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Scanners |  | Director: David Cronenberg
Actors: Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
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Rating:  83 reviews
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 103 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: MGMD1002330D
ISBN: 0792850688
UPC: 027616865496
EAN: 9780792850687
Theatrical Release Date: January 14, 1981
Release Date: August 28, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Telepathic people wage a war against \normals
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
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 83
 Scanners March 9, 2010
Carl Manes
SCANNERS is another excellent entry in David Cronenberg's long line of body horror themed films, this time centering on a telepathic spy (referred to as a scanner) that has been recruited by a secretive pharmaceuticals corporation in order to infiltrate and destroy a terrorist group of like-powered telepaths. Ironically, though there is very little gore, the film is best known for the blood splattered results of its few scanner battles. Rather than introducing computer imaging or visual FX for these sequences, Cronenberg uses a brilliant combination of drilling sound effects and bursting arteries to convey the sheer mental strength of his characters in the minds of his audience. This effect couldn't have been achieved without the slow and methodical scripting used to reinforce the raw power and fear generated by the characters' mutant anomalies. Overall, the film is very good, but there are two things that cripple it more than anything else. Stephen Lack's performance is dry and unnatural, making it difficult to identify with him as the lead. As with most other Cronenberg conceptions, SCANNERS is also a very cerebral film that focuses intently on its strong social commentary, which can make the plotting difficult to follow on the initial watch through and slows the pace down dramatically. Though the theme bears a striking resemblance to FIRESTARTER, this is likely just a coincidence as the two films are dissimilar in many ways. These two minor grievances are vastly outweighed by its sharp scripting and clear direction, and Cronenberg strikes another major success here. His obvious statements against designer drugs and man manipulating nature are much easier to decipher than in many of his other films. Michael Ironside also provides one of his strongest roles as the vengeful Darryl Revok, which remains to be his most memorable performance for many fans. While it isn't Cronenberg's strongest work, it is certainly one of his most recognizable, and it goes without saying that this is essential Horror viewing for all fans.
-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies
We're going to do it the scanner way . . . August 2, 2009
Utah Blaine (Somewhere on Trexalon in District 268)
A small number of humans have been endowed with superhuman telepathic power and are, amongst other things, able to read ordinary human minds. For most of these people, they have been driven to depression and insanity. Thus starts the story for the main character, Cameron Vale, of this early 80s horror flick. Cameron is rescued by Dr. Paul Ruth, who explains some of his unique powers to him. Vale, and others like him, are called Scanners, and possess powers far beyond simple mind reading. Ruth recruits Vale to help battle Darryl Revok, a powerful but insane Scanner who is trying to find and either co-opt or destroy all other Scanners. Ruth wants Vale to penetrate Revok's organization and ultimately destroy him. Vale encounters other Scanners, battles some of Revok's minions, and learns that things are not quite what they seem . . .
This 80s era horror flick has actually aged pretty well. It is most famous for the head blowing scene in which Revok kills another scanner by exploding his head using his telepathic powers. There are plot holes that you can drive a truck through, and some of the acting is really poor (particularly by the two main characters - Stephen Lack and Jennifer O'Neil), but the story is sufficiently compelling (and gory) to hold one's interest. Michael Ironside has some pretty crazy face gestures! I certainly wouldn't put this film into the `classic' category, but it is fairly entertaining if you like horror films, particular from the 70s-80s. If you haven't seen it before, you've got to watch it at least once, just for the head blowing scene and the climactic battle at the end - those two scene are all-time classics!
Well worthwhile for the cool concepts and effects! May 15, 2009
Monty Moonlight (TX)
A weapons company with a division focused on a new breed of telekinetic humans called "scanners" has run into trouble from the most powerful scanner yet, Darryl Revok, a psychopath with the power to literally blow your head off with his mind. The company swiftly recruits and trains a confused and naive scanner named Vale (Stephen Lack) to find Revok, but his deadly mission will lead him to new discoveries he never could have imagined.
From the renowned director of "The Fly", "Videodrome", and "The Dead Zone", David Cronenberg, comes one of his earlier Sci-Fi classics, "Scanners". This 1981 film has the dark, gritty look of movies like Highlander and Tron, setting a true '80's sci-fi mood. Ya gotta chuckle at the way they would cover the women in flicks from this period with so much bland clothing, right up to the chin, and still act like they were so very strikingly appealing, ha. Besides the excellent villain we get in Michael Ironside and Patrick McGoohan as the mysterious Dr. Ruth (not to be confused with that other Dr. Ruth), the characters in this sci-fi thriller could generally be more engaging and the second act can drag a bit if you are not so into the industrial espionage type stuff, but it is such an interesting concept they set up in the beginning and worth sticking around for the fun reveals and gross-out final battle! And, of course, the famous exploding head scene, earlier in the film than I expected, is really cool, and I'm not much of a gorehound, ha. The end did leave me a little uncertain, but not as much as all of "Videodrome". Though, I think that was the point of "Videodrome".
Scanners is presented on DVD in enhanced widescreen with one extra, the theatrical trailer. If you are a fan of Cronenberg's other works or sci-fi thrillers in general, this is required viewing. It's not fun not knowing what people are talking about when they talk about "Scanners", so give it one viewing at least!
David Cronenberg Distinctive "Body Horror" in Full Form January 1, 2009
E. Drake
Canadian filmmaker, David Cronenberg, films are generally quite entertaining. As in most of Cronenberg's films, his distinctive "Body Horror" style, will cause you to wince numerous times throughout the flick. Michael Ironside steals the show. This method actor is terrifying on screen, even in his very last scene at the end of the film.
If I could say something that may annoy many of you out there, the film does not carry over so well to today, given the dated musical score and the seemingly over used concept of "telekinesis" and the not-so-scary premise. However, put yourself in 1981 and this film was at the forefront of the Sci-Fi genre. A clear example of this is when Stephen Lack (who plays Cameron in the film), uses a pay-phone to "go online" by tapping into the line telekinetically. This scene obviously preceding The Matrix by almost twenty years. There are many a scenes like this.
Back to the music, Howard Shore's (who has since done the Lord of the Rings trilogy) score is fantastic and classic 1980's techno horror, but along with Bowie's album "Low" with Brian Eno (amongst a few other films and albums), this score basically set the stage for the wave of electronica music from the late-80's to today.
All in all, this film will be loved by those seeking a nostalgic feel for the 80's techno/Sci-Fi/horror feel in the light of Blade Runner.
 I Honestly Expected More October 26, 2008
Steven Stewart (steveo.stewart@hotmail.co.uk)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 a Scanner all of a sudden become the most powerful Scanner, I felt the whole thing was rushed.
The tag line for this movie was "There are 4 billion people on earth. 237 are Scanners. They have the most terrifying powers ever created... and they are winning." Sounds like a good premise for a movie no? It's a great idea that could have made a great movie and although Scanners had its moments I just found the whole thing boring. The main character Cameron Vale played by Stephen Lack wasn't as interesting as I think Cronenberg expected him to be. He had the creepy look about him and he could pull the serious Scanner face as if he was constipated and trying to push one out, but that was about the only thing he had going for him.
The bloody bits were quite cool and very graphic as they were in those days. The infamous head exploding scene in particular grabbed my attention and disturbed me a little. Michael Ironside who plays the apparently very evil underground Scanner lord Darryl Revok is one of the best parts of the film and comes across as quite intimidating at times.
The story of the film is relatively simple, as the tag line implies there are 237 Scanners in the world and they're winning. Winning what exactly? well that's the war against normal humanity I think, let's be honest if they can read minds and we can't that makes them the enemy. Well a weaponry company known as ConSec and they manage to recruit and 'convert' a very powerful Scanner known as Cameron Vale. Dr. Paul Ruth head of ConSec's Scanner section trains Vale and sends him to find and stop Revok, with some surprising results.
OK, the movie is a bit more complicated than that but my point still stands about it not being as good and as special as people would have you believe. It's not the worst film I've ever seen and there are genuinely entertaining parts, however, there were points in which I found the film quite tedius and a bit predictable. I would recommend this as it's a worthy waste of your time, but I would say to not expect much.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 83
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