Scanners (DVD)

Scanners is an unusual movie from the now acclaimed director David Cronenberg. Before Cronenberg hit the mainstream his focus was always on horror, shining examples being Shivers and Rabid, both shot in and around Toronto and Montreal, places he considered home. On his first rise of power in the directorial stakes came Scanners, a significantly different horror movie, that seemed dated even from its release.

Cameron Vale (Stephen ...
...so collecting an army of Scanners to do his bidding and get revenge on those who created them.

Scientist Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan) has been desperately trying to get to the bottom of Revock's power over other Scanners, and now with Cameron in his care he seeks the opportunity to send him out as a spy and end Revock's rule once and for all.

Despite the movie hailing from the very early 1980's there is little to ... more

Scanners is an unusual movie from the now acclaimed director David Cronenberg. Before Cronenberg hit the mainstream his focus was always on horror, shining examples being Shivers and Rabid, both shot in and around Toronto and Montreal, places he considered home. On his first rise of power in the directorial stakes came Scanners, a significantly different horror movie, that seemed dated even from its release.

Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) is effectively a vagrant, he spends his days travelling food courts scavenging for food, his nights are an image we don't dare to think about. Cameron is not your normal everyday vagrant however, he has an ability to look into the minds of others understanding their thoughts and probing their deepest secrets. From birth Cameron was a creation, a scientific experiment gone wrong if you will, has falls into the category of being known as a Scanner.

Darryl Revock (Michael Ironside) too is a Scanner, except where Cameron is less than certain why he has his abilities and how to use them Darryl has a very good idea. Darryl is using his skills and abilities for less than reasonable means, and in doing so collecting an army of Scanners to do his bidding and get revenge on those who created them.

Scientist Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan) has been desperately trying to get to the bottom of Revock's power over other Scanners, and now with Cameron in his care he seeks the opportunity to send him out as a spy and end Revock's rule once and for all.

Despite the movie hailing from the very early 1980's there is little to prevent this looking like a product from the mid 70's. I guess however this was commonplace with Canadian movies of this time, and to be honest it gives the movie a lot of its charm. The lurid orange colours of the film stock that turn offer greenish tints at the drop of a hat, combined with the bland and often un-inspiring backgrounds and sets; make Scanners a unique looking movie before you even focus on the storyline.

Scanners could be quite hard work for a casual viewer, there is a lot of fake scientific talk that is designed I assume to baffle its audience. Combined with over long sequences where plotlines are drawn together, any recent horror movie enthusiast will find this a little too difficult to get a grip of. Action sequences are elaborate but quickly executed then thrusting the story back into a lot of speech. I confess that on my first viewing of the movie over 20 years ago I was very unimpressed. I just never could understand the fascination, I understood that Scanners had a fan base but could not appreciate why. What I was aware of though was that the movie offered one of the most graphic openings, a man's head exploding, with a pretty alarming ending with Revock and Cameron fighting out a Scanner style battle. In reflection and over a few years of maturity though I began to realise that Scanners is an impressive thinking person's horror. And now with each new viewing instead of bewilderment I find a completely different vision of the movie forming in my head, this being said I'm still aware of my early memories of the movie and can understand why Scanners could be a big turn off for modern audiences.

Scanners has a slightly nauseas effect for those who are a little weak stomached when it comes to physical sickness. When characters are scanned by a Scanner they start to act like they are about to vomit, I have seen this effect have a rather queasy effect of fellow viewers of the movie over the years. The nosebleed that follows the onscreen characters nausea often proving the final straw for certain viewers. Personally I see nothing in this whole situation, but have certainly been on the receiving end of some rather unusual reaction.

The movies performances are hindered by its main lead Stephen Lack who plays Cameron Vale is a likeable enough character but just a little bit bland, his lack of recognisability amongst a vastly known cast combined with a pretty woody performance fail to warm the lead to the audience; I'm further intrigued to understand how this vagrant suddenly masters deep thinking and skills that some scientists would find difficult to comprehend, there is extreme intelligence I appreciate; but this seems like too much of a change in a short period of time.

Michael Ironside delivers menace as he always does regardless of what side he is on; while McGoohan best known from the TV series The Prisoner acts as an anchor and annoying sober soul. While Jennifer O'Neil whose real life tale is more interesting than any character ever put on screen, adds a little female influence as a female Scanner in this majorly male dominated cast.

Acclaimed composer Howard Shore delivers a pretty maniacal score which often just contains thrashing sounds of random electronic, adding to the bizarre feel of the movie.

One piece of the movie that sticks in my brain long after the movie has finished is the odd computer hacking incident between Cameron and what at the time would have been high technology computing. I guess this stands out more to me because at the time that the movie was released far more powerful personal computers were available in the home, further aging this odd movie.

I enjoy Scanners, but it is very much a typical Marmite (Yeast Extract) scenario where you either love it or hate it. Scanners is an effective horror tale that looks impressive on a big screen with decent sound, it all adds to the atmosphere that a smaller screen often cannot offer.

Scanners is now only available as part of a boxset or as a basic DVD from Anchor Bays budget range in the UK, either DVD is lacking in special features, subtitles, alternate languages, and audio commentary. A matter made more amusing by the DVD's menu system which literally has one option. On the plus side you can pick up Scanners from play.com for a more than reasonable £2.99 that's less than most DVD libraries would charge to rent the movie.

Spencer Hawken 03/08 

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