavily self-destructive...now at the age of 35, he is SIMPLY destructive" (yikes!!!) Soon, the young empath teams up with Oberst and other Scanners who abandoned Revok's insane crusade for world domination in order to take a final stand against the psychotic madman (with many losing their lives in the process). Other cool moments in this flick include a man literally losing his head to Revok in an ill-fated head game, some neat spontaneous combustion effects, Vale mentally tapping into and "scanning" a high-security computer database, and the inexplicably grotesque makeup FX used in Vale and Revok's confrontation scene at the end (after some shocking truths behind the entire Scanner legacy are revealed as part of the story's plot). Plus, this film features a moving score of combined classical violin and synthesizers by Howard Shore (his score for Cronenberg's "Videodrome" is even more spooky-sounding). "Scanners" surely will make an excellent addition to any sci-fi/horror junkie's collection and especially for Cronenberg fans! It's a brilliant tale of mystery and suspense that has the ability to be simultaneously thought-provoking and truly gut-wrenching.
Rating: 
Summary: Disgusting, distasteful movie:(
Review: This movie is too gross to be taken seriously. I thought it was meaningless ( what entertainment does it provide us ). Was it made to make us lose our lunches? It was disgusting. The so-called "scary music" was phony and lame. The acting is HORRIBLE, and the special effects are cheesy and awkward. This movie isn't worth the dirt of my shoes. It's totally gross.
Rating: 
Summary: David Cronenberg's Scanners
Review: The Scanners are a group of beings who have a power that they can bend,twist,mutilate,and explode other human beings,using the powers of their minds. There are two groups of scanners good and bad.One of the scanners Revok wants the scanners to band together for his evil purposes, he spends his time trying to locate his brother, a good scanner, Cameron and finds him for the ultimate showdown between the good and evil scanners. In between all this we get to see a couple heads explode.Not really among Cronenberg's best, but it's ok.
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