Scanners is well-known for the hilarious head explosion scene that's made it's way into many videos online, especially blowing up (heh heh) in the early days of Youtube.
A Cronenberg flick filled with psychic head poppers should've been a literal no brainer (I'm on a roll here, mkay), but you only get one actual head-burster scene with some funny gore at the end.
The movie is like a low-rent take off on the X-Men, which general audiences would've been less familiar with at the time, so it probably seemed more original in 1981, even though X-Men came much earlier. A subset of humans are born with incredible powers, and a wise, kindly old man wants to gather a team of these powerful and amazing individuals to work as a team on behalf of humanity, while another member of this super-powered race is a violent rogue, seeking to dominate the world with their natural powers. Yep, Cronney and his writers definitely cribbed from the House of Ideas from this script whether or not they'd admit it.
Even with the plagiarism, Scanners could've been a serviceable good vs evil psychic powered action flick with hilarious trademark Cronenberg gore, but what you get instead is a fairly restrained, dragging sci-fi flick with some very flat performances. The main actor, Stephen Lack, barely seems like a human being sometimes, he would've been well-cast as an android.
The best performance comes from Michael Ironside as the villain, who sports some very funny facial expressions while he's summoning his powers. If you want to know what Ironside looks like after a hefty helping of 3-bean casserole, Scanners should be your first stop.
Mainly, unless you're curious or bored, just watch the head-bursting scene on Youtube and go to better Cronenberg flicks for the good stuff.
A Cronenberg flick filled with psychic head poppers should've been a literal no brainer (I'm on a roll here, mkay), but you only get one actual head-burster scene with some funny gore at the end.
The movie is like a low-rent take off on the X-Men, which general audiences would've been less familiar with at the time, so it probably seemed more original in 1981, even though X-Men came much earlier. A subset of humans are born with incredible powers, and a wise, kindly old man wants to gather a team of these powerful and amazing individuals to work as a team on behalf of humanity, while another member of this super-powered race is a violent rogue, seeking to dominate the world with their natural powers. Yep, Cronney and his writers definitely cribbed from the House of Ideas from this script whether or not they'd admit it.
Even with the plagiarism, Scanners could've been a serviceable good vs evil psychic powered action flick with hilarious trademark Cronenberg gore, but what you get instead is a fairly restrained, dragging sci-fi flick with some very flat performances. The main actor, Stephen Lack, barely seems like a human being sometimes, he would've been well-cast as an android.
The best performance comes from Michael Ironside as the villain, who sports some very funny facial expressions while he's summoning his powers. If you want to know what Ironside looks like after a hefty helping of 3-bean casserole, Scanners should be your first stop.
Mainly, unless you're curious or bored, just watch the head-bursting scene on Youtube and go to better Cronenberg flicks for the good stuff.