Review of Scanners (1981) by Gavin D — 10 Jul 2013
A lot of creativity and a good premise, here Cronenberg is teetering on the edge of a social satire and irony that would define his later films like Videodrome. Instead this is a mostly plot driven thriller with confusing rules and ideas, a bland lead (who always sound like an inquisitive stooge who's lines were all overdubbed in post and therefore stale.
) The movies confusing logic involving the powers of the scanners starts to unravel near the end (scanning computers). The film also features some weird plot twists that elicit no surprise or emotion, as well as things exploding for no reason when the movie starts to slow down.
The real show stoppers are the special effects, which I enjoyed immensely, I'm a sucker for an exploding prosthetic head! Still a lot of people staring at each other and grimacing, and after a while, it just doesn't cut it.
This review of Scanners (1981) was written by Gavin D on 10 Jul 2013.
Scanners has generally received positive reviews.
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