Scanners

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See scanner for references to devices such as image scanners.

Scanners
Theatrical poster for Scanners
Directed by	David Cronenberg
Produced by	Claude Héroux
Written by	David Cronenberg
Starring	Michael Ironside Jennifer O'Neill Stephen Lack Patrick McGoohan
Music by	Howard Shore
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Editing by	Ronald Sanders
Distributed by	Avco-Embassy Pictures
Release date(s)	January 14, 1981 U.S. release
Running time	103 min
Country	Canada
Language	English
Budget	$3,500,000 (estimated)
Followed by	Scanners II: The New Order Scanners III: The Takeover
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Scanners is a 1981 Canadian sci-fi horror movie written and directed by David Cronenberg.

1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Sequels
4 References in other media
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Scanners are people with telepathic and telekinetic abilities. ConSec, a corporation specialising in weaponry and security systems, is attempting to exploit their talents. At the start of the film, ConSec's last scanner is murdered by renegade Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside): in a notorious scene, Revok makes the scanner's head explode. Revok is captured by ConSec staff but uses his powers to escape.

Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan), the head of ConSec's scanner section, then recruits protagonist Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) (a drifter who can hear others' thoughts) to infiltrate Revok's underground organization.

The story is structured as a futuristic thriller, involving industrial espionage and intrigue, car chases, conspiracies, and shoot-outs (including a gruesome scanner duel between Vale and Revok at the end). It was the nearest thing to a conventional sci-fi thriller Cronenberg had made up to that point, lacking the sexual content of Shivers, Rabid or The Brood; it was also his most profitable film until The Fly six years later.

Because of the oddities of Canada's film financing structures at the time, it was necessary to begin shooting with only two weeks' pre-production work, before the screenplay had been completed. As a result, Cronenberg has said, Scanners was a nightmare to make.

[edit] Cast

Stephen Lack as Cameron Vale
Michael Ironside as Darryl Revok
Patrick McGoohan as Dr. Paul Ruth, psychopharmacist
Jennifer O'Neill as Kim Obrist
Lawrence Dane as Braedon Keller
Robert A. Silverman as Benjamin Pierce
Lee Broker as Security One
Mavor Moore as Trevellyan
Adam Ludwig as Arno Crostic
Murray Cruchley as Programmer 1
Fred Doederlein as Dieter Tautz
Géza Kovács as Killer in Record Store
Sony Forbes as Killer in Attic
Jérôme Tiberghien as Killer in Attic
Denis Lacroix as Killer in Barn

[edit] Sequels

Scanners also has sequels, a series of spinoffs, and a remake is in the works. None of these projects have involved Cronenberg.

[edit] Sequels

Scanners II: The New Order (1991)
Scanners III: The Takeover (1992)

[edit] Spinoffs

Scanner Cop (1994)
Scanners:The Showdown(a.k.a.Scanner Cop II) (1995)

[edit] Remake

As of February 2007, Darren Lynn Bousman (director of Saw II and Saw III) will direct a remake of the film, which will be released by Dimension Films. David Goyer, who wrote Batman Begins, will script the film, and the movie itself is planned for a late 2008 release.

[edit] References in other media

In episode 511 (Gunslinger) of the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, during the host segments, Dr. Clayton Forrester offers "The Scanner Planner" (which, of course, deals with blowing up people's heads ala Daryl Revok) as his end of the episode's "invention exchange". Dr. Forrester then proceeds to use the lessons taught in "The Scanner Planner" to blow up first Tom Servo's head, and then (by the end of the episode) TV's Frank's head. The cover of the planner features the iconic image of Michael Ironside as Daryl Revok, as he is shown during the film's climactic "Scanner battle".

In the 1992 movie Wayne's World, at one point Garth freezes while on TV, prompting an onlooker to comment, "Ever see that scene in Scanners when that dude's head blew up?"

In the 1995 movie Tommy Boy, Richard (David Spade) states "Did anyone see Scanners?" when he realizes the orders have been cancelled.

[edit] Trivia

In a posting to the Polite Dissent: Medicine weblog, Scanners is identified as having the first known media depiction of psychic activity directly or indirectly causing nosebleed. This concept has since become widespread in movies, television, and comic books/graphic novels.

See: http://politedissent.com/archives/1581