Review of Scanners (1981) by Tony U — 06 Jul 2008

The movie advertisement picture is an exaggeration of what the movie is about. I think critics shunned this movie for that very reason. When I was younger, I recall renting this movie and being let down because I wanted more blood, guts, and violence. In actuality, this is a very sensitive movie where both the good guys and bad guys are victims of an unusual brain condition that causes them to have telekinetic powers. The movie goes deeply into developing these special characters referred to as "scanners" and it leads to an interesting suspense movie. It is a quiet movie that has peaceful dialogue. This style is always fascinating to me because it makes the world seem oblvious to the fact that the future is dependent on an unobtrusive person who has to use his scanning powers to prevent other scanners who have become the antagonists from basically sabatoging the world with their powers. Aside from Jennifer O'Neil, who is a charmer in this movie, the characters are mostly unknown actors or fairly well known actors who never landed leading roles.

The style is very reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick. Quiet dialogue that focuses intensely on those characters involved in the dialogue whilst muting the cacaphonous dialogues that exist in the world around the story being told. I've always enjoyed that cinema style.

There are also references to insanity as seen from the radical scanner who had become an artist. It was fascinating artwork to say the least.