Review of Scanners (1981) by Daniel H — 28 Nov 2010

The second major scene sets the tone for the entire film. Two "Scanners," people who have telepathic and telekinetic abilities, do battle. The loser's head explodes. Literally fucking explodes. I've seen my fair share of gore, in real life and in cinema, but this hits a ten on the fucked-up scale. And during the rest of the film, I feared that I was going to see another man's head turn into a watermelon-versus-bottle-rocket horror show. I think this fear is the film's only real achievement. I know we don't watch science fiction for these elements, but the acting is truly horrid, featuring Stephen Lack in the most wooden, forced performance I've seen in a long time, and the dialogue was about as stolid and cliche as anybody can write. Also, I question how a telepath could communicate with a computer; this seems to break the rules the film sets up. Finally, when the Scanners battle, all we get is the sight of straining faces and the sound of a screeching crescendo. I don't know how to improve these moments, but I know that this effect does make for compelling cinema.

Overall, Cronenberg's early work, which I'm seeing for the first time, is not as good - relies too much on gruesomeness - as his later work (cf. Crash and Existenz.