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Scanners (1981)

Reviewed by Matt
Posted on June 12, 2008 
Filed Under Classics, Movies, Nasties, Slashers

It recently struck me that one of the more clever devices used by the sitcom Friends was the naming of its episodes. Prefixing each title with the words “The One Where…” is quite a sly but telling reference to how the mass audience receives film and television fiction: no matter how much you put into your product or how much merit it contains, its legacy in the popular mind will always rest on one single hook. Clearly, if David Cronenberg’s Scanners was a Friends episode it would be “The One Where The Guy’s Head Explodes”.

The exploding head in question occurs around 15 minutes into the film, and its fame (or infamy) does little to rob it of its impact. It’s a superbly realised moment, both technically (it’s far more accomplished than the similar rupture at the start of Dawn of the Dead) and directorially, hitting a huge crescendo after a seriously creepy buildup in which Michael Ironside’s rogue telepath (or “scanner”) Revok engages in a battle of wills with a hapless fellow telepath giving a demonstration of his abilities. It’s the high point of a sensational opening half hour that both thrills - Revok, head of an underground group of scanners who are plotting a world takeover, subsequently unleashes some serious carnage on the cops who try to arrest him - and tantalises us with a central plot arc that promises much excitement to follow.

Unfortunately, that excitement never really comes. The main plot, in which tortured scanner Cameron Vale is enlisted by security firm ConSec to infiltrate and bring down Revok’s organisation, sadly fails to fulfill its undeniable potential. Apparently production on the film started while the script was still unfinished, and this would serve to explain some of its problems; after a blistering start, the pace slows down almost unbearably, and the action degenerates into a series of somewhat disconnected, vaguely unsatisfactory setpieces, which increasingly rely on the scanners showing hitherto unmentioned abilities in order to further the plot. One example is the sequence in which Vale successfully blows up a computer using his mind via the telephone, which allows the use of some fairly impressive pyrotechnics, but does little to shake the suspicion that everyone was making it up as they went along.

The other problem is that the film criminally underuses Michael Ironside, whose sneering, understated performance is one of the highlights. Revok is undoubtedly the most interesting character, and it’s perhaps understandable that Cronenberg wished to preserve his intrigue by keeping him to the shadows, but considering how strongly his presence is felt at the start of the film and how the climax depends on him, his presence is sorely missed in the middle and would have livened things up no end. It’s always a pleasure to see Patrick McGoohan, here in the role of Dr Paul Routh, but he’s unfortunately hampered by an accent that is presumably American but often wanders into several other nationalities. Stephen Lack’s performance as Vale is a genuinely mixed bag; initially his wide-eyed rabbit in the headlights persona is well suited to the scenes in which he discovers the power of his own mind for the first time, but when required to be commanding and heroic he quickly looks out of his depth.

The climactic showdown between Revok and Vale is pretty decent and definitely raises the excitement levels somewhat but it still falls some way short of the balls-out mind war you might have been expecting at the beginning. Which brings us back to that exploding head. In that one scene, the film simultaneously excels itself and peaks too soon; it’s a textbook lesson in how one iconic moment can raise the levels of expectation to a point where disappointment can only follow. Scanners’ reputation in the public mind rests on a single shot; it’s probably best enjoyed as “The One Where The Guy’s Head Explodes” and nothing more.

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