Review of Scanners (1981) by Stefan G — 19 Jan 2015

An interesting story but terrible acting and poor production.

Central plot was intriguing. Man discovers he has telekinetic powers, gets recruited by company to harness his powers in a fight against a rival organisation (run by an uber-telekineticist). Investigations, mind-games, confrontations and action ensue.

Despite the decent plot, it feels rushed towards the end. Final scene comes out of the blue.

Two things stopped this from being a much better movie, and potential sci fi classic. Firstly, the performances are horrendously bad. There is hardly a credible performance to be seen. Patrick McGoohan and Jennifer O'Neill are probably the best of the lot and they're just so-so. Stephen Lack is pretty dull in the lead role, and Michael Ironside goes in the opposite direction, overacting as the bad guy.

Furthermore, this movie contains some of the worst bit-part acting you'll see in a mainstream movie. eg The guy who falls backward before being shot!

Second negative aspect: the production. Everything seems cheap and B-grade. Worst of all is the sound. It feels as if the dialogue was dubbed into the movie, and not synced very well with the actors' lips - it's that bad.

Overall: reasonably entertaining and not a total waste of time. Plus you get to see the famous exploding head scene...