Opening with a Christmas party in which a scanner shows off his powers with unexpectedly tragic results, this second sequel to David Cronenberg's 'Scanners' begins on a chilling note. Things only get more interesting as one of the party guests soon has to use her scanning abilities to fend off muggers, which results in massive headaches (having avoided scanning in so long) with a possible cure in an experimental nicotine patch style of sorts. After this promising start though, the plot soon derails as the patch as the side effect of turning her into a homicidal megalomaniac, similar to Raoul Max Trujillo in 'Scanners II'. Lead actress Liliana Komorowska manages to chew the scenery even more so than Trujillo though in such a wildly exaggerated performance that it is draining to watch. There are also a host of ill-defined supporting characters who inexplicably wear sunglasses all the time (to stop accidentally scanning??) and as she manages to control others through television sets, her powers end up more fantastical than pseudo-scientific as in the first two films. 'Scanners 3' does, however, deserve some points for presenting a more original plot than Part 2. There is also quite a bit of humour in the mix (forcing an obnoxious date to dance; waking up in a morgue) and the special effects are uniformly excellent, but this is a hard film to get excited about.
29 Reviews
Whats more powerful years of training or a chemical boost?
rlcsljo30 December 2000
Scanners were the offspring of women that were given a drug during pregnancy. They had severe mental and emotional problems, but one great power: the ability to blow someone else's brains up if you pissed them off. I did not see Scanners II, but by number III they not only got the ability to use psychokinesis, but to control others actions--even over the television.
One brother went to a monastery in Thailand to learn to control his powers, while his father gave his sister an experimental drug that gave her the same powers instantly (but for only 24 hours while wearing a patch). She becomes power mad and uses them to take over her father's drug company and next the world?
Her brother finds out about his relatives deaths and returns. His sister has released a bunch of drug enhanced Scanners as hit men to prevent his displacing her.
The final battle reveals which approach is stronger--it is not as straight forward as you think.
Just like in Scanners (I), not enough of what scanners were famous for--blowing up heads. How expensive can this special effect be anyway?
This movie is not a bad waste of viewing time and the sister is not hard on the eyes -- one brief nude scene in a hot tub.
One brother went to a monastery in Thailand to learn to control his powers, while his father gave his sister an experimental drug that gave her the same powers instantly (but for only 24 hours while wearing a patch). She becomes power mad and uses them to take over her father's drug company and next the world?
Her brother finds out about his relatives deaths and returns. His sister has released a bunch of drug enhanced Scanners as hit men to prevent his displacing her.
The final battle reveals which approach is stronger--it is not as straight forward as you think.
Just like in Scanners (I), not enough of what scanners were famous for--blowing up heads. How expensive can this special effect be anyway?
This movie is not a bad waste of viewing time and the sister is not hard on the eyes -- one brief nude scene in a hot tub.
Weak third part!
jp_9124 May 2020
Christian Duguay directed in 1991 "Scanners II: The New Order", that same year he directed a third part, "Scanners III: The Takeover". The second film was amazing but this third part is weak, some good acting and gore, interesting scenes but the film is not that good, the comedy used in some moments is stupid. The script could be better. "Scanners" and "Scanners II: The New Order" are great films, but "Scanners III: The Takeover" is not good but not that bad either.
The RoboCop Syndrome
t_atzmueller10 September 2011
It seemed to have been a curse of good 80's films with exploitable theme to sink ever lower depth, cheaper effects and amateurish actors, the more Roman numerals one would attach to them. Remember "RoboCop"? Half-decent sequel, a third part that reeked. "Warlock"? Cult-classic first part, mediocre second, unwatchable third. "Highlander"? "American Ninja"? "Batman"? The list could go on.
"Scanners III" neatly fits into that mould; the original being a true classic, the second part a cartoonish but enjoyable romp and the third, well, it makes you glad they didn't film a third "The Fly"-film (although an African video-vendor tried to sell me a bootleg of "The Fly III", but that's another story).
Short story shorter: a pair of Scanner siblings, one good one who has learned to control his powers and his evil sister, who chemically boosts her powers in order to take over the world, battle it out with the usual Scanner abilities. The powers are stronger, the theatrics – mostly due to the lack of acting abilities – are even more theatrical but the human-factor of the original "Scanners" has left the franchise forever. The original Scanners were mostly portrayed as average people who had to deal both with a power and a disease. One felt for their misery and, through the minimalist approach of original director David Cronenberg, one could almost imagine those people were troubled, but real people. The Scanners of this film seem like comic book heroes (and villains) who might well have fitted in with some cheap TV-production of "Super Friends".
This film isn't even cartoon anymore; it's the purest of C-grade straight-to-video Dreck. But there's the golden 80's principle and the producers had a concept there: most of the fans still slavishly rented or purchased the film, same as they did with "Scanner Cop" and "Scanner Cop II". I know I did. And I watched all the RoboCops because, you never know, there might be a shine of former brilliance to surface yet. People, we've all been conned. Will I go watch another sequel or a remake? Sure, I'm an incorrect able sucker for franchises and plan to stick to that – one can always complain later.
And by the way: when in East-Africa and they somebody tries to sell you a video-copy of "The Fly III", don't buy it! It's just a cheap horror-film, left on the cutting board table somewhere in Hong Kong, about a woman who stings herself on a mutated plant and gives birth to a giant killer-bug. Trust me: I know what I'm talking about! Four points for the film, one for nostalgia.
"Scanners III" neatly fits into that mould; the original being a true classic, the second part a cartoonish but enjoyable romp and the third, well, it makes you glad they didn't film a third "The Fly"-film (although an African video-vendor tried to sell me a bootleg of "The Fly III", but that's another story).
Short story shorter: a pair of Scanner siblings, one good one who has learned to control his powers and his evil sister, who chemically boosts her powers in order to take over the world, battle it out with the usual Scanner abilities. The powers are stronger, the theatrics – mostly due to the lack of acting abilities – are even more theatrical but the human-factor of the original "Scanners" has left the franchise forever. The original Scanners were mostly portrayed as average people who had to deal both with a power and a disease. One felt for their misery and, through the minimalist approach of original director David Cronenberg, one could almost imagine those people were troubled, but real people. The Scanners of this film seem like comic book heroes (and villains) who might well have fitted in with some cheap TV-production of "Super Friends".
This film isn't even cartoon anymore; it's the purest of C-grade straight-to-video Dreck. But there's the golden 80's principle and the producers had a concept there: most of the fans still slavishly rented or purchased the film, same as they did with "Scanner Cop" and "Scanner Cop II". I know I did. And I watched all the RoboCops because, you never know, there might be a shine of former brilliance to surface yet. People, we've all been conned. Will I go watch another sequel or a remake? Sure, I'm an incorrect able sucker for franchises and plan to stick to that – one can always complain later.
And by the way: when in East-Africa and they somebody tries to sell you a video-copy of "The Fly III", don't buy it! It's just a cheap horror-film, left on the cutting board table somewhere in Hong Kong, about a woman who stings herself on a mutated plant and gives birth to a giant killer-bug. Trust me: I know what I'm talking about! Four points for the film, one for nostalgia.
If looks could kill . . .
Ysman16 August 1999
OK, I wasn't expecting Citizen Kane but this movie rivals Corey Haim's FEVER LAKE as the worst horror movie ever. I knew the plot, acting, and script would be bad. That was exactly why I was watching it. What made this film bad was the fight scenes. The two main Scanners just gave each other dirty looks. The Scanner with the weirdest, body contorting, facial expression will rule the world. If this is how Scanning works, every little kid in the world is a Scanner. Maybe they are . . .
Worst of the 3 but still watchable
atinder11 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
First movie is outstanding and second Scanner movie was really good, I really enjoyed both.
The movie start of with a party.
Then two guys, one of them is a scanner.
Alex Monet is showing off, and a friend dies in a tragic accident, so he goes to Tibetan to get away.
Meanwhile his siste,r Helena and her friend are walking in ally come underattack and Helena ability come into action.
As Helena get home, then her father tells that he got a new drug Eph-3, which she does use even, when her father tells her not too, the drugs take over her and she start acting for evil and want Scanners to take over the world.
There is only one person that can stop her, that is her brother Alex, who has to get away from other Scanner, that are trying to kill him.
This movie was really poor, I did not enjoy it, this movie not that gory at all or even nasty, they even taken a death scene from first movie and made it look so cheap, other deaths silly and really badly done.
There even tired to add some humour in this, which did not work at all, the jokes were not funny at all.
The acting wasn't to bad for a 3rd movie in the series. I am going to give this movie 4 out of 10
The movie start of with a party.
Then two guys, one of them is a scanner.
Alex Monet is showing off, and a friend dies in a tragic accident, so he goes to Tibetan to get away.
Meanwhile his siste,r Helena and her friend are walking in ally come underattack and Helena ability come into action.
As Helena get home, then her father tells that he got a new drug Eph-3, which she does use even, when her father tells her not too, the drugs take over her and she start acting for evil and want Scanners to take over the world.
There is only one person that can stop her, that is her brother Alex, who has to get away from other Scanner, that are trying to kill him.
This movie was really poor, I did not enjoy it, this movie not that gory at all or even nasty, they even taken a death scene from first movie and made it look so cheap, other deaths silly and really badly done.
There even tired to add some humour in this, which did not work at all, the jokes were not funny at all.
The acting wasn't to bad for a 3rd movie in the series. I am going to give this movie 4 out of 10
i feel violated,
disdressed1216 October 2007
in the worst possible way.this movie is worse than the second one.not only is the acting bad,but it was over the top,and not in a good way.this movies tries too take itself seriously and be something it isn't,which is a good movie.this thing is absolutely ridiculous,with a plot that is not only bizarre,but is truly not from this planet,or probably any other.there's no believability here at all.but in all fairness,this movie is at least as loud as the last one,so i guess that's something.not something good,but something.the whole premise of Scanners is not believable by any stretch,but in this mess,the unbelievability factor is way past the stratosphere.in case i'm not being clear,i didn't like it. 0/10
Garbage... a shame to be associated with the first 2 movies
viligeidiot7 July 2011
The first two Scanner movies were actually palatable... this however reeked of exploitation of a good series name, asinine acting, shoddy special effects, HORRIBLE dialogue and story.
Whoever has given this a decent rating has either never seen a decent movie in their lives or is somehow attached to the making/production or distribution of this pile of dog crap. It's movies like this that make Canadian cinema regarded as a joke world-wide.
I swear to god this was a (mostly) Government funded vacation for some sleazebags who wanted to go to Thailand without paying for it and attached a movie production to it to get the grants.
Avoid at all costs. Not even campy enough for a laugh. Someone here mentioned the scanner 'powers' consisted of making dirty faces at each other until someone died or flew away... pretty much on the money except I'd add doing your best 'retard' conniption fit at the same time. Excellent example of horrible french-Canadian cinema.
Whoever has given this a decent rating has either never seen a decent movie in their lives or is somehow attached to the making/production or distribution of this pile of dog crap. It's movies like this that make Canadian cinema regarded as a joke world-wide.
I swear to god this was a (mostly) Government funded vacation for some sleazebags who wanted to go to Thailand without paying for it and attached a movie production to it to get the grants.
Avoid at all costs. Not even campy enough for a laugh. Someone here mentioned the scanner 'powers' consisted of making dirty faces at each other until someone died or flew away... pretty much on the money except I'd add doing your best 'retard' conniption fit at the same time. Excellent example of horrible french-Canadian cinema.
Scanners III: The Takedown
NoDakTatum25 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Filled to the gullet with trepidation, I watched the third in the Canadian series about telekinetics and exploding heads. The film makers this time try something new. A brother and sister team of Scanners, but not the siblings from the second film, live a life of luxury. Their daddy is a scientist still trying to get that latest Scanner drug right. The brother accidentally kills his best friend at a party by scanning him right out an open balcony door, and he leaves for a Buddhist monastery in Thailand (as all scanners are wont to do). Sis back home starts taking daddy's very experimental drug, and suddenly turns evil. She gets nekkid in a hot tub and Scans daddy to death, taking over his position and starting, everybody now, "AN EVIL CORPORATION." What is with this series and capitalism? Anyway, bro comes back, he and sis argue all Scanner-like, and good triumphs over evil...again.
Surprisingly, the basic plot was not too bad. However, the whole evil corporation shtick is getting really old. Also unexplained is why the sister has a Polish accent, and the brother has a Canadian accent. Once again, there are lots of stunt people getting jerk roped through walls and windows and doors, and lots of blood and gore as heads and bodies explode. The love interest for the brother here is one of those smart and beautiful research scientists at the evil corporation whose character is completely naive as to the sister's goings-on. The Scanners in this film do not just stare googly-eyed at their prey, they whip their heads at them like a groupie at a B-52's reunion concert. I guess Scanners do not get dizzy. The Scanners series is like an exploding head: painful to watch but you cannot look away. "Scanners III: The Takeover" is underwhelming.
Surprisingly, the basic plot was not too bad. However, the whole evil corporation shtick is getting really old. Also unexplained is why the sister has a Polish accent, and the brother has a Canadian accent. Once again, there are lots of stunt people getting jerk roped through walls and windows and doors, and lots of blood and gore as heads and bodies explode. The love interest for the brother here is one of those smart and beautiful research scientists at the evil corporation whose character is completely naive as to the sister's goings-on. The Scanners in this film do not just stare googly-eyed at their prey, they whip their heads at them like a groupie at a B-52's reunion concert. I guess Scanners do not get dizzy. The Scanners series is like an exploding head: painful to watch but you cannot look away. "Scanners III: The Takeover" is underwhelming.
Good Sequel
claudio_carvalho26 July 2015
During the Christmas party in her apartment, Joyce Stone (Valérie Valois) welcomes the stepbrothers Helena Monet (Liliana Komorowska) and Alex Monet (Steve Parrish), who is her boyfriend. Alex's best friend asks him to demonstrate his abilities of scanner and during his demonstration, Alex is distracted by a guest and accidentally kills his friend. Alex is considered non-guilty but decides to travel to a monastery in Thailand to learn to control his powers.
Two years later, Joyce and Helena are attacked by a gang in an alley and Helena activates her ability of scanner to save them. She has a severe migraine associated to the sound of voices and her stepfather Elton Monet (Colin Fox) shows an experimental EPH-3 patch that he is developing in his company to be used in scanners. Helena offers to be the guinea pig, but he does not accept the offer since he is still studying the side effects. During the night, Helena opens his wallet and secretly uses the EPH-3. Immediately her migraine disappears and she feels good; however her personality changes to an evil person. She humiliates her boss Mark Dragon (Peter Wright), who is the owner of the TV network where she works, and later she destroys him to assume the control of the television; she kills Elton to assume the control of his company and research; she kills Dr. Baumann (Harry Hill), who conducted painful experiments on her when she was a teenager. Meanwhile Alex's lawyer and friend Michael (Daniel Pilon) travels to Thailand to warn Alex about the changes in Helena but he is murdered by a scanner sent by Helena to follow him. The Monk (Sith Sekae) gives a final training to Alex and he returns home. Will Alex succeed to control Helena?
"Scanners III: The Takeover" is not a bad movie as indicated in the IMDb Users Rating; actually it is a good sequel of Scanners. The plot is well constructed through a tight screenplay; the story has a great villain; the acting is reasonable for a movie directly released on video. The transformation of a sweet woman into a powerful villain is a great idea and there is also humor, like when the gang is thrown into the garbage truck or her boss dancing in the restaurant; or Alex waking up and walking in the morgue. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Scanners III - O Duelo Final ("Scanners III: The Final Duel")
Two years later, Joyce and Helena are attacked by a gang in an alley and Helena activates her ability of scanner to save them. She has a severe migraine associated to the sound of voices and her stepfather Elton Monet (Colin Fox) shows an experimental EPH-3 patch that he is developing in his company to be used in scanners. Helena offers to be the guinea pig, but he does not accept the offer since he is still studying the side effects. During the night, Helena opens his wallet and secretly uses the EPH-3. Immediately her migraine disappears and she feels good; however her personality changes to an evil person. She humiliates her boss Mark Dragon (Peter Wright), who is the owner of the TV network where she works, and later she destroys him to assume the control of the television; she kills Elton to assume the control of his company and research; she kills Dr. Baumann (Harry Hill), who conducted painful experiments on her when she was a teenager. Meanwhile Alex's lawyer and friend Michael (Daniel Pilon) travels to Thailand to warn Alex about the changes in Helena but he is murdered by a scanner sent by Helena to follow him. The Monk (Sith Sekae) gives a final training to Alex and he returns home. Will Alex succeed to control Helena?
"Scanners III: The Takeover" is not a bad movie as indicated in the IMDb Users Rating; actually it is a good sequel of Scanners. The plot is well constructed through a tight screenplay; the story has a great villain; the acting is reasonable for a movie directly released on video. The transformation of a sweet woman into a powerful villain is a great idea and there is also humor, like when the gang is thrown into the garbage truck or her boss dancing in the restaurant; or Alex waking up and walking in the morgue. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Scanners III - O Duelo Final ("Scanners III: The Final Duel")
Well stupid, but watchable!
mm-3914 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Well stupid, but watchable! What would one expect with a title of Scanners III: The Takeover! With low expectation the third installment was better than first thought. Started out okay, but there is lots of filler in the story. Lot of cheesy comic one liners. Some T & A. Much lower budget then part 2, which effect the special effect. Special effect well not as good as the first two. Scanners III: The Takeover has a few good plot twists, but the ending, let's just write here, is cheesy at best. Likeable, one dimension character arch. Most character have a quick predictable character arch. Stupid bad guy who's head explode arch. Women, who is over sexed, that's head explode or melts etc. Well, watchable, but barley. Kinda of like eating at Mc Donalds over the Keg you know what to expected watching part 3.
Scanners3
gavcrimson25 September 2020
I remember throwing in the towel on the Scanners series after being particularly underwhelmed by Scanners 2: The New Order, and subsequently kept my distance when Scanners 3: The Takeover, Scanner Cop and Scanner Cop 2 (aka Scanners: The Showdown) all appeared on the video rental shelves. Maybe I was a little premature on calling time on the series though, as finally catching up with it nearly thirty years later, Scanners 3: The Takeover unexpectedly turned out to be lots of fun.
Colin Fox (star of the legendary Canadian horror soap opera 'Strange Paradise') essentially has the Patrick McGoohan role in this one, playing the scientist father to a pair of scanner siblings. The son, Alex grows up to go all Rambo 3, attempting to find himself by living among Buddhist monks. Daughter, Helena on the other hand becomes the Guinea Pig in her father's experiments which transform her from the meek and mousy type to a megalomaniac vixen who uses her scanner powers to climb the corporate ladder.
After two sombre sequels, Scanners 3 really beats you about the head with the silly stick, as naughty Helena uses her scanner powers to make a chauvinistic colleague perform a striptease at a well-to-do restaurant, forces a talk show host and his star guest to make horny fools of themselves on live TV, while a pigeon learns the hard way that it is not wise to poop on a scanner. Helena also has male scanner followers, who once mobilised, start dressing like prohibition era gangsters, and an oversexed nurse scanner who seems to think she is acting in a parody of a porn film.
Considering how tonally different this all is to the first Scanners film, there is a surprising amount of callbacks to early Cronenberg movies here. The flirty behavior on the live talk show recalls the James Woods/Debbie Harry antics of Videodrome, dead bodies end up in a garbage truck à la Rabid, and on the basis of this and Rabid (original and remake), Canadians must really have it in for men dressed as Father Christmas.
As Helena, polish actress Liliana Komorowska drops into the film with all the subtlety of a megaton bomb, playing a mixture of Joan Collins and Donald Trump, while sporting an accent so thick that it feels like she was on a one woman war against the English language. The long-of-name Komorowska easily overshadows the bland 1990s pretty boy playing her sibling/adversary, as the series ventures into the era of male ponytails, corporate villains, erotic thrillers and yes even kick-boxer movies.
Colin Fox (star of the legendary Canadian horror soap opera 'Strange Paradise') essentially has the Patrick McGoohan role in this one, playing the scientist father to a pair of scanner siblings. The son, Alex grows up to go all Rambo 3, attempting to find himself by living among Buddhist monks. Daughter, Helena on the other hand becomes the Guinea Pig in her father's experiments which transform her from the meek and mousy type to a megalomaniac vixen who uses her scanner powers to climb the corporate ladder.
After two sombre sequels, Scanners 3 really beats you about the head with the silly stick, as naughty Helena uses her scanner powers to make a chauvinistic colleague perform a striptease at a well-to-do restaurant, forces a talk show host and his star guest to make horny fools of themselves on live TV, while a pigeon learns the hard way that it is not wise to poop on a scanner. Helena also has male scanner followers, who once mobilised, start dressing like prohibition era gangsters, and an oversexed nurse scanner who seems to think she is acting in a parody of a porn film.
Considering how tonally different this all is to the first Scanners film, there is a surprising amount of callbacks to early Cronenberg movies here. The flirty behavior on the live talk show recalls the James Woods/Debbie Harry antics of Videodrome, dead bodies end up in a garbage truck à la Rabid, and on the basis of this and Rabid (original and remake), Canadians must really have it in for men dressed as Father Christmas.
As Helena, polish actress Liliana Komorowska drops into the film with all the subtlety of a megaton bomb, playing a mixture of Joan Collins and Donald Trump, while sporting an accent so thick that it feels like she was on a one woman war against the English language. The long-of-name Komorowska easily overshadows the bland 1990s pretty boy playing her sibling/adversary, as the series ventures into the era of male ponytails, corporate villains, erotic thrillers and yes even kick-boxer movies.
Fairly watchable horror sequel.
poolandrews14 November 2004
Warning: Spoilers
The film opens with a scrolling caption informing us of what scanners are. The film begins proper at some Christmas party. Alex Monet (Steve Parrish) and his best friend are talking to some girls. The conversation turns to scanners. The girls don't believe they exist. Alex is a scanner and his friend convinces him to prove the girls wrong. So using his psychic power he makes his friend slide backwards on his own. Someone then grabs Alex and pats him on the back, Alex is surprised and loses control of his powers, his friend is jerked back violently and out of the balcony doors over the guard rail and to his death 40 odd floor to the concrete pavement below. Oops. Alex is upset, even though officially it was ruled an accident. We learn that he has traveled all over the world and finally decided to settle at a monastery in Thailand so he can learn to control his powers. Meanwhile back home his sister Helana Monet (the sexy Liliana Komorowska) is trying to lead a normal life. However see experiences severe pain and headaches. Her and Alex's father who adopted them, Dr Elton Monet (Colin Fox) is the owner of a large medical research company and is trying to invent a drug in the form of a patch which releases the drug into the bloodstream through the skin, eventually Dr Monet thinks it will help all scanners. He tells Helana about this drug, and that at this stage it's highly experimental and hasn't been tested properly. One night when the pain becomes unbearable Helana tries the drug, immediately the pain disappears. The next morning at breakfast outside a Pigeon craps on her hand, she stares at it and using her powers makes it explode. The drug has changed her from a nice, sweet girl into a wild, power-crazed murderer in mere hours! Later that night she visits Dr Baumann (Harry Hill) who is performing experiments on scanners. She frees all the scanners in his care and gives them patches so she can control their psychic powers too. From then on she sets her evil plan for world domination in action! The family lawyer Micheal (Daniel Pilon) becomes suspicious and tracks Alex down. He convinces Alex to go back home. Once back Helana realizes that Alex can stop her so she uses other scanners to try and kill him. Alex survives and enlists the help of research scientist and Helana's best friend Joyce Stone (Valerie Valois).Together they discover Helana is going to transmit her mind controlling signals using video and into tens of millions of American homes through their T.V.s! Competently but sometimes flatly directed by Christian Duguay, and called scanner force here in the UK, this was better than I expected, thanks to a script by B.J. Nelson, Julie Richard and David Preston (it took three people to write this?!) that at least keeps things moving at a fair pace and is fairly entertaining if a little silly at times. But the films main ace up it's sleeve is Liliana Komorowska as Helana, the films over the top villainness. As far as I'm aware I've never heard of her before, or seen her in any other film, but I really liked her in this. Probably better than the film deserves to be honest. She's a sexy, dominant, evil and devious, murdering scanner, by the end of the film I really wanted her to die in the most painful gory way possible, unfortunately I didn't get my wish, which seemed a bit of an anti climax. Easily the films best sequence involves her, she walks into Dr Baumanns office, dressed in a long coat, a sexy mini skirt, knee high leather boots and a white scarf, she looks classy, dominant and sexy. She teases and plays with Baumann, making his finger explode, and then finally making his head explode as well. She slowly walks around the facility killing the remaining guards using her powers before eventually making an over the top speech to her fellow scanner to try and convince them to join her, and help her carry out her evil plans. At one point she says "we shouldn't be at the bottom of the dung heap, we should be at the top!", she's class all the way through and makes the film watchable all on her own, and she gets naked in a hot tub as well! Alex makes a likable hero. We get some nudity and sex, at some points it looks like a cheap porno, especially with the busty blond nurse hitting on Alex! She is half undressed on top of Alex on a pool table, four men burst in and one says "what do we have here a rapist?", the nurse replies "oh no, he was willing!". The gore was sort of disappointing, there is only one exploding head and it's only on screen for about a second, blink and you'll miss it. Although I did like the sequence where Alex kills another scanner by spinning him around in a revolving door! There is an action sequence where Alex on his motorbike is chased by four scanners dressed like 1930's gangsters in a bus, but because of the low budget there are no other cars on the road at all, it looks a bit sad actually! The ending is a bit of a let down also, nothing more than Helana's patch falling off turning back into the sweet innocent girl she was at the start of the film. Probably worth a watch at least, if not for Liliana Komorowska's delightful villainness. Watchable, if nothing spectacular.
Terrible
barlie30006 September 2006
I recently picked up the scanners box set which contains one, two and three. Afetr having seen the first two movies and enjoying them hugely I decided to watch the third in the series. I found this movie to be a huge let down with absolutely no redeeming features what so ever, i think that this movie is an insult to the series, so much so that could not actually watch it all the way through, I really would rather that this abomination was forgotten. The film could possibly have been better with the help of good friend alcohol but then i don't think even this could have made any difference. It's very unusual for me to dislike a film this much and considering the job that Christian Duguay did with the second movie I can't work out what happened. Complete tripe.
Iconic exploding head
basil19849 April 2014
'Scanners 3: The Takeover' is actually a bit of a mini-epic. It doesn't have half the budget of the previous film and there are some off-the-wall, kooky performances from almost all of the characters but this is definitely the better – and by better, I mean camp fun - of the 2 films. The film begins with an introduction to Alex Monet, a brash Scanner that has reduced his abilities to a literal party trick. When he absent-mindedly kills his best friend at one such party, he decides, in an effort of contrition, to find a way to better hone his powers. This leads him to the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet. Meanwhile, his sister, Helena Monet, (who is the heir to the pharmaceutical company that is working on a 'cure' for the previously-described side effects of the scanning mutation) is experimenting with said drug, turning her into a power-hungry megalomaniac. Much as the original 'Scanners' introduced the ability to control computers, Helena attempts to control people by passing a 'scanner signal' through pre-recorded video. When Alex returns, it is a cat and mouse game pitting brother against sister.
There is no doubt in my mind that the spark that inspired these follow-ups was the singularly iconic exploding head from the original and these sequels do not let down. There is a surplus of gooey gore and a sense that each death is an attempt to outdo the last. If you're after the headier (no pun intended) aspirations of Cronenberg, you are bound to be disappointed with these. If you are hoping to see fountains of blood spewing from the skulls of random characters, this is the place.
There is no doubt in my mind that the spark that inspired these follow-ups was the singularly iconic exploding head from the original and these sequels do not let down. There is a surplus of gooey gore and a sense that each death is an attempt to outdo the last. If you're after the headier (no pun intended) aspirations of Cronenberg, you are bound to be disappointed with these. If you are hoping to see fountains of blood spewing from the skulls of random characters, this is the place.
Incredibly Bad. "Is it a local call?" What the hell was this?
Bababooe5 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Incredibly Bad. "Is it a local call?" What the hell was this? Bad acting. Bad story. Bad cinematography. It was still a little better than Scanners 2. They had a budget and they blew it. Next time, think about it before filming.
Incredibly Bad. "Is it a local call?" What the hell was this? Bad acting. Bad story. Bad cinematography. It was still a little better than Scanners 2. They had a budget and they blew it. Next time, think about it before filming.
Incredibly Bad. "Is it a local call?" What the hell was this? Bad acting. Bad story. Bad cinematography. It was still a little better than Scanners 2. They had a budget and they blew it. Next time, think about it before filming.
Incredibly Bad. "Is it a local call?" What the hell was this? Bad acting. Bad story. Bad cinematography. It was still a little better than Scanners 2. They had a budget and they blew it. Next time, think about it before filming.
Incredibly Bad. "Is it a local call?" What the hell was this? Bad acting. Bad story. Bad cinematography. It was still a little better than Scanners 2. They had a budget and they blew it. Next time, think about it before filming.
Scanners meets Videodrome
BandSAboutMovies22 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Directed by Christian Duguay and written by B. J. Nelson - the same team that did Scanners 2, as well as some of the same actors - this film is not related at all to that movie.
It's also way better than that movie.
Helena Monet (Liliana Komorowska, Screamers) is a scanner who constantly deals with the horrifying side effects of those powers until her adoptive father's experimental Eph-3 drug drowns out the voices, but also causes her to lose all of her morals. She kills that father figure, takes over his drug company and also starts to take over all of the world's entertainment.
Meanwhile, her adopted brother and fellow scanner Alex has been raised in a monastery where he'd have no outside voices bothering him, but now he must come back to a world he doesn't know to stop his sister.
So yeah - amazingly, the third Scanners film is not all that bad. Even more incredibly, Scanner Cop blows this away.
It's also way better than that movie.
Helena Monet (Liliana Komorowska, Screamers) is a scanner who constantly deals with the horrifying side effects of those powers until her adoptive father's experimental Eph-3 drug drowns out the voices, but also causes her to lose all of her morals. She kills that father figure, takes over his drug company and also starts to take over all of the world's entertainment.
Meanwhile, her adopted brother and fellow scanner Alex has been raised in a monastery where he'd have no outside voices bothering him, but now he must come back to a world he doesn't know to stop his sister.
So yeah - amazingly, the third Scanners film is not all that bad. Even more incredibly, Scanner Cop blows this away.
Fascinating
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews28 January 2023
I couldn't take my eyes off this glorious disaster. I suspect the writers started out as working on multiple separate films, and later they were combined into one screenplay. Perhaps they originally thought that they were going to make more of these. So entire chunks of this appear to be going in one direction each(!), only for a half hearted resolution, if any.
I especially thought that the trace amounts of feminism must have originally been supposed to be much more prominent, and lead to something. Every so often, especially with the hilariously over-the-top villain Helen, a point will be raised(men are shown to not respect women, sex appeal is presented as a way to control straight dudes, etc.), and even when it isn't undermined with some ridiculous male gaze(with the director engaging in some "look at my hot wife"), it never ends up feeling fully formed.
This features bloody, gory, disturbing violence. I recommend it to fans of watchable bad movies. 4/10.
I especially thought that the trace amounts of feminism must have originally been supposed to be much more prominent, and lead to something. Every so often, especially with the hilariously over-the-top villain Helen, a point will be raised(men are shown to not respect women, sex appeal is presented as a way to control straight dudes, etc.), and even when it isn't undermined with some ridiculous male gaze(with the director engaging in some "look at my hot wife"), it never ends up feeling fully formed.
This features bloody, gory, disturbing violence. I recommend it to fans of watchable bad movies. 4/10.
what did I just watch?
ElWormo7 June 2016
Scanners 3 could just be the most unrelentingly ludicrous film in movie history, no exaggeration. I'm actually surprised it doesn't seem to have built up a retro cult fanbase the way movies like Troll 2, The Room or Samurai Cop have. I think it could easily reach those giddy heights of 'so-bad-it's-ridiculous' acclaim if enough of the right audience saw it. It veers like a drunk on steroids from one totally demented set piece to another, never pausing long enough to ask itself wtf is going on. The acting is gloriously OTT, especially from the female lead who comes across like the ultimate pantomime baddie, cackling sneering and roaring her way through the film with a luminous green flashing circle stuck behind her ear (don't ask).
It seems pointless describing much more. If you're a fan of the bizarre, the absurd, the bad, the twisted, the preposterous, the uncanny and the warped, then enter this way and bring a crash helmet. It's years since I saw Cronenburg's original and I can't even remember if I saw the first sequel, but Scanners 3 must surely stand alone as probably the most bonkers piece of cinema, of the 1990s at least, but possibly ever?
It seems pointless describing much more. If you're a fan of the bizarre, the absurd, the bad, the twisted, the preposterous, the uncanny and the warped, then enter this way and bring a crash helmet. It's years since I saw Cronenburg's original and I can't even remember if I saw the first sequel, but Scanners 3 must surely stand alone as probably the most bonkers piece of cinema, of the 1990s at least, but possibly ever?
Misunderstood
u-l-t-r-a-n-o-o-b-e-r7 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is misunderstood. It caters to a very specific audience that enjoys seeing power abused to create injustice. Much like other movies of this type, much of the movie focuses on the main villain. The villain uses their disproportionately powerful abilities for pleasure and profit. People who look too deep into the plot will be disappointed for they didn't grasp that the movie is a pornography for power, affluence, and domination.
If you enjoy seeing people struggle from the overpowering supernatural abilities of an immoral female protagonist disguised as an antagonist, then this movie is definitely for you. There are very few like it, and in that sense, this movie is a gem. Other movies that resemble to this on are Supergirl, Stardust, I Dream of Genie, Zap 3, and Matilda. All of which had a poor score because most didn't understand what the target audience was.
If you enjoy seeing people struggle from the overpowering supernatural abilities of an immoral female protagonist disguised as an antagonist, then this movie is definitely for you. There are very few like it, and in that sense, this movie is a gem. Other movies that resemble to this on are Supergirl, Stardust, I Dream of Genie, Zap 3, and Matilda. All of which had a poor score because most didn't understand what the target audience was.
Surprisingly Decent
gavin69426 October 2014
A young female scanner turns from a sweet young thing into a murderous, power-crazed villain after she takes an experimental drug developed by her father. Her brother, who is also a scanner, is the only one powerful enough to stop her.
We start out with the standard good and evil plot, brother against sister... but, in all fairness, this is a plot structure that works. From there, it actually gets much more creative, introducing the use of Eastern meditation to control the scanning and the use of TV to more widely broadcast scanning.
Some memorable moments are here, too, including the mind-control dance scene, the Taiwanese boxing and plenty of firefights and explosions, including an arm that flies off.
As with "Scanners II", this definitely could have been a series, even more than the last film. The ideas developed here really set up a broader picture of good scanners against bad ones, and how such powers could be used not just on a combat level, but to actually infiltrate and dominate society. There is much potential.
We start out with the standard good and evil plot, brother against sister... but, in all fairness, this is a plot structure that works. From there, it actually gets much more creative, introducing the use of Eastern meditation to control the scanning and the use of TV to more widely broadcast scanning.
Some memorable moments are here, too, including the mind-control dance scene, the Taiwanese boxing and plenty of firefights and explosions, including an arm that flies off.
As with "Scanners II", this definitely could have been a series, even more than the last film. The ideas developed here really set up a broader picture of good scanners against bad ones, and how such powers could be used not just on a combat level, but to actually infiltrate and dominate society. There is much potential.
a testament to the power of Tibetan Buddhism
andrfenlon1 October 2001
Let me start out by saying that this is a wonderful film. When I rented this movie initially I thought that it was going to be one of those low budget action films with awful special effects, terrible dialogue, terrible plot and gratuitous nudity (like the highlander movies). I was dead wrong.
Scanners III is a wonderfully cerebral film, chock full of allusions and references to American folklore, popular science fiction novels of the past century (i.e. 1984 and just about everything by Michael Chricton), Huey Lewis and The News song lyrics (I've got a brand new drug) and the religion and philosophy of the Algonquin Indians. What an analytical treat!!
As the iconography in this film suggests, American culture is dominated by the media, the pharmecutical companies, and cheap dares we do to impress girls on Saturday nights. We are soulless zombies, only acting on impulses that have been passed down to us by our parents. If we only used our heads (as Alex Monet does in this film (monet is an obvious reference to the french impressionistic artist...there are many more delicious reference-goodies in this gem!)), we could overcome the social and mental chains that are hindering us from developing as a society.
The film is beckoning us to cast away homburg hats and black suits of the nineteen forties for more casual clothing, eschew hot concentual sex with busty mental-hospital nurses for passionate lovemaking with loved ones, to send christianity and all of western society to the junkyard and take up Tibetan Buddhism, the only religion that has the capability to give one enough strength to overcome one's weaknesses. In no way is this film just another sequel to David Cronenberg's far inferior film Scanners. This is a treatise on how to live life successfully. I urge you to watch it immediately.
Scanners III is a wonderfully cerebral film, chock full of allusions and references to American folklore, popular science fiction novels of the past century (i.e. 1984 and just about everything by Michael Chricton), Huey Lewis and The News song lyrics (I've got a brand new drug) and the religion and philosophy of the Algonquin Indians. What an analytical treat!!
As the iconography in this film suggests, American culture is dominated by the media, the pharmecutical companies, and cheap dares we do to impress girls on Saturday nights. We are soulless zombies, only acting on impulses that have been passed down to us by our parents. If we only used our heads (as Alex Monet does in this film (monet is an obvious reference to the french impressionistic artist...there are many more delicious reference-goodies in this gem!)), we could overcome the social and mental chains that are hindering us from developing as a society.
The film is beckoning us to cast away homburg hats and black suits of the nineteen forties for more casual clothing, eschew hot concentual sex with busty mental-hospital nurses for passionate lovemaking with loved ones, to send christianity and all of western society to the junkyard and take up Tibetan Buddhism, the only religion that has the capability to give one enough strength to overcome one's weaknesses. In no way is this film just another sequel to David Cronenberg's far inferior film Scanners. This is a treatise on how to live life successfully. I urge you to watch it immediately.
Still fresh
Leofwine_draca3 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
SCANNERS III: THE TAKEOVER is the last of the trilogy and it's refreshing to see that it's still introducing interesting ideas and plot thematics to the series; the one thing you can say about these films is that they don't repeat themselves. Christian Duguay returns as director for another fresh adventure about a new kind of mind-control patch that controls all of the negative aspects of 'scanning' - but has unforeseen consequences to boot. There's a new female villain, and the only one to stop her is her scanner brother who's fled to a Buddhist sanctuary in Thailand for some much-needed r&r.
THE TAKEOVER focuses much more on the comedy and action this time around, with a lot of creative duels and set-pieces and at least one crowd-pleasing head explosion. It's a bit unusual to see so much humour here, with the villain dropping regular wisecracks a la Freddy Krueger and lots of goofball moments, but at least it's lively and never dull. The action has a B-movie feel but with a welter of FX work and death, it's always entertaining, and I found particularly interesting the anti-feminist subtext (the perils of a female executive in the boardroom?) and the use of broadcast television to sinister effect; this feels like a SCANNERS meets VIDEODROME crossover at times.
THE TAKEOVER focuses much more on the comedy and action this time around, with a lot of creative duels and set-pieces and at least one crowd-pleasing head explosion. It's a bit unusual to see so much humour here, with the villain dropping regular wisecracks a la Freddy Krueger and lots of goofball moments, but at least it's lively and never dull. The action has a B-movie feel but with a welter of FX work and death, it's always entertaining, and I found particularly interesting the anti-feminist subtext (the perils of a female executive in the boardroom?) and the use of broadcast television to sinister effect; this feels like a SCANNERS meets VIDEODROME crossover at times.
Scanner's III the best of the Scanners trilogy.
BigTete19 October 1998
I rented this movie by mistake about three years ago, and ever since then, I've been a huge Scanners fan. This movie, which is in my opinion the best of all the Scanners films. Stars, Liliana Kormorowska (The Assignment, Screamers) as Helena Monet a scanner bent on ruling the world because of something called eph-3 which completely transforms her from you average every day nice girl to one of the most sadistic people I've ever seen. Her brother Alex (played by Steve Parish) is the only scanner with enough power to stop her and what ensues is an awesome confrontation of scanner power the likes of which I've never seen before. This movie is a must see if you've enjoyed the other Scanner's films and if you've never seen a scanner's film why not start with this one?
A Feminist Scanner. Yeeesh!
DavyDissonance3 January 2018
Scanners 3 is about a woman who discovers her scanner powers which gives her permanent non-stop PMS and wants to kill everyone. Her pansy ass brother must stop her. Same director and same year production (I think) and yet it is vastly inferior to the 2nd installment. What the f***? It's not bad at all, it's just the 2nd Scanners was well shot and this is just, I don't know, stupid. The direction was a little incompetent, the acting was retarded and story was silly and stupid. The action was good though this installment is less gory and not as well executed. Still it serves as good entertainment for those who like their entertainment horrid.
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