Amazon.com essential video: David Cronenberg's 1981 horror film is a darkly paranoid story of a homeless man (Stephen Lack) mistakenly believed to be insane, when in fact he can't turn off the sound of other people's thoughts in his telepathic mind. Helped by a doctor (Patrick McGoohan) and enlisted in a program of "scanners"--telepaths who also can will heads to explode--he becomes involved in a battle against nefarious forces. A number of critics consider this to be Cronenberg's first great film, and indeed it has a serious vision of destiny that rivals some of the important German expressionist works from the silent cinema. Lack is very good as the odd hero, and McGoohan is effectively eccentric and chilly as the scientist who saves him from the street, only to thrust him into a terrible struggle. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - I Honestly Expected More
In my own personal experience, Scanners was one of those movies that everybody around you had seen and told you how great it was but you still hadn't gotten around to it. I did finally get around to watching the film and I have to be honest, I expected a lot more from my experience. It was good don't get me wrong, but personally from my enjoyment of classic cheesy 80s horror-esque type movies, this didn't fit the bill. The acting was wooden and the story quite boring, sure it's a film about people who can read minds, but when you have your main character, a man who didn't originally know he was ... Read More
Rating: - Heads Will Explode When The Scanners Come To Town
The seventies gave birth to psychokinetic horror films such as the blockbusters "Carrie" and "The Fury." In 1980, David Cronenberg (director of such science fiction horror classics as "The Brood," "Rabid," and "The Fly") brought us "Scanners."
Scanners are humans who can read your thoughts and manipulate your actions. Most of them are emotionally dysfunctional because the multitude of thoughts that bombard them can produce insanity. Therefore, they live in isolation. The drug Ephemerol is used to block thoughts.
Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) is a good scanner ... Read More
Rating: - Bad transfer
This movie appears to be a possible transfer from a vhs tape. The film is not clear and the color is terrible. Not much care was put in placing this movie on dvd. When there is a closeup of the cast speaking, their lips do not move with the words. I was very disappointed in the quality of this dvd. This movie is good and should have looked better on dvd. Two stars was given because it is a good movie. I have this movie on vhs, and could have saved my money by not buying the bad dvd. Save your money.
Rating: - This may blow your mind...
This 1981 film by David Cronenberg is absolutely mind blowing, you have to see it to know what I'm talking about.
This movie is about people with telekinetic powers that are viewed by society as "freaks" but a potential power source by one company, Consec. These "freaks" are called scanners and have the ability to get into your mind and "scan" it. Scanners can use their ability for bad or good but sometimes have a hard time to control their ability. Dr. Ruth, a "psycho-pharmacist" who heads a research team for Consec (played by Patrick McGoohan)aids scanners with their abilities. Dr. Ruth ... Read More
Rating: - Pure Camp
This is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. The performances are wooden, the dialogue painfully awkward and cheesy, and the plot is full of holes. However, I laughed almost the whole way through. It is just pure silliness, delicious camp. Not a great film, maybe, but certainly great entertainment!
On another note, I had to wonder if Cronenberg wrote this shortly after reading Alfred Bester's 'Demolished Man.' It's not really the same, but similar in enough ways to make me wonder.
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