Scanners

(David Cronenberg, Canada 1981, 103 min., 35mm)

Birth of Body Horror: Early Works of David Cronenberg. The result of a scientific experiment gone awry, “scanners” have the ability to read thoughts, control others through brain waves and cause heads to explode. The doctor (Patrick McGoohan) who created this mutant breed attempts to stop the evil scanner army led by the nefarious Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside). The makeup effects by Dick Smith and the final confrontation between Revok and the angelic scanner Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) provide genre fans with more than enough reason to see this horror classic. But master filmmaker Cronenberg invests the material with an often haunting personal quality that provides some unusual emotional resonance for the more discerning viewer.