''Scanners'' is a 1981 Canadian

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. In the film, "scanners" are

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

s with unusual

telepathic Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

and telekinetic powers. ConSec, a purveyor of weaponry and security systems, searches out scanners to use them for its own purposes. The film's plot concerns the attempt by Darryl Revok (Ironside), a renegade scanner, to wage a war against ConSec. Another scanner, Cameron Vale (Lack), is dispatched by ConSec to stop Revok. ''Scanners'' premiered in January 1981 to lukewarm reviews from critics but became one of the first films produced in Canada to successfully compete with American films at the international box office. It brought Cronenberg and his controversial style of body horror attention to mainstream film audiences for the first time and has since been reevaluated as a

cult classic A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

. It is particularly well known for a scene that depicts Revok psychically causing a rival scanner's head to graphically explode.

Plot

Cameron Vale is a vagrant suffering from voices manifesting in his head. Vale is unaware that he has caused a rude woman to have a

seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...

with his telepathic abilities. He is captured by two mysterious men and brought to Dr. Paul Ruth. Ruth explains that Vale is one of 237 super-powered individuals known as ''scanners'' who are capable of

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

, empathy, biokinesis, technopathy and

psychokinesis Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...

. Ruth injects Vale with a drug, ephemerol, which restores his sanity by temporarily inhibiting his scanning abilities. Dr. Ruth teaches him to control his powers. Darryl Revok, a powerful scanner, is a former mental patient who was driven insane from hearing uncontrollable streams of thoughts. At a marketing event for the private military company ConSec, Revok volunteers in a demonstration about scanning, but he explodes the head of the ConSec scanner. He seeks to convince other scanners to help him in his quest for domination, and to kill opposing scanners. The company's leader is embarrassed and frustrated. ConSec's new security head Braedon Keller advocates shutting down the company's scanner research program, especially since it has no scanners after the tragic incident. Dr. Ruth disagrees with Keller, believing that scanners are the next stage of human evolution. Dr. Ruth argues that the assassination demonstrates how dangerous Revok is. Ruth convinces Vale to help infiltrate Revok's group. Unknown to Ruth, Keller is working for Revok and informs him of Ruth's infiltration plan. Revok dispatches assassins to follow Vale as he visits an unaffiliated scanner, Benjamin Pierce, a successful yet reclusive sculptor who copes with his abilities through his art. Revok's assassins murder Pierce, but Vale defeats the assassins with his biokenetic and telekinetic abilities. He reads Pierce's dying thoughts and learns of another group of scanners, led by Kim Obrist, who oppose Revok's group. Vale tracks down Obrist and attends a meeting, but Revok's assassins strike again; only Vale and Obrist survive. Vale learns of a pharmaceutical company, Biocarbon Amalgamate. He discovers it manufactures ephemerol and that Revok is distributing the drug utilizing a computerized ConSec plan, codenamed Ripe. Vale and Obrist go to ConSec to investigate. Dr. Ruth admits that he founded Biocarbon Amalgamate but has no direct connection to it anymore. He claims no knowledge of Revok's involvement there. He encourages Vale to cyberpathically scan the computer system to learn more. Keller attacks Obrist and kills Ruth. Vale and Obrist flee the ConSec building. Vale cyberpathically hacks into the computer network using a telephone booth and downloads ephemerol shipment information directly into his mind. Keller is killed when the computer explodes during his attempt to intercept Vale. Vale and Obrist visit Dr. Frame, someone who is receiving the drug. Obrist encounters a pregnant woman and realizes the woman's fetus has scanned her. Vale confronts Dr. Frame and learns that Revok's plan is to prescribe ephemerol to pregnant women, turning their children into scanners. Revok's group captures Vale and Obrist and take them to the Biocarbon Amalgamate plant. Revok reveals to Vale that they are both sons of Dr. Ruth, who developed ephemerol as a sedative for pregnant women. Ruth learned about the drug's

side effect In medicine, a side effect is an effect of the use of a medicinal drug or other treatment, usually adverse but sometimes beneficial, that is unintended. Herbal and traditional medicines also have side effects. A drug or procedure usually use ...

during his wife's pregnancies, and he made them the most powerful scanners in the world by administering a prototype dosage prior to abandoning them. Revok reveals to Vale that he plans to create and lead a new generation of scanners to take over the world, but Vale refuses to join him. Vale accuses Revok of acting like his father, which enrages Revok. The brothers engage in a telepathic duel, which incinerates Vale's body. However, when Obrist encounters Revok, she discovers that Vale somehow has managed to take over Revok's body during the duel.

Cast

William Hope, Christopher Britton, and Leon Herbert have uncredited appearances as Bicarbon Amalgamate employees.

Neil Affleck Neil Affleck is a Canadian animator, director, actor, and teacher. He has worked as an animation-timer and director on ''The Simpsons'' and ''Family Guy''. As an actor, he appeared in the 1981 film ''Scanners'' and had a leading role in the 1981 f ...

has a minor role as a medical student.

Production

Financing

Scanners was based on David Cronenberg's scripts ''The Sensitives'' and ''Telepathy 2000'', which he planned to pitch to

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

before beginning work on '' The Brood''. Corman was shown the script, but did nothing with it. Cronenberg has called ''Scanners'' one of his most difficult films to make; most Canadian film productions of the 1970s and the early 1980s were funded through a 100-percent

Capital Cost Allowance Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) is the means by which Canadian businesses may claim depreciation expense for calculating taxable income under the '' Income Tax Act''. Similar allowances are in effect for calculating taxable income for provincial purpo ...

tax shield for investors passed by Prime Minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

in 1974, and the film was rushed into production without a finished script or constructed sets to claim the subsidies. Victor Snolicki, Dick Schouten, and Pierre David of Vision 4, a company taking advantage of Canada's tax shelter policies, aided Cronenberg in the film's financing. Vision 4 dissolved after Schouten's death and reorganized into Filmplan International.

Filming

The film's first draft was not a script, but instead a series of ideas. The film was given two weeks of pre-production while a script was not yet written. According to Cronenberg, he would spend mornings prior to filming writing scenes. The film was initially titled ''The Sensitives'', but it was altered as Cronenberg felt "it was too wimpy" while ''Scanners'' "was very strong". Cronenberg stated that the drug aspect of the film might have been influenced by '' Blue Sunshine''. Star Jennifer O'Neill was given a script with all of the violence edited out and cried after seeing the uncensored script. The film was shot in Montreal from October 30 to December 23, 1979, on a budget of $4,100,000 (). Cronenberg stated that "the first day was the most disastrous shooting day I've ever had" as "there was nothing to shoot" and a distracted truck driver watching the film crew hit a car killing two women inside it. The lecture scene was filmed at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

, and the Charles J. Des Baillets Water Treatment Plant doubled as the 'Bicarbon Amalgamate' compound. The "Future Electronique" building in Vaudreuil-Dorion provided the exterior of 'ConSec' headquarters. The sequence of Revok ( Michael Ironside) hijacking a car and causing another to crash were shot on Rue de la Commune. Additional scenes were filmed in the Yorkville neighborhood. However, since the United States dominated the film industry and Canadian films were being marketed for international audiences, the film downplays its Canadian origin in favor of a generic "North American" setting. The only indicators of its location are a scene of Revok and Keller meeting at the Yorkdale station of the Toronto subway and some visible bilingual signs. Cronenberg stated that "''Scanners'' had the longest post-production of any film I've ever done" due to its nine months of editing and reshoots.

Effects

Make-up artist Dick Smith (''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...

'', '' Amadeus'') provided prosthetics for the climactic scanner duel and the iconic exploding head effect. Chris Walas, working at Lucasfilm at the time and later providing effects work for '' The Fly'' and '' Naked Lunch'', also worked on the exploding head effect. Cronenberg later said in 2006 that ''Scanners'' was his most difficult film to shoot due to its special effects and complex story. The iconic head explosion scene was produced by trial and error, with the producers eventually deciding on a gelatin-encassed plaster skull packed with "leftover burgers" as well as "latex scraps, some wax, and just bits and bobs and a lot of stringy stuff that we figured would fly through the air a little better". When other explosive techniques failed to give the desired effect, special effects supervisor Gary Zeller told the crew to roll cameras and get inside their trucks with doors and windows closed; he then crouched down behind the dummy and shot it in the back of the head with a shotgun. The exploding head scene was filmed four times, but Cronenberg accepted the first shot and did not remain to watch the three others, opting to instead take a nap in his Winnebago. The scene depicting the exploding head was trimmed down to allow for a R-rating from the

MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, the mini-major Amazon MGM Studios, as well as the video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. F ...

. Cronenberg originally intended for the scene to be the film's opening, but placed it later in the film after test screenings.

Release

The film was distributed by New World Pictures in Canada, Les Films Mutuels in Quebec, and Avco Embassy Pictures in the United States. ''Scanners'' was released in the United States on January 14, and in Canada on January 16, 1981. A novelization by Leon Whiteson, ''David Cronenberg's Scanners'', was also released in 1981. The film was released on VHS in 1982.

Reception

Box-office

The film grossed $2,758,147 from 387 theatres in its opening weekend. It grossed domestically a total of $14,225,876 at the box-office. Cronenberg stated that it was his first film to be number one at the box office.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on , with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Scanners'' is a dark sci-fi story with special effects that'll make your head explode." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it has a weighted average score of 60% based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Film professor Charles Derry, in his overview of the horror genre ''Dark Dreams'', cited ''Scanners'' as "an especially important masterwork" and calling it the '' Psycho'' of its day. In a contemporary review for '' Ares Magazine'', Christopher John commented that "''Scanners'' is top-notch entertainment. It is haunting, exciting, shocking and literate – an unusual combination to discover in a film these days." Some reviews were less positive. Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave ''Scanners'' two out of four stars and wrote, ''Scanners'' is so lockstep that we are basically reduced to watching the special effects, which are good but curiously abstract, because we don't much care about the people they're happening around". In his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

wrote, "Had Mr. Cronenberg settled simply for horror, as

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...

did in his classic ''

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

'' (though not in his not-so-classic '' The Fog''), ''Scanners'' might have been a Grand Guignol treat. Instead he insists on turning the film into a mystery, and mystery demands eventual explanations that, when they come in ''Scanners'', underline the movie's essential foolishness". John Simon of ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich L ...

'' described ''Scanners'' as trash. A reassessment of ''Scanners'' in the 2012 issue of '' CineAction'' looks at the film in light of Cronenberg's use of allegory and parables in much of his work. The argument is made that Cronenberg uses iconic imagery that refers directly and indirectly to the thirty-something Scanners as 1960s political radicals,

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

hippies, and as nascent Young Urban Professionals. As a result, the film can be seen "as an oblique reflection on what might happen when the counterculture becomes the dominant culture". Kim Newman noted in an essay for

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

that at the same time the film rejects the conservative values of the 1980s and the nostalgia for the 1950s present in contemporary science-fiction films such as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' and ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...

''. The film's fictional drug ephemerol also mirrors the real-life thalidomide scandal, in which the popular West German medication

thalidomide Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, is an oral administered medication used to treat a number of cancers (e.g., multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and many skin disorders (e.g., complication ...

caused severe

birth defect A birth defect is an abnormal condition that is present at birth, regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can range from mild to severe. Birth de ...

s in children born to mothers prescribed the drug for morning sickness in Western Europe and Canada.

Accolades

Although ''Scanners'' was not nominated for any major awards, it did receive some recognition. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films gave the film its Saturn Award in 1981 for "Best International Film", and, in addition, the "Best Make-Up" award went to Dick Smith in a tie with ''

Altered States ''Altered States'' is a 1980 American science fiction horror film directed by Ken Russell, and adapted by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky from his 1978 novel of the same name. The novel and the film are based in part on John C. Li ...

''. The film had also been nominated for "Best Special Effects". ''Scanners'' also won "Best International Fantasy Film" from Fantasporto in 1983, and was nominated for eight

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculpt ...

in 1982, but did not win any.

Soundtrack

Mondo released the

Howard Shore Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer, conductor and orchestrator noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and '' The Hobbit'' fi ...

score for ''Scanners'', alongside '' The Brood'', on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

; it features cover art by Sam Wolfe Conelly.

Legacy

''Scanners'' spawned sequels and a series of spin-offs; a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

was announced in 2007, but had not gone into production. Cronenberg was not involved in the sequels as he was both uninterested and would not make money off the characters or story he wrote.

Sequels

* '' Scanners II: The New Order'' (1991) * '' Scanners III: The Takeover'' (1992)

Spin-offs

* '' Scanner Cop'' (1994) * '' Scanners: The Showdown'' (also known as ''Scanner Cop II)'' (1995)

Canceled remake

In February 2007,

Darren Lynn Bousman Darren Lynn Bousman (; born January 11, 1979) is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in horror films. He has directed four of the ''Saw (franchise), Saw'' films: ''Saw II'', ''Saw III'', ''Saw IV'', and ''Spiral ( ...

(director of '' Saw II'', '' Saw III'', and '' Saw IV'') was announced as director of a remake of the film, to be released by

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...

and Dimension Films. David S. Goyer was assigned to script the film. The film was planned for release on October 17, 2008, but the date came and went without further announcements and all of the parties involved have since moved on to other projects. In an interview with Bousman in 2013, he recalled that he would not make the film without Cronenberg's approval, which was not granted.

Television series

Attempts to make a series include Dimension in 2011, Media Res and Bron Studios in 2017, and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

, Media Res Studio, and Wayward Films in 2022.

References

Works cited

* * * *

External links

* * * * *
''Scanners: Mind and Matter''
an essay by Kim Newman at the Criterion Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Scanners Scanners (film series) 1981 films 1981 horror films 1981 action films 1981 independent films 1980s science fiction horror films 1980s science fiction action films 1980s action horror films Canadian action horror films Canadian independent films Embassy Pictures films English-language Canadian films Films about consciousness transfer Films directed by David Cronenberg Films scored by Howard Shore Films shot in Montreal Films shot in Toronto Fiction about mind control Canadian science fiction action films Films about telekinesis Films about prejudice Canadian science fiction horror films Canadian body horror films Films set in 1983 1980s English-language films 1980s Canadian films Video nasties 1981 science fiction films English-language action horror films English-language science fiction horror films English-language science fiction action films English-language independent films Saturn Award–winning films