On October 1st I decided to watch Scanners for the first of many horror films this month. I knew it was about psychic powers, but I didn’t really know how the story would unfold. It didn’t really feel like Scanners fit into the horror genre with the exception of the practical effects. There are some horrifically gory moments, but there is never a feeling of fear. I give Scanners the Decent Watch rating.
Scanners will not blow your mind, but may gross you out.
Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) appears to be a homeless man who wanders into a mall looking for some food. He overhears a conversation between two women putting him down and one of them suddenly has a seizure. He is then chased by two men in overcoats and wakes up strapped to a bed.
Cameron is told by Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan) that he is a scanner and is subjected to a room full of people thinking. Cameron appears to be tortured as we hear the thoughts of everyone in the room. That is until the doctor gives him a shot. It’s at this point the plot begins to unravel as Cameron learns about Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside), a scanner who is murdering other scanners. Dr. Ruth sends Cameron on a mission to find Revok and kill him before he kills others.
The story begins to unravel a series of mysteries that Cameron didn’t know he was looking for. The performances get to be a bit comical during the psychic battles. It’s probably not the actors faults, but the facial expression they make are funnier than they are scary. However, the special effects are still pretty gruesome. The class scene that I knew about before watching Scanners was still pretty crazy. Seeing a guy’s head explode after watching him make crazy faces for a few minutes was still pretty nuts.
I’m glad I’ve finally watched this class Sci-fi horror film. It’s not my favorite, but it definitely had some redeeming elements. There appears to be some social commentary towards the end of the film when Revok argues his side. However, it feels a little bit tacked on and waited for a lot of the plot to tie up at the end.
Berkreviews.com 