View source for Scanners

{{About|the 1981 science fiction horror film}}


{{Infobox film
| name           = Scanners
| image          = Scanners.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[David Cronenberg]]
| producer       = Claude Héroux
| writer         = David Cronenberg
| starring       = {{Plainlist |
* [[Jennifer O'Neill]]
* [[Stephen Lack]]
* [[Patrick McGoohan]]
* [[Lawrence Dane]]
* [[Michael Ironside]]
}}
| music          = [[Howard Shore]]
| cinematography = [[Mark Irwin]]
| editing        = [[Ronald Sanders (film editor)|Ronald Sanders]]
| studio         = Filmplan International
| distributor    = {{Plainlist |
* [[New World Pictures|New World]]-Mutual (Canada)<ref>{{cite web|title=Scanners|website=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|date=May 12, 2015 |access-date=September 28, 2021|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/canadian-feature-film-database/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=901&DotsIdNumber=}}</ref>
* [[Manson International]] (International)
}}
| released       = {{Film date|1981|01|14|United States|1981|01|16|Canada}}
| runtime        = 103 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 103:01--><ref>{{cite web | url=https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/scanners-1970-1 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020050518/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/scanners-1970-1 | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 20, 2014 | title=''SCANNERS'' (X) | work=[[British Board of Film Classification]] | date=February 10, 1981 | access-date=October 19, 2014}}</ref>
| country        = Canada
| language       = English
| budget         = [[Canadian dollar|CAD$]]4.1&nbsp;million
| gross          = $6.3&nbsp;million<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanfilmdist0000dona/page/292/mode/1up|title= American film distribution : the changing marketplace|last=Donahue|first= Suzanne Mary|year=1987 |publisher=UMI Research Press |page=292|isbn= 9780835717762}} Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada</ref> / {{-}} $14.2&nbsp;million<ref name="boxoffice"/> 
}}
'''''Scanners''''' is a 1981 Canadian [[Science fiction film|science fiction]] [[horror film]] written and directed by [[David Cronenberg]]. The film stars include [[Stephen Lack]], [[Jennifer O'Neill]], [[Michael Ironside]], [[Lawrence Dane]] and [[Patrick McGoohan]]. In the film, "scanners" are [[psychic]]s with unusual [[telepathy|telepathic]] and [[psychokinesis|telekinetic]] powers. ConSec, a purveyor of weaponry and security systems, searches out scanners to use them for its own purposes. The film's plot concerns the attempt by Darryl Revok (Ironside), a renegade scanner, to wage a war against ConSec. Another scanner, Cameron Vale (Lack), is dispatched by ConSec to stop Revok.

''Scanners'' premiered in January 1981 to lukewarm reviews from critics but became one of the first films produced in Canada to successfully compete with American films at the international box office.<ref name="ebert" /><ref name="canby" /><ref name="boxoffice" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Scanners|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/89175/scanners|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425002533/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/89175/Scanners/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 25, 2012|access-date=2020-12-28|website=Turner Classic Movies|language=en}}</ref> It brought Cronenberg and his controversial style of [[body horror]] attention to mainstream film audiences for the first time and has since been reevaluated as a [[Cult film|cult classic]].<ref name="denofgeek">{{Cite web |date=November 23, 2012|title=Looking back at David Cronenberg's Scanners |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/looking-back-at-david-cronenbergs-scanners/ |website=Den of Geek |access-date=2020-12-28 }}</ref><ref name="avclub">{{Cite web|title=Exploding head aside, Scanners is one of Cronenberg's most conventional films|url=https://www.avclub.com/exploding-head-aside-scanners-is-one-of-cronenberg-s-m-1798180913 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |date=July 16, 2014 |access-date=2020-12-28}}</ref> It is particularly well known for a scene that depicts Revok psychically causing a rival scanner's head to graphically explode.

==Plot==
After Cameron Vale, a vagrant suffering from voices manifesting in his head, causes a rude woman to have a [[seizure]] with his telepathic abilities, he is captured and brought to Dr. Paul Ruth, who explains that Vale is one of 237 super-powered individuals known as ''scanners'' who are capable of psychic powers. He then injects Vale with a drug, ephemerol, which restores his sanity by temporarily inhibiting his scanning abilities, and teaches him to control his powers.

Darryl Revok, a powerful scanner, is a former mental patient who was driven insane from hearing uncontrollable streams of thoughts. At a marketing event for the [[private military company]] ConSec, Revok volunteers in a demonstration about scanning, but he explodes the head of the ConSec scanner. He seeks to convince other scanners to help him in his quest for domination, and to kill opposing scanners. ConSec's new security head Braedon Keller advocates shutting down the company's scanner research program, especially since it has no scanners after the tragic incident. Dr. Ruth disagrees with Keller, believing that scanners are the next stage of human evolution. Dr. Ruth argues that the assassination demonstrates how dangerous Revok is. Ruth convinces Vale to help infiltrate Revok's group. 

Unknown to Ruth, Keller is working for Revok and informs him of Ruth's infiltration plan. Revok dispatches assassins to follow Vale as he visits an unaffiliated scanner, Benjamin Pierce, a successful yet reclusive sculptor who copes with his abilities through his art. Revok's assassins murder Pierce, but Vale defeats the assassins with his powers and reads Pierce's dying thoughts, learning of another group of scanners, led by Kim Obrist, who oppose Revok's group. Vale tracks down Obrist and attends a meeting, but Revok's assassins strike again; only Vale and Obrist survive.

Vale learns of a pharmaceutical company, Biocarbon Amalgamate. He discovers it manufactures ephemerol and that Revok is distributing the drug utilizing a computerized ConSec plan, codenamed Ripe. He and Obrist go to ConSec to investigate, where Ruth admits that he founded Biocarbon Amalgamate but has no direct connection to it anymore and claims no knowledge of Revok's involvement there. He encourages Vale to cyberpathically scan the computer system to find out more. 

Keller kills Ruth, while Vale and Obrist escape. Vale cyberpathically hacks into the computer network using a [[telephone booth]] and downloads ephemerol shipment information directly into his mind. Keller is killed when the computer explodes during his attempt to intercept Vale. Vale and Obrist visit Dr. Frame, someone who is receiving the drug. Obrist encounters a pregnant woman and realizes the woman's fetus has scanned her. Vale confronts Dr. Frame and learns that Revok's plan is to prescribe ephemerol to pregnant women, turning their children into scanners. Revok's group captures Vale and Obrist and take them to the Biocarbon Amalgamate plant.

Revok reveals to Vale that they are both sons of Dr. Ruth, who developed ephemerol as a sedative for pregnant women. Ruth learned about the drug's [[side effect]] during his wife's pregnancies, and he made them the most powerful scanners in the world by administering a prototype dosage prior to abandoning them. Revok plans to create and lead a new generation of scanners to take over the world, but Vale refuses to join him. Vale accuses Revok of acting like his father, which enrages Revok. The brothers engage in a telepathic duel, which incinerates Vale's body. However, when Obrist encounters Revok, she discovers that Vale somehow has managed to swap minds with Revok; the latter dying in the former's body during the duel.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Jennifer O'Neill]] as Kim Obrist
* [[Stephen Lack]] as Cameron Vale
* [[Patrick McGoohan]] as Dr. Paul Ruth
* [[Lawrence Dane]] as Braedon Keller
* [[Michael Ironside]] as Darryl Revok
* [[Robert A. Silverman|Robert Silverman]] as Benjamin Pierce
* [[Mavor Moore]] as Curtis Trevellyan
* Lee Broker as Security One
* [[Anthony Sherwood]] as Aiden
* [[Fred Doederlein]] as Dieder Tautz
* Victor Désy as Dr. Gatineau
* [[Louis Del Grande]] as First Scanner
* [[Alex Stevens]] as ConSec Programmer
}}
[[William Hope (actor)|William Hope]], [[Christopher Britton (actor)|Christopher Britton]], and [[Leon Herbert]] have uncredited appearances as Bicarbon Amalgamate employees. [[Neil Affleck]] has a minor role as a medical student.

==Production==
===Financing===
Scanners was based on David Cronenberg's scripts ''The Sensitives'' and ''Telepathy 2000'', which he planned to pitch to [[Roger Corman]] before beginning work on ''[[The Brood]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kurl|first=Daniel|date=January 15, 2020|title=The Pain Begins! You Can't Breathe! You Explode! David Cronenberg's 'Scanners' Turns 39!|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3600821/pain-begins-cant-breathe-explode-david-cronenbergs-scanners-turns-39/|access-date=2020-12-28|website=Bloody Disgusting!|language=en-US}}</ref> Corman was shown the script, but did nothing with it.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=86}} Cronenberg has called ''Scanners'' one of his most difficult films to make; most Canadian film productions of the 1970s and the early 1980s were funded through a 100-percent [[Capital Cost Allowance]] [[tax shield]] for investors passed by Prime Minister [[Pierre Trudeau]] in 1974, and the film was rushed into production without a finished script or constructed sets to claim the subsidies.<ref>{{Cite web| title= Canada's Tax Shelter Era| publisher= National Canadian Film Day| website= canadianfilmday.ca| url= https://canadianfilmday.ca/canadas-tax-shelter-era/| access-date= 2020-12-28| language= en-US| archive-date= February 5, 2021| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210205205459/https://canadianfilmday.ca/canadas-tax-shelter-era/| url-status= dead}}</ref><ref name="avclub" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=David Cronenberg: Scanners (1981)|url=https://3brothersfilm.com/blog/2018/7/27/david-cronenberg-scanners-1980| access-date= December 28, 2020|website=3BrothersFilm.com |date=July 27, 2018 | publisher= |language=en-US}}</ref>

Victor Snolicki, Dick Schouten, and [[Pierre David (film producer)|Pierre David]] of Vision 4, a company taking advantage of Canada's tax shelter policies, aided Cronenberg in the film's financing.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=75}} Vision 4 dissolved after Schouten's death and reorganized into Filmplan International.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=85}}

===Filming===
The film's first draft was not a script, but instead a series of ideas.{{sfn|Cronenberg|2006|p=58}} The film was given two weeks of pre-production while a script was not yet written.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=86}} According to Cronenberg, he would spend mornings prior to filming writing scenes.<ref name="avclub" /> The film was initially titled ''The Sensitives'', but it was altered as Cronenberg felt "it was too wimpy" while ''Scanners'' "was very strong".{{sfn|Cronenberg|2006|p=59}} Cronenberg stated that the drug aspect of the film might have been influenced by ''[[Blue Sunshine (film)|Blue Sunshine]]''.{{sfn|Cronenberg|2006|p=61}} Star [[Jennifer O'Neill]] was given a script with all of the violence edited out and cried after seeing the uncensored script.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=87}}

The film was shot in Montreal from October 30 to December 23, 1979, on a budget of $4,100,000 ({{Inflation|CA|4,100,000|1979|fmt=eq}}).{{sfn|Turner|1987|p=322-323}} Cronenberg stated that "the first day was the most disastrous shooting day I've ever had" as "there was nothing to shoot" and a distracted truck driver watching the film crew hit a car, killing two women inside it.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=86-87}}

The "Future Complex" building in Vaudreuil-Dorion, erected in 1972 by the pharmaceutical company Roche Holding, provided the exterior of 'ConSec' headquarters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=NéoMédia |date=March 12, 2021 |title=Le futur du Complexe Future |url=https://www.neomedia.com/vaudreuil-soulanges/actualites/affaires/420078/le-futur-du-complexe-future |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903215159/https://neomedia.com/vaudreuil-soulanges/actualites/affaires/420078/le-futur-du-complexe-future |archive-date=September 3, 2023 |access-date=2025-08-09 |website=NéoMédia |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="moviemaps.org" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ouellet |first=Maxim |date=2025-01-24 |title=Connaissez-vous les lieux de tournage de votre région? |url=https://www.viva-media.ca/la-voix-regionale-vaudreuil-soulanges/culture-vs/arts-visuels-vs/connaissez-vous-les-lieux-de-tournage-de-votre-region/ |access-date=2025-08-09 |website=VIVA MÉDIA |language=fr-FR}}</ref> Although many sources state that the lecture scene was filmed at Concordia University,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Justine |date=October 25, 2018 |title=Why David Cronenberg's Montreal – in all its modernist glory – is the creepiest city in cinematic history |url=https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/why-david-cronenbergs-montreal-in-all-its-modernist-glory-is-the-creepiest-city-in-cinematic-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20250809180858/https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/why-david-cronenbergs-montreal-in-all-its-modernist-glory-is-the-creepiest-city-in-cinematic-history |archive-date=August 9, 2025 |work=National Post |access-date=August 9, 2025 }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Shields |first=Meg |date=2021-02-16 |title=How They Shot the Head Explosion Scene in 'Scanners' |url=https://filmschoolrejects.com/scanners-head-explosion/ |access-date=2025-08-09 |website=Film School Rejects |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Lennick |first=Michael |title=The Scanners Way: Creating the Special Effects in 'Scanners' |date=2014-07-15 |type=Documentary, Short |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3689710/ |access-date=2025-08-09 |others=Rick Baker, Stephan Dupuis, Mark Irwin |publisher=Foolish Earthling Productions}}</ref> it was actually shot in the 158-seat auditorium of the "Future Complex" building.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Office Space With All Services To Lease / Rent In Vaudreuil-Dorion |url=https://1000saintcharles.ca/en/amenities.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525020249/https://1000saintcharles.ca/en/amenities.aspx |archive-date=May 25, 2025 |access-date=2025-08-09 |website=1000saintcharles.ca}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1000 Saint-Charles Tower Floors |url=https://1000saintcharles.ca/PDF/TowerFloors_rev.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250729222812/http://1000saintcharles.ca/PDF/TowerFloors_rev.pdf |archive-date=July 29, 2025 |access-date=August 9, 2025}}</ref> The head explosion portion of the scene was filmed in a warehouse on Montreal’s waterfront.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

The Charles J. Des Baillets Water Treatment Plant doubled as the 'Bicarbon Amalgamate' compound.<ref name="moviemaps.org">{{Cite web| url= https://moviemaps.org/movies/1m7|title=Scanners filming locations |website= moviemaps.org |access-date=2018-02-27}}</ref> The sequence of Revok ([[Michael Ironside]]) hijacking a car and causing another to crash were shot on [[Rue de la Commune]]. Additional scenes were filmed in the [[Yorkville, Toronto|Yorkville]] neighborhood.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.fast-rewind.com/locations_scanners.htm|title=Scanners Movie Filming Locations – The 80s Movies Rewind |website= fast-rewind.com |access-date=2018-02-27}}</ref> However, since the United States dominated the film industry and Canadian films were being marketed for international audiences, the film downplays its Canadian origin in favor of a generic "North American" setting.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Canadian Film Encyclopedia – Capital Cost Allowance/The Tax Shelter Years: 1975 to 1982| url= http://cfe.tiff.net/canadianfilmencyclopedia/Browse/bysubject/capital-cost-allowancethe-tax-shelter-years-1975-to-1982|access-date= December 29, 2020|website=cfe.tiff.net}}</ref> The only indicators of its location are a scene of Revok and Keller meeting at the [[Yorkdale station]] of the [[Toronto subway]] and some visible [[Official bilingualism in Canada|bilingual signs]].

Cronenberg stated that "''Scanners'' had the longest post-production of any film I've ever done" due to its nine months of editing and reshoots.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=86}}

===Effects===
Make-up artist [[Dick Smith (make-up artist)|Dick Smith]] (''[[The Exorcist]]'', ''[[Amadeus (film)|Amadeus]]'') provided prosthetics for the climactic scanner duel and the iconic exploding head effect.<ref>Vincent Canby [https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/14/movies/horror-movie.html "Scanners"] ''[[The New York Times]]'' (January 14, 1981)</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=January 1, 1981 |author=Variety Staff |title=Scanners |url=https://variety.com/review/VE1117794658 |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://cinemafantastique.net/film1253,Scanners.html |title= Scanners| work= Cinemafantastique.net| publisher= | date= | access-date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last= Kinnear| first= Simon |date= August 15, 2011| title= 50 Best Movie Special Effects| url= http://www.totalfilm.com/features/50-best-movie-special-effects/scanners-1980 | website= TotalFilm.com |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120126130559/http://www.totalfilm.com/features/50-best-movie-special-effects/scanners-1980 |archivedate=January 26, 2012 |url-status= | access-date= January 24, 2012}}</ref> [[Chris Walas]], working at [[Lucasfilm]] at the time and later providing effects work for ''[[The Fly (1986 film)|The Fly]]'' and ''[[Naked Lunch (film)|Naked Lunch]]'', also worked on the exploding head effect.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=90}} Cronenberg later said in 2006 that ''Scanners'' was his most difficult film to shoot due to its special effects and complex story.{{sfn|Cronenberg|2006|p=61}}

[[File:Scanners head explode screenshot.jpg|thumb|right|Scene of the explosion of a ConSec scanner's head]]

The iconic head explosion scene was produced by trial and error, with the producers eventually deciding on a gelatin-encassed plaster skull packed with "leftover burgers" as well as "latex scraps, some wax, and just bits and bobs and a lot of stringy stuff that we figured would fly through the air a little better". When other explosive techniques failed to give the desired effect, special effects supervisor Gary Zeller told the crew to roll cameras and get inside their trucks with doors and windows closed; he then crouched down behind the dummy and shot it in the back of the head with a shotgun.<ref name="Wickman2014">{{cite web |url=https://slate.com/culture/2014/07/scanners-exploding-head-scene-how-they-shot-it-as-revealed-on-the-new-criterion-collection-dvd-video.html |date=July 15, 2014 |title=How They Blew Up That Head in ''Scanners'' |last=Wickman |first=Forrest |website=[[Slate (website)|Slate]] |publisher=The Slate Group}}</ref>

The exploding head scene was filmed four times, but Cronenberg accepted the first shot and did not remain to watch the three others, opting to instead take a nap in his Winnebago. The scene depicting the exploding head was trimmed down to allow for a R-rating from the [[Motion Picture Association|MPAA]]. Cronenberg originally intended for the scene to be the film's opening, but placed it later in the film after test screenings.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=90}}

==Release==
The film was distributed by [[New World Pictures]] in Canada, Les Films Mutuels in Quebec, and [[Embassy Pictures|Avco Embassy Pictures]] in the United States. ''Scanners'' was released in the United States on January 14, and in Canada on January 16, 1981.{{sfn|Turner|1987|p=322-323}} 

A novelization by Leon Whiteson, ''David Cronenberg's Scanners'', was also released in 1981.<ref name="Browning2007">{{cite book |last=Browning |first=Mark |title=David Cronenberg: Author Or Film-maker? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=prEUHH2jcWAC&pg=PA91 |year=2007 |publisher=Intellect Books |isbn=978-1-84150-173-4|pages=91–}}</ref> The film was released on [[VHS]] in 1982.{{sfn|Mathijs|2008|p=97}}

==Reception==
===Box-office===
The film grossed $2,758,147 from 387 theatres in its opening weekend.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|page=3|date=January 21, 1981|title='Crazy,' '9 To 5,' 'Which Way' Glow; 'Scanners' Strong}}</ref> It grossed domestically a total of $14,225,876 at the box-office.<ref name="boxoffice">{{cite web | title = ''Scanners'' | publisher = Box Office Mojo | url = https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=scanners.htm | access-date = January 8, 2009 }}</ref> Cronenberg stated that it was his first film to be [[Lists of box office number-one films|number one]] at the box office.{{sfn|Cronenberg|2006|p=58}}

===Critical response===
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on {{nowrap|44 reviews}}, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Scanners'' is a dark sci-fi story with special effects that'll make your head explode."<ref name="tomatoes">{{cite web |title=Scanners (1981) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1018315_scanners? |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]] it has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100 based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web |title=Scanners |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/scanners |website=[[Metacritic]] }}</ref>
Film professor Charles Derry, in his overview of the horror genre ''Dark Dreams'', cited ''Scanners'' as "an especially important masterwork" and calling it the ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' of its day.<ref name="americanhorrors">{{Cite book | last = Derry | first = Charles | chapter = More Dark Dreams: Some Notes on the Recent Horror Film | editor-last = Waller | editor-first = Gregory | title = American Horrors: Essays on the Modern American Horror Film | page = [https://archive.org/details/americanhorrorse0000unse/page/173 173] | publisher = University of Illinois Press | place = Chicago | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-252-01448-0 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/americanhorrorse0000unse/page/173 }}</ref> In a contemporary review for ''[[Ares (magazine)|Ares Magazine]]'', Christopher John commented that "''Scanners'' is top-notch entertainment. It is haunting, exciting, shocking and literate – an unusual combination to discover in a film these days."<ref name="Ares">{{cite journal | last=John | first=Christopher | title=Film & Television | journal=[[Ares (magazine)|Ares Magazine]] | publisher=[[Simulations Publications, Inc.]] | date=May 1981 | issue=8 | page=31}}</ref>

Some reviews were less positive. Film critic [[Roger Ebert]] gave ''Scanners'' two out of four stars and wrote, {{-"}}''Scanners'' is so lockstep that we are basically reduced to watching the special effects, which are good but curiously abstract, because we don't much care about the people they're happening around".<ref name="ebert">{{cite news | last = Ebert | first = Roger | author-link = Roger Ebert | title = ''Scanners'' | work = [[Chicago Sun-Times]] | date = January 1, 1981 | url = http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19810101/REVIEWS/101010364/1023 | access-date = January 8, 2009 | archive-date = June 6, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110606043757/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19810101%2FREVIEWS%2F101010364%2F1023 | url-status = dead }}</ref> In his review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Vincent Canby]] wrote, "Had Mr. Cronenberg settled simply for horror, as [[John Carpenter]] did in his classic ''[[Halloween (1978 film)|Halloween]]'' (though not in his not-so-classic ''[[The Fog]]''), ''Scanners'' might have been a [[Grand Guignol]] treat. Instead he insists on turning the film into a mystery, and mystery demands eventual explanations that, when they come in ''Scanners'', underline the movie's essential foolishness".<ref name="canby">{{cite news | last = Canby | first = Vincent | title = ''Scanners'' | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = January 14, 1981 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/14/movies/horror-movie.html | access-date = January 8, 2021 }}</ref> [[John Simon (critic)|John Simon]] of ''[[National Review]]'' described ''Scanners'' as trash.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reverse Angle: A Decade of American Film|last1=Simon|first1=John |publisher=Crown Publishers Inc. |year=1982 |page=xiv}}</ref>

A reassessment of ''Scanners'' in the 2012 issue of ''[[CineAction]]'' looks at the film in light of Cronenberg's use of allegory and parables in much of his work. The argument is made that Cronenberg uses iconic imagery that refers directly and indirectly to the thirty-something Scanners as 1960s [[New Left|political radicals]], [[counterculture]] hippies, and as nascent [[Yuppie|Young Urban Professionals]]. As a result, the film can be seen "as an oblique reflection on what might happen when the counterculture becomes the dominant culture".<ref>{{cite news | last = Pepe | first = Michael | title = ''Lefties and Hippies and Yuppies, Oh My! David Cronenberg's Scanners Revisited'' | work = [[CineAction]] | issue = 88 | year = 2012 }}</ref> [[Kim Newman]] noted in an essay for [[The Criterion Collection]] that at the same time the film rejects the conservative values of the 1980s and the nostalgia for the 1950s present in contemporary science-fiction films such as ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'' and ''[[Back to the Future]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Newman |first=Kim |author-link=Kim Newman |title=Scanners: Mind and Matter |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3225-scanners-mind-and-matter |website=The Criterion Collection |access-date=2021-04-20 }}</ref> The film's fictional drug ephemerol also mirrors the real-life [[thalidomide scandal]], in which the popular [[West Germany|West German]] medication [[thalidomide]] caused severe [[birth defect]]s in children born to mothers prescribed the drug for [[morning sickness]] in Western Europe and Canada.<ref name="denofgeek" />

===Accolades===
Although ''Scanners'' was not nominated for any major awards, it did receive some recognition. The [[Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films]] gave the film its [[Saturn Awards|Saturn Award]] in 1981 for "[[Saturn Award for Best International Film|Best International Film]]", and, in addition, the "[[Saturn Award for Best Make-up|Best Make-Up]]" award went to Dick Smith in a tie with ''[[Altered States]]''. The film had also been nominated for "[[Saturn Award for Best Special Effects|Best Special Effects]]".

''Scanners'' also won "Best International Fantasy Film" from [[Fantasporto]] in 1983, and was nominated for eight [[Genie Awards]] in 1982, but did not win any.<ref>[https://allmovie.com/work/scanners-43063/awards Allmovie Awards]</ref>

== Soundtrack ==
[[Mondo (American company)|Mondo]] released the [[Howard Shore]] score for ''Scanners'', alongside ''[[The Brood]]'', on [[Phonograph record|vinyl]]; it features cover art by Sam Wolfe Conelly.<ref>[https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3327832/mondo-selling-scannersthe-brood-ost-vinyl-tomorrow/ Mondo Selling ‘Scanners/The Brood’ OST On Vinyl Tomorrow]</ref>

==Legacy==
''Scanners'' spawned sequels and a series of spin-offs; a [[remake]] was announced in 2007, but {{as of|2022|lc=y}} had not gone into production.<ref name="remake confirmed" /> Cronenberg was not involved in the sequels as he was both uninterested and would not make money off the characters or story he wrote.{{sfn|Rodley|1997|p=92}}

===Sequels===
* ''[[Scanners II: The New Order]]'' (1991)
* ''[[Scanners III: The Takeover]]'' (1992)

===Spin-offs===
* ''[[Scanner Cop]]'' (1994)
* ''[[Scanners: The Showdown]]'' (also known as ''Scanner Cop II)'' (1995)

===Canceled remake===
In February 2007, [[Darren Lynn Bousman]] (director of ''[[Saw II]]'', ''[[Saw III]]'', and ''[[Saw IV]]'') was announced as director of a remake of the film, to be released by [[The Weinstein Company]] and [[Dimension Films]]. [[David S. Goyer]] was assigned to script the film. The film was planned for release on October 17, 2008, but the date came and went without further announcements and all of the parties involved have since moved on to other projects,<ref name="remake confirmed">{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/scanners-moves-to-new-dimension-2-1117960254/|title='Scanners' moves to new dimension|last=Fleming|first=Michael|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=February 27, 2007|access-date=2015-12-08}}</ref> which wasn't made with because Cronenberg didn't give his approval.<ref>{{cite news|last=Beggs|first=Scott|title=Mind-Blowing: David Cronenberg Is Producing A 'Scanners' Series For HBO|url=https://uproxx.com/tv/david-cronenberg-scanners-series-hbo/|quote="The first attempt came in 2007, when Darren Lynn Bousman was meant to reboot it, but it fell through because David Cronenberg didn’t give his blessing (and they wouldn’t more forward without it)."|date=September 21, 2022|work=Uproxx|access-date=October 21, 2025}}</ref>

===Television series===
Attempts to make a series include Dimension in 2011,<ref>{{cite web|last=Andreeva|first=Nellie|title=Dimension To Develop 'Scanners' TV Series|url=https://deadline.com/2011/07/dimension-to-develop-scanners-tv-series-149035/|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref> Media Res and [[Bron Studios]] in 2017,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Andreeva|first1=Nellie|title='Scanners': Media Res & Bron Studios To Adapt David Cronenberg Film As TV Series|url=https://deadline.com/2017/09/david-cronenberg-scanners-sci-fi-pic-tv-series-bron-studios-media-res-1202177457/|website=Deadline|date=September 27, 2017 |access-date=September 27, 2017}}</ref> and [[HBO]], Media Res Studio, and Wayward Films in 2022.<ref>{{cite web|title=''Scanners'' Series in Development at HBO With David Cronenberg Producing|url=https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/scanners-series-hbo-david-cronenberg-1235379605/|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|last=Otterson|first=Joe|date=September 21, 2022|access-date=September 21, 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of cult films]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Works cited==
* {{cite book|last=Cronenberg |first=David |author-link=David Cronenberg |title=David Cronenberg: Interviews with Serge Grünberg |publisher=Plexus Publishing |date=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/davidcronenbergi0000cron |isbn=0859653765}}
* {{cite book|last=Mathijs |first=Ernest |author-link=Ernest Mathijs |title=The Cinema of David Cronenberg: From Baron of Blood to Cultural Hero |publisher=[[Columbia University Press|Wallflower Press]] |date=2008 |url=https://archive.org/details/cinemaofdavidcro0000math |isbn=9781905674657}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Rodley |editor-first=Chris |title=Cronenberg on Cronenberg |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |date=1997 |url=https://archive.org/details/cronenbergoncron0000cron |isbn=0571191371}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Turner |editor-first=D. John |title=Canadian Feature Film Index: 1913-1985 |publisher=[[Canadian Film Institute]] |date=1987 |url=https://archive.org/details/canadianfeaturef0000turn |isbn=0660533642}}

==Further reading==
* "Scanners: Retro Classic Film No. 17" by Jonathan Hatfull, ''[[SciFiNow]]'' No. 77, pages 122–125. Discussion of the first film's story, actors, director, etc., and its production. Four pages, 10 photos including opening exploding head scene and final scene, large format British magazine; issue appeared on newsstands in the U.S. in March 2013.
* "Heads you lose: ''Scanners''{{-"}}, ''[[Total Film]]'', No. 213, December 2013, pages 140–141. Illustrated discussion (color photos and drawings) of the exploding head scene with comments by writer-director David Cronenberg, producer Pierre David, and actor Stephen Lack.
* "Explosions of Grandeur" by Michael Doyle, ''[[Rue Morgue (magazine)|Rue Morgue]]'' Issue 146, July 2014, pages 30 – 32. Comments by Cronenberg and Lack on the difficulties of the production: unfinished script, motorist tragedy, and special effects of opening and closing scenes. Three pages, eight color photos, including behind-the-scenes.

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0081455}}
* {{TCMDb title|89175}}
* {{mojo title|scanners}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|1018315-scanners}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3225-scanners-mind-and-matter ''Scanners: Mind and Matter''] an essay by [[Kim Newman]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]

{{The Scanners Series}}
{{David Cronenberg}}
{{Saturn Award for Best International Film}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scanners}}
[[Category:Scanners (film series)]]
[[Category:1981 films]]
[[Category:1981 horror films]]
[[Category:1981 action films]]
[[Category:1981 independent films]]
[[Category:1980s science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:1980s science fiction action films]]
[[Category:1980s action horror films]]
[[Category:Canadian action horror films]]
[[Category:Canadian independent films]]
[[Category:Embassy Pictures films]]
[[Category:English-language Canadian films]]
[[Category:Films about consciousness transfer]]
[[Category:Films directed by David Cronenberg]]
[[Category:Films scored by Howard Shore]]
[[Category:Films shot in Montreal]]
[[Category:Films shot in Toronto]]
[[Category:Films about mind control]]
[[Category:Canadian science fiction action films]]
[[Category:Films about telekinesis]]
[[Category:Films about prejudice]]
[[Category:Canadian science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:Canadian body horror films]]
[[Category:Films set in 1983]]
[[Category:1981 English-language films]]
[[Category:1981 Canadian films]]
[[Category:Video nasties]]
[[Category:1981 science fiction films]]
[[Category:English-language action horror films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction action films]]
[[Category:English-language independent films]]
[[Category:Saturn Award–winning films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Scanners|access_date=2026-03-05}}