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Scanners is an absolute classic scifi horror film that I somehow managed to avoid my entire life. On first glance, you might think this 1981 masterpiece is just about exploding heads, trench coats and mind reading. But this is Cronenberg at his disturbing best.
In this dystopian hellscape, human telepaths known as "scanners" are weaponized by multinational corporations for nefarious purposes. Homeless man and scanner Cameron Vale is captured by ConSec Corporation, given a drug called Ephemerol to control his telepathy, and set on a mission to locate a renegade scanner named Darryl Revok. It turns out there are underground scanner groups across the country and Revok is intent on controlling or killing them all.
Not sure how much I can buy into the idea of a scanner hacking computer systems using their minds but whatever. This gripping story had the early 80s flair and pacing of a spy thriller. I was kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed Scanners and stoked to find out about the existence of a number of sequels. I guess there was a reboot in the works in 2007 that never got off the ground. I was also shocked to realize that the bearded and bespectacled Dr. Ruth was actually played by the Prisoner's Patrick McGoohan. Very appropriate. 8.8 exploding skulls out of 10.
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