The above line is shouted by Michael Ironside in the final moments of Scanners, David Cronenberg's telepathy/body horror nightmare from 1981. The film concerns a piece of cardboard (Stephen Lack) with telepathic abilities, called a scanner, who is forcefully recruited by a mysterious corporation to hunt out others like him. Michael Ironside happens to be one of these scanners, but he's bad. He can make people's heads explode into ketchup with his scanner powers. Plot things happen.
Scanners is fun and often effectively gross. The problem is with the characters. As I said, Cameron Vale is as expressive as cardboard. Thankfully his co-stars act circles around him. Ironside is menacing and creepy, and the corporation's scanner psychopharmacist, played by a loopy Patrick McGoohan, is entertaining as well. But even these and other good performances can't make me care about these characters. Even as the plot got more thrilling and more people's heads started exploding, I was struggling to pay attention.
I'm having trouble mustering up anything else for this. I've never loved Cronenberg as much as I should, loving only Videodrom (1983) and Dead Ringers (1988), but I certainly appreciate him and see why he has such a following. And I'll continue to watch his films hoping to find another classic. Scanners certainly wasn't it.
6.8/10
The Brood, anyone? Is that what I should try next? I feel like I should keep moving backwards in his filmography.
And here's how I rank the Cronenberg films I've seen. From best to worst:
1. Videodrome (1983)
2. Dead Ringers (1988)
3. M. Butterfly (1993)
4. Naked Lunch (1991)
5. The Fly (1986)
6. Scanners (1981)
7. Crash (1966)
8. Eastern Promises (2007)
9. A History of Violence (2005)
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