Scanners

Rating:
Summary: The film that launched Cronenberg...hacked to little pieces
Review: As near as I can determine, we in the US have yet to GET "Scanners" as David Cronenberg imagined it. The version I've seen is obvious hacked half to death, a few actors have OBVIOUSLY been dubbed or badly looped, and there's just enough missing that I can't buy this is what Cronenberg wanted.

Certainly his taste and developing skill are on display here. There are some very well-selected shots and clever imagery, as well as a focus on what makes the mind "The Mind." Of course, there's also the infamous gore; blood hounds will get their fill here, that's for sure. I don't mean to make this sound like a bad movie. It's not.

I just don't think it's what Cronenberg put together. I think it's what the American distributors decided to turn it into. This is fine as it stands, but when will we get the real "Scanners?"

Rating:
Summary: He came, he saw, he mumbled, he went for a scan
Review: Perenial cult favourite that's like The Man From Uncle, only without the jokes. It does have it's own Mr Waverley though, in the form of Patrick McGoohan who wastes no time in getting down to some serious slow method mumbling. Pretension and McGoohan are old friends. He mumbled nonsense throughout 'The Prisoner'. He directed the most pretentious episode of 'Columbo' ever which featured a giggling, existential sea captain (yes, they exist) and last, but not least, acted in the queen of pretentious movies 'Kings and Desperate Men' (the king of pretentious movies abdicated after seeing 'Scanners').

McGoohan complained that on most days there was no script. It shows. A black assassin seemingly killed next to a giant head turns up in another scene at a Scanner refuge. Despite his wacky ideas, Cronenberg's film making style is thuddingly traditional and there are a lot of lazy howlers too. After the conference fiasco, the doctor so blatantly injects his own hand instead of Revok's that the guards would have needed to be blind not to have spotted it. A long shot of the conference hall after the exploding head shows no body and a clean desk. Revok sets out to protect his brother by having a van his brothers sitting in get shot full of holes by about fifty shotguns. Vale and Revok are meant to be older than the other Scanners but Pierce looks ancient and there are a few old duffers at the Scanner refuge too. Kim's no teenager either, she looks the same age as Vale. As for the science, oh dear. Why didn't vale read Ruth's mind in the first place and get all the facts? I would. How can a drug that creates Scanners, calm them down? It should make them climb the walls. The traditional ending of good conquering evil also defeats the whole ethos of mind altering drugs espoused during the film's running time. Drugs are neutral, so morality should not have been an advantage in gaining the upper hand.

I Like the whole cold wave feel though. Everyone speaking as if reading from a telephone directory. Corporations fighting each other with the police not even getting a look in. Just like where I live, only without an accessible corner shop.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent 1981 Science-Fiction movie.
Review: This Masterpiece from David Cronenberg is a Horror-thriller/
Science Fiction movie and a Suspense film all combined. It's about these Telepathic Beings called " Scanners" who have unique
powers that let them communicate with each other through the brain and to sometimes give those who abuse them, they give them deadly seizures that can result in Exploding heads. A young Scanner named " Cameron" ( Stephen Lack) who is sent by a Scientist named " Ruth" ( Braveheart's Patrick Mcgoohan) to destroy a deadly criminal Scanner named " Revok" ( played by
Michael Ironside) who plans on mutating the entire World with his Chemicals. It's a thriller with enough Suspense and Gore to
keep you awake, highly recommended!

other similar movies i would suggest: Akira, Carrie, Roland Emmerich's Making Contact, Re-Animator, C.H.U.D., X-Men,
Day of the Dead, The Matrix, Dark City, and The Stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Shame on you, MGM.
Review: My one-star rating is for this DVD, not the film, which is Cronenberg at his brilliant best. I find it utterly contemptible that such an obscenely rich company as MGM would have the gall to release such a shoddy DVD. Simply put, the last reel is out of sync, effectively ruining the crucial final 30 minutes of the film. Don't make the same mistake I did. Avoid this DVD like the plague until a more reputable company gives SCANNERS the proper DVD treatment it so rightfully deserves.

Rating:
Summary: One of Cronenberg's best.
Review: This is the best sci-fi/horror film about ESP there is and there is not a lot to not like about it. The scene were that guy's head blows up is does so cool (If you like that kind of thing) and the story has a lot to it. "Long live the new flesh"!

Rated R for Some Strong Sci-fi Violence.

Rating:
Summary: Oh yeah, the movie with the exploding head...
Review: The exploding head movie. Even if the film didn't have other qualities to recommend it, Scanners will always be remembered for the scene where Michael Ironside uses his psychic powers to make another man's head explode in fully, gory, on-screen detail. Its a shocking moment and hasn't lost any of its power in the twenty-or-so years since the film's original premiere. But beyond that shock, the film has much more to recommend it.

The plotline of Scanners is a familiar one that, following Scanners success, has since become even more imitated. Essentially, there are two types of people in the world -- boring people with no psychic abilities and then Scanners, who have psychic abilities and can make people's heads explode (actually they can do quite a lot of things but that exploding head -- seen early in the film -- tends to stick with you). Our Scanners seem to be divided into two opposing forces. One is led by the enigmatic Prof. Ruth, who is well-played by Patrick McGoohan as a friendly type who, nevertheless, still comes across like he might be the devil in disguise. The other group is led by the previously mentioned Michael Ironside. Since Scanners, Ironside has been one of the busiest character actors in B-films. At times, he seems to play the villian's sadistic sidekick so many times that just the sight of his glowering face qualifies as camp. However, in Scanners, he gives a truly amazing and chilling performance. Sporting a prominent scar on his forehead (described as a "third eye" but actually the result of a suicide attempt with a power drill), Ironside is technically the film's villian but director David Cronenberg makes it clear that Ironside feels, somewhat justifiably, that he has been more sinned against and his actions, if extreme, make sense in the context of survival.

The film's episodic plot centers around McGoohan and Ironside's attempts to recruit Scanner Stephen Lack to their respective causes. An artist of some renown, Lack was not a professional actor and many viewers have had some problems with his performance. Lack does not project a terribly winning presence on screen and at times, some of his dialouge is delivered in a rather flat, child-like monotone. However, I don't think Cronenberg meant for Lack to be extremely likeable. When we first see him, Lack is an unwashed vagrant and easily mistaken for schizophrenic. Cursed with powers he doesn't understand (and can't control), Lack is as alienated from the rest of the world as Ironside. Instead of a major miscasting blunder, it becomes obvious, on repeat viewings, that Cronenberg very cannily (and subversively) made a deliberate effort to make his villian the most likeable and charismatic character in the film.

Scanners, at first glance, doesn't seem to have a lot in common with other Cronenberg films. There's little evidence of Cronenberg's usual sexual metaphors and the film has an almost mainstream feel in many of the action sequences. Still, there are some familiar elements. Cronenberg directs in his usual chilly but wryly humorous style and Lack's attempt to "scan" a computer touches on themes that the director explored more directly (and surrealistically) in films like Videodrome and eXistenZ. Lack and Ironside's own complex relationship carries shades of the director's later film Dead Ringers. Personally, my favorite image from the film comes early one when Lack visits another Scanner played by Robert Silverman, a Cronenberg mainstay. Silverman is a sculptor and, in almost a throwaway bit, we get to see the home Silverman has built for himself -- a gigantic replica of his own head. To me, this sums up one of the main themes running through Cronenberg's varied cinematic output; the horror and the beauty of actually entering your own mind and discovering what's lurking around in there. If Scanners, at times, seems like toned down Cronenberg, it is still unmistakably a product of his fertile imagination.

Rating:
Summary: DVD Picture Quality Needs to be Recognized Here!
Review: I personally didn't notice any audio sync problems on this disc. But, the picture quality needs acknowledgement. It's worth having just for the widescreen & the awesome transfer of a 20 year old print. It was like watching it for the 1st time. I remember the trailer from when it first aired. Look at the difference in picture quality between the trailer, the VHS edition, and the DVD. Then you'll realize it's worth the low price, and then some.

Rating:
Summary: "Their Thoughts Can Kill!"
Review: I have seen David Cronenberg's "Scanners" three times on video and just saw the film again on UPN-network television. "Scanners" is a memorable horror-science fiction film.

"Scanners" are super-telepaths who are living among normal everday humans. A "bad" Scanner(Michael Ironside) plans to take over the world and a scientist(Patrick "The Prisoner" McGoohan) manipulates a couple of "good" Scanners(Stephen Lack and Jennifer O'Neill) into stopping Ironside.

"Scanners" is an entertaining thriller. As a telekinesis-oriented horror movie, the film falls short of Brian DePalma's "Carrie" but is superior to DePalma's "The Fury" and the Drew Barrymore picture "Firestarter." The acting is mostly wooden but the picture is saved by Cronenberg's great direction and good special effects. Some of the dialogue sounds unrealistic but the film never falls into ludicrousness. The movie is extremely violent at times yet possesses a sophistication that is rarely seen in gory horror films. The film's medical science is credible and convincing. David Cronenberg is one of the few present-day horror film directors who hasn't lost the ability to shock and touch viewers.

"Scanners" is for all fans of David Cronenberg and anyone who loves horror and sci-fi movies.

Rating:
Summary: Poor DVD transfer ruins Cronenberg's classic film
Review: This long awaited DVD of Cronenberg's classic film is basically ruined by a poor DVD transfer. Through long swathes of the movie, the sound is out of sync with the picture. It's like watching a poorly dubbed Godzilla film, and in my opinion it makes this otherwise seminal horror film completely unwatchable.

Add to this the complete lack of any extra's on this DVD, and I ended up taking mine back to the store. How any big studio like MGM can release a DVD like this in 2001 and not even exercise basic quality control is a complete mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Number 19: Twenty greatest horror films made
Review: Scanners was filmed in 1980, and it shows in the clothes, the southern california hippie-commune dialog, and the props. In the early 80's there was a huge emphasis on cults, astral projection, and jogging, all of which show up as influences in this film in one form or another.
But the mental warfare plot, the special effects, and the stunning beginning AND ending, elevate this film above average. I've often said this is the horror film the beach boys were destined to make if they'd continued down that Charlie Manson path.
Stephen Lack would never again reach the acting summit he does here, but Michael Ironside is the true standout. He plays a complete bastard with his usual effortless ease.
I removed a star for the simple fact that the plodding pace of this film annoys me.