In a world of live action comic book superhero horror adaptations, it is almost hard to imagine superpowers and fear in the same chain of thought. While movies like Split , Brightburn , and Carrie broke that mold; there’s always been one special film that managed to be smart, quirky, full of action and moments of sickening gore. Enter Scanners.
Scanners are defined as unhinged folks who possess strong telepathic and telekinetic abilities- lonely derelict Cameron Vale is one of these Scanners. Captured and given a drug to subdue the voices in his head, Dr. Ruth of the organization Consec asks a favor of Vale. He asks him to go undercover in search of a destructive and powerful Scanner named Daryl Revok who plans on starting bloody movement. As Vale leads to track down the madman, conspiracies begin to unveil themselves around Cameron as he’s being hunted by a seemingly all powerful foe…
First of all, Scanners is what I consider to be a cult classic by the man who brought us Videodrome and The Fly . I love the gore effects on display and the eerie science fiction music that is responsible for much of the tension; honestly without the score and effects there are things in this movie that would just look silly. While the acting is solid all around, I have to say Michael Ironside is great as Revok, delivering a command performance as a villainous demigod. The story flows well but there are some twists that felt funky to me in the final act. I do appreciate the dark as hell turnout in the end and the fact that the movie doesn’t feel like a comic book but a sci fi thriller all it’s own. In the end, Scanners is a fun sci fi action movie with some memorable gore, a great villain, and some interesting questions to ask. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
