Scanners (1981)
Movie rating: 8/10
A great high-concept premise; a script written and directed by body horror maestro David Cronenberg; a dark ’80s synth score by future Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore; Michael Ironside in one of his most iconic performances, and an unforgettable special effects scene depicting severe head trauma. All this and more you’ll find in Scanners, the low-budget sci-fi/horror cult classic that put Canadian cinema on the map for international audiences.
The film opens with derelict Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack), who suffers from voices in his head, inadvertently causing a woman to have a seizure which leads to his apprehension by agents of the private military firm ConSec. Vale is a “scanner”, one of 237 human beings born with extraordinary mental abilities that include telepathy and telekinesis. Brought under the charge of Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan), who works for ConSec, Vale learns about a renegade scanner named Darryl Revok (Ironside), a former mental patient who tried to drill a hole into his own skull to let out the voices torturing his mind. Revok is building an underground opposition force and killing all scanners who oppose him. After a famous scene in which Revok kills a “domesticated” ConSec scanner by causing his head to explode, Ruth dispatches Vale to find and infiltrate Revok’s group.
Cronenberg describes Scanners as one of his most difficult films to make. In order to claim subsidies from the Canadian government’s Capital Cost Allowance tax shield, the filmmakers rushed Scanners into production without a complete script or built sets. During filming, Cronenberg habitually spent mornings writing the script before showing up to set.
Under such pressure, the film Cronenberg managed to make is impressive. The concept of scanners here is reminiscent of mutants in the X-Men franchise. Vale plays the role of audience surrogate, drawing us into the world of scanners as he (and we) gradually learn more about their abilities. Much of this is provided through exposition, but feels natural in the context of the script. The most memorable scenes are those in which the scanners use their abilities, the full potential of which is only revealed to us by the end.
The performances vary. Lack, in the protagonist’s role, can be a little wooden as Vale. His line readings often feel monotonous and unnatural. On the other hand, you can argue these qualities reflect his character, who has spent all his life in a kind of fractured mental state, unable to even hear his own thoughts because of the intrusion of thoughts from the people surrounding him. Lack is playing a man still learning how to adapt to “normalcy”, aided by the drug ephemerol Ruth provides him that subdues his telepathic abilities. On top of this, Vale has to deal with many revelations throughout about scanners and his own origins.
The rest of the cast do well in their performance, but Ironside is by far the standout. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes him so magnetic as Revok. I’ve seen Ironside before in villainous roles (lead henchman Richter in Total Recall, voice of Darkseid in the DC Animated Universe) and as tough-as-nails military authority figures (Lt. Rasczak in Starship Troopers, Gen. Ashdown in Terminator Salvation). But there’s something so perfect about his malevolence here, the facial expressions and body language he uses when displaying Revok’s abilities as a scanner. Like all the best villains, Revok turns out to have compelling motivations when we learn the truth about his identity and his relation to Vale.
Answers to the mysteries that unfold throughout the film — the origins of the scanners, Vale’s identity, Revok’s ultimate plan — keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Some key plot points, such as the allegiance of ConSec security head Braedon Keller (Lawrence Dane), are either underdeveloped or never explained at all. While the rush of exposition in the final scenes can feel a bit rushed, the climactic scanner vs. scanner duel is gripping, inventive, and unpredictable. Given the film’s reputation, I always imagined it would end with another head exploding, but Cronenberg offers a much more interesting resolution.
The ending leaves you curious and wanting more, a promise that direct-to-video sequels made without Cronenberg’s involvement failed to expand upon. As it is, Scanners works nicely as a self-contained story. As a Canadian viewer, I appreciated scenes filmed on location in Toronto and Montreal. With apologies to Mars Attacks!, this is the best movie I’ve seen with a major focus on exploding heads.
