Scanners (1981)

Tagline: ‘Their thoughts can kill’
UK Running Time: 103 Minutes

Film Quality: 4/5
Gore Content: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 4/5
Originality: 3.5/5

Introduction

Following up on some underground hits with ‘Shivers’, ‘Rabid’ and ‘The Brood’, Canadian director David Cronenberg was carving out a reputation as a bit of a horror auteur. His particular brand of horror had an unnerving element of the sexual, his film were interesting with the female characters being the ones to cause danger, terror and harm to their male victims. With this in mind ‘Scanners’ marked something of a shift towards more conventional storytelling, blending elements of political intrigue, science fiction and horror that he would elaborate upon in his later films ‘Videodrome’ and ‘The Dead Zone’. Including one standout scene that threatened to trump the rest of the film, ‘Scanners’ was far less ‘dirty’ but caused people to take Cronenberg seriously.

In a nutshell

An underground movement of human beings born with powerful telekinetic powers known as Scanners become a threat to a large company, ConSec, who want to use them as potential weapons. It soon becomes apparent that the renegade leader is recruiting Scanners to bring down ConSec, killing any of them, or anyone else who gets in his way. ConSec recruit a Scanner who has slipped under the radar, starting a battle between the two as they try to learn the truth about each other and ConSec’s motives.

What’s good about it?

This is an offal scene!

I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to talk about the exploding head! Cronenberg originally wanted to use the scene at the beginning of the film, going so far as to edit it that way but it was so powerful that audiences struggled to connect with the rest of the film. As a consequence it arrives around 15 minutes in to introduce us to Revok, played by the impressive Michael Ironside and what a powerful weapon he could turn out to be. You can wax lyrical about the barriers that have been broken by CGI but give me analogue effects any day, especially when done like this. Cronenberg filled a plastic head with offal and had someone shoot it from behind with a shotgun and the result is astounding!

I’ve already mentioned that Cronenberg’s previous films showed a fascination for the power of female sexuality. Sexual violence in horror has always proved to be problematic for many and it was wise for Cronenberg to try something different, creating his most accessible film up to that point. Despite its reputation and exploding head, it’s nowhere near as visceral as his previous films and plays more like a political thriller at times. It’s the first Cronenberg film where you don’t feel like you need a shower after having watched it, and that’s not necessarily a criticism of his previous films.

That said, most of Cronenberg’s tropes are very much in evident. It can certainly be categorised as body horror, characters are able to change and control the body against the host’s wishes. We’ve got the shady governmental corporation behind what appears to be either a conspiracy or a cover up in ConSec. There is some ambiguity about the villain, is he really evil or is he just looking to preserve his own kind, seeing it as an evolution of man. Then of course there’s the distrust and misuse of science and technology and how its influence can affect the course of mankind. It’s all there.

Speaking of the villain, the performance of Michael Ironside (right) as Revok is sensational and he steals every scene in which he makes an appearance. He’s charismatic, inspirational and ruthless, in fact he reminds me very much of ‘The Joker’ in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ in that he is clearly unhinged and evil but you very much warm to his character out of sheer energy and presence. For me Ironside is, alongside James Woods in ‘Videodrome’ and Jeff Goldblum in ‘The Fly’, the standout performance in a Cronenberg movie.

What about the bad?

Quite literally the only time Lack lit up a scene!

It’s far from a perfect film. First of all the performance of Ironside contrasts starkly with Stephen Lack who doesn’t so much phone in his portrayal of good Scanner Cameron Vale as send it by courier pigeon. Unfortunately this does change the dynamic of the film for me because I found myself rooting for Revok who is far more electrifying and worthy of survival (although this may be a good time to reference that terrifically ambivalent ending…watch it and decide for yourself!).

Also, it’s certainly tense but by eschewing a lot of the visual splendour the film does feel kind of colourless. The exploding head highlights this fact all the more so because that scene is just about all that anybody can remember which is a shame because, under the surface, this has something to say about big American pharmaceutical companies and the nature of power. It’s an intelligent film but one almost completely without humour which does make it a bit of a slog to get through, especially after the breathtaking first 20 minutes.

Any themes?

I think it has a very interesting subtext and mirrors, to some extent, the Thalidomide scandal. Scanners are mutations caused by the taking of a drug called Ephemerol by pregnant women, a clear reference to what happened with the aforementioned drug being linked to babies born with malformed limbs in Germany in the 1950s. The fact that the plan is to market Ephemerol to pregnant women who will give birth to Scanners for Revok to recruit only serves to underpin Cronenberg’s distrust of large Pharmaceutical or medical firms, something that will resonate today. It wasn’t the first time his films featured a faceless corporation within the healthcare industry using experimental methods that went awry and it wasn’t his last.

Release History

Despite the BBFC’s ambivalent attitude towards exploding heads (excised from Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ and the Bond film ‘License to Kill’ but allowing similar scenes in ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ and the PG rated ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’) ‘Scanners’ has never concerned the censors. There does exist a cut US TV version but in the UK it has only ever been screened uncut.

Cultural Impact

This is where it gets interesting for me…was ‘Scanners’ an inspiration on Brian Singer’s ‘X-Men’ movies? There is a backstory to Revok’s character where old footage (left) shows that he tried to drill a hole in his head to ‘let the voices out’, a story that is repeated by one of the female characters in ‘X-Men 2’ to release her mental images. The Scanners are rejects from society in a very similar way to the mutants in ‘X-Men’, forcing the insane Revok to rise up and try and preserve his kind whilst also wiping out any of them who stand in his way. I think there was even an X-Men comic character called Scanner who was able to astral project.

There were two sequels, neither featuring characters from the first movie, and there was a spin off series of films called ‘Scanner Cop’. None of them are in the same league as ‘Scanners’ but neither are they so terrible that they sully the reputation of the first one. Most genre fans prefer to regard ‘Scanners’ as a standalone film and simply disregard the sequels. Thankfully talk of a remake have gone away although there were rumours as recently as 2012 about turning it into a TV series but this has also failed to materialise.

Final Thoughts

A mature horror/Sci-fi thriller this was Cronenberg’s most mainstream film at the time and you get the feeling he needed a hit to be able to do what he wanted with the magnificent ‘Videodrome’ and then commanding bigger budgets for movies like ‘The Fly’, ‘The Dead Zone’ and ‘Dead Ringers’. It perhaps wouldn’t have had the notoriety without the famous exploding head but there’s a lot else to admire in this film and is still very highly regarded within Cronenberg’s impressive body of work.

Memorable Quote

Vale: “I can hear myself…I think I’m a bit afraid.”

Revok: “We’re gonna do this the Scanner way, I’m going to suck your brain dry”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Videodrome’, ‘The Fury’, ‘The Dead Zone’, ‘X-Men’.