Movies - Scanners

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	Movies - Scanners

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

Plot summary

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 (the notorious footage has been seen on the Internet and on The Daily Show, among other places). Revok is captured by ConSec staff but uses his powers to escape.

Dr. Paul Ruth, the head of ConSec's scanner section, then recruits protagonist Cameron Vale (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.

Cast

(incomplete)

Stephen Lack ...as Cameron Vale
Michael Ironside
...as Darryl Revok
Patrick McGoohan
...as Dr. Paul Ruth, psychopharmacist
Jennifer O'Neill
...as Kim Obrist

Sequels

Scanners also has sequels, a series of spinoffs, and a remake, none of which involved Cronenberg:

Sequels

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

Spinoffs

Scanner Cop (1994)
Scanner Cop II (1995)

Remake

Scanners (2005 'In production')

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Scanners ]

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Movies - Scanners

Plot summary

Cast

Sequels

Sequels

Spinoffs

Remake

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