Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

dworldeater David Cronenberg's Scanners is a very original and well made thriller that is a head exploding good time. This flick deals with people with special telepathic and telekinetic abilities known as Scanners. The government is studying them and there is a rogue Scanner that wants to use his powers to rule the world(Michael Ironside). Ironside is great here as baddie Darryl Revok and is one of my favorite on screen villans. While the film is classified mainly as horror, this has elements of sci fi and a high tech thrillers as well. Scanners is a pretty intense and cerebral film that delivers on suspense and gore. Along with other Cronenberg classics like The Brood and Videodrome, this is very much a thinking person's horror that is very original and effective that separates itself from a lot of dumb and generic slashers at the time. Scanners holds up well and is highly recommended to aficionados of horror and science fiction that haven't seen this. Excellent.

nzswanny What are Scanners?Scanners are freaks of nature, born with a certain form of ESP; able to control minds and damage bodies at their will.Scanners is a mysterious, brooding film with good cinematography and a dark atmosphere to keep it going. Maybe I expected too little of this; I thought it was just going to be a fun B-movie from the 80's, which it is. But yet it feels more than that. I think this film is a lot like Inception and the original Highlander movie, a mysterious film that quickly unfolds over the course of the film. At the start, we see a man eat some leftovers from a table, and an old woman is seen gossiping insults about him. The man stares at her, and suddenly she goes into a major seizure. Suddenly, men in suits start chasing after the man through the mall, and you ask yourself, who are these people? What's going on?! The entire film is like this one scene, which is what makes this such a masterpiece. David Cronenberg should be proud of this achievement he made in 1981, a suspenseful, eerie and mysterious film that never loses it's own grip on the pacing. Overall, because of the greatness of this film, I just had to rate it a 10/10. An absolute masterpiece, recommended.

Leofwine_draca This typically grotesque story from David Cronenberg is one of his best-made movies despite a slightly overlong running time. When it comes down to the action and horror in this production, Cronenberg is next to none in turning the stomach. Surprisingly, aside from two outstanding moments, this isn't as gory as his usual fare as Cronenberg takes a literal look at "psychological" horror instead, but the result is no less disturbing. Harsh Canadian locations, dull sets, and desperate characters make for a relentless yet satisfying movie which is basically yet another variation on the old "good vs. evil" theme yet with a slight twist - now it's played out via mind wars.There's a scene near the beginning which instantly propelled this movie into gory infamy - the incredibly ghoulish head explosion which has rarely been bettered in the movies in terms of sheer extreme splatter. On top of this, Cronenberg offers one of his wildest, most over-the-top finales which even beats De Palma's THE FURY in terms of visceral excess - the duel between Lack and Ironside is really something to be seen, an outstanding display of insane acting, pumping blood, really gruesome special effects work which make veins pop out of the skin, and much, much more. That he chills us even further with a quiet, ambiguous twist after the battle is complete is a testimony to the director's skill.When I first watched this film a few years back, I was greatly disappointed in Stephen Lack's performance, fearing it to be wooden and unsatisfying. In retrospect he's actually pretty good in the role, it's just the character which is understated and slightly boring. Cronenberg makes good use of Lack's sometimes-alien appearance and there's an air of quiet menace and desperation about the actor which makes him fit right into the role. Jennifer O'Neill also succeeds with a strong female role, even if her character doesn't have much to do with the story other than tag along for the ride. Patrick McGoohan is all stuffiness and bearded pomposity as Lack's father figure (actor or character, I know not which), but it's really the bad guys who steal the show this time around - firstly Michael Ironside as another unforgettably evil bad guy (surely one of the best, most underrated actors of recent years, this man deserves an Oscar for his work in the fantasy field), secondly Lawrence Dane who definitely has the mark of an edgy De Niro performance about him as Ironside's traitorous aide.Aside from the overly-scientific, sometimes stuffy plot, which has some mild conspiracy overtones, Cronenberg offers up some unforgettable set-pieces. My favourite is the destructive moment in which the computer is shut down whilst Lack is dialled into it and all hell breaks loose, although Dane definitely deserved a better death sequence than just disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Then there's the aforementioned incredibly painful head explosion, a confrontation between Lack and a quartet of hired assassins in a sculptor's warehouse, a fine bus crash, and of course the infamous, often cut conclusion which takes the good guy vs. bad guy battle to a new extreme. By using slow-motion and quality effects, Cronenberg creates some outstanding moments in what is actually a decent and watchable horror film which is far scarier than many other similar horror films before and since. Lots of sequels followed, none involving Cronenberg, but some are fun to watch as stand alone cheesy B-movies.

skybrick736 David Cronenberg is a uniquely stylish director that requires a certain taste to acquire before making judgments to review. There is no one film to start with Cronenberg as he is good at contrasting his horror elements but Scanners is a film of his that cannot be missed. Scanners is a fantastic concept centered around ordinary people with unordinary powers of telepathy. The two beginning scenes showcasing this horrific power are exhilarating and executed perfectly by Stephen Lack and Michael Ironside. In fact, one of these two scenes are considered one of the most iconic moments in horror cinema. Scanners is very original, creepy in nature, has an unpredictability aspect and has a solid script. The film does drag on at times towards the end but otherwise is an excellent movie.