“Did you see that scene in “Scanners” when that dude’s head blew up?” This fantastic quote from 1992’s “Wayne’s World” was for a very long time the only thing I knew about the film “Scanners.” After seeing the film, I realized the genius of Mike Myers to write that line into the script, and it remains one of my most quoted lines at most every opportunity. Glorious!
“Scanners” was released back when I was negative five years old in 1981. The film was instrumental in setting the pace for its fantastic director, David Cronenberg. “Scanners” kicked off a crazy run of films by Cronenberg including “Videodrome,” “The Dead Zone,” “The Fly,” and “Dead Ringers.” Known as a leader in the genre of body horror, his movies served the main purpose to make you puke at their level of disgust. I mean, Jesus Christ. Have you seen these films?
Admittedly, “Scanners” is probably the least of the body horror except for the fact of the previously stated head exploding. The movie feels like if you took Mulder and Scully and one of their monsters of the week and turned it into a full-length feature film. Oh, and one that doesn’t suck…looking at you “The X-Files: I Want to believe” (funny enough about that “X-Files” film—it actually makes you sick but in a totally different way than Cronenberg’s body horror flicks).
“Scanners” deals with telepathy and psychokinesis. That’s the plot. Yeah there is a little more, but again…the plots are thin with these horror movies. And that is a-okay! It’s like one of my first dates with my wife. She cooked an elegant meal. It was wonderful, but she could’ve just easily ordered some Domino’s and I’d be in love. Point is, you don’t need to force feed me “Citizen Kane” or “The Deer Hunter.” Just show me a dude’s head exploding and I am content.
Where “Scanners” really pulls at the old heart strings is that it is so ‘80s. You know when you watch “Stranger Things” and you’re like, “man, the ‘80s must’ve been a wild time.” Watching “Scanners” is proof of that awesome time. A simpler time. One where people’s heads could explode from just a look.
While not Cronenberg’s finest film—that is “The Fly”—“Scanners” is a pretty damn good example of creepy sci-fi and just how effective a strange score could be. Highly recommended to anyone who really wants to zone out and escape the world of slasher flicks and all that torture horror bullshit of the early ‘00s. “Scanners” is so good, it’ll blow your mind.
