So, everybody in the world has heard about the movie Scanners.





... But nobody really seems to have seen it. Everybody knows about it because this happens in it:


...A really great special-effect of a guy's head exploding. I had always assumed, therefore, that the movie was about scanners (whatever they might be) that go around making people's heads explode, and the movie was all chock-full of heads exploding. And that seemed to be everybody else's general impression of the movie, too -- and yet none of us actually seem to have seen this movie. So, to kick off the Halloween-viewing season, Mr. Hall and I decided to finally watch it.

Plot: A doctor (Patrick McGoohan) is investigating the power of "scanners" -- a group of social misfits with ESP strong enough that they can use it to hurt people -- and their capabilities as a "weapon" for the government. He captures Cameron Vale, one of these weirdos, who he calms down with injections of a drug that helps him control his ESP ("Ephemeral") and convinces him to become a spy to check out the leader of the weirdos, Darryl Revok, who seems to be amassing an army of scanners to take over the world. 

General Issues

Well... First of all, if you're hoping to see bunches of heads exploding in this movie, you're going to be let-down. There's just one outright head explosion at the beginning, and that's about it.

That said, the movie starts out really promisingly. I was intrigued. It was a nice sci-fi scenario. But -- after the exciting beginning of the film, which is one of the two parts people remember -- it bogs down in the middle. The story becomes a bit unfocused and you're not sure why our hero is going places or what he hopes to accomplish. But honestly, the biggest problem is that this guy who plays our lead, "Cameron Vale" (actor/artist Stephen Lack) -- although he does an excellent job of convincingly looking as though he is using telepathic powers and/or having telepathic powers used on him...
Gnnnnnghghghghghhghghgh.He just isn't super strong at delivering lines of dialogue. Not to put too fine a point on it, but when he's talking like a regular person and doing "normal people" stuff, he comes across as a bit of a... well, bad actor. It  hampers the film. Where a stronger actor could have given an edge... he blunts the effect. (I was a little reminded of Bruce Campbell, who [for me] is a bit of a similar case. When he's saying normal human stuff, he's just a so-so actor. But when he's asked to laugh and cry shriek like a possessed maniac, he's brilliant.)
Don't waste Bruce Campbell on lines like, "What's for dinner, honey?"SO! As I was saying, Stephen Lack was cute and harmless, and very good at all the grunting and groaning, so I can see why they hired him. But not an A+ actor.
[image error] See? Cute and harmless. And he grew up to look like an
old Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs".The other actors were pretty strong. I enjoyed Patrick McGoohan; he was pleasantly enigmatic; and the villain (Michael Ironsides) was pretty strong. And it was directed by David Cronenberg of The Fly fame, so you know there's going to be some gross stuff in it!

The Ending (**Spoilers in Pink!**)
Okay. There is one other part of the movie I especially liked... the ending. I also didn't like it. I liked it because we finally got more of those extreme special effects that we saw at the beginning (it wasn't heads outright exploding, but plenty of other stuff exploded) -- it's from that section that we get the other most famous image from scanners, this guy: 



... Excellent special effects in that part. I couldn't even quite figure out how they did some of those effects, given that this was made in a time before CGI. So, yeah! Wholly worth it for the special effects!

That said, the actual story climax left a bit to be desired. I liked that, in the beginning, it was kind of ambiguous why the "Scanners" exist -- but that is entirely clarified by explanations in the ending, with a touch of Luke-I-am-your-father-type situation thrown in. Bit of a let-down, that. But a let-down mixed with super good special effects!

All and all...
The whole move was kind of a mixed bag. Some parts of it were dull mis-steps. Some parts of it were super exciting and really well done! Ultimately, then, it was a solid... C+? Maybe scrapes by with a B-? It was definitely worth watching once, at least for the special effects, but I'm not sure it's worth watching repeatedly or owning. In the end, then, it's

RECOMMENDED(With reservations about dullness and mis-steps!)