Scanners: On-This-Day Thursday
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Every Thursday, an older film released on this opening weekend years ago will be reviewed. They can be classics, or simply popular films that happened to be released to the world on the same date.
For January 14th, we are going to have a look at Scanners.
We all know David Cronenberg as the powerhouse body-horror Canadian auteur that he is (and indisputably a legend in both that genre and that nation’s industry). His affinity for the deformations of the human body have always been a thing, evidently, and it’s why his films are so effectively terrifying. Alfred Hitchcock made private spaces scary (including showers). Wes Craven made our dreams scary. Cronenberg made the human experience scary. To me, that’s certainly much more effective than anything else. What can be scarier than the biological breakdown of ourselves? Our minds might fight to persevere, but our aching limbs, numbing teeth, tarnished skin and deteriorating cells prove that we are contained in these flesh vessels that, like all things, must end. Cronenberg tapped into this reality time and time again. The older I get, the more his frightening visions shake me to my core.
Cronenberg experimented with body-horror a number of times before Scanners. Some notable examples include Shivers and The Brood (some cult favourites of mine). Yet, there was something about Scanners that really took his career off to a new echelon (his next project would be Videodrome, so this is certainly true). I think it might be this affiliation with the unknown that drew people in; could there be psychics amongst us that will wreck havoc? It’s easy to see why Scanners became a cult film in the internet age; the infamous exploding head effect will forever resonate as the number one reason why someone has to see the film in the twenty first century. But, why did this film succeed back in the early ‘80s? The decade was full of the reinvention of the horror genre, and maybe Cronenberg’s attack on the everyday civilian — any of these people can be a scanner — felt like such an intriguing idea to apply to the real world.
A picture of me after having some extra hot Nando’s.
In the end, Scanners is fun in a very typical Cronenberg way, but it’s not quite the brilliant work I feel like pop culture would lead you to believe. It’s stripped down enough to feel small scale, but the impeccable effects and make up more than make up for this. Otherwise, I personally find it a Cronenberg film that one viewing will suffice with. It doesn’t have me begging for more like Dead Ringers, or itching to relive due to a certain cinematic beauty like The Fly. It exists as a fun, exciting thriller all stemming from the bodily effects of the human mind; it’s a great juxtaposition. I can’t find much more to take away from it than that. I can’t even find much to say about the film at all.
It almost feels like Cronenberg’s take on an action film (which, at the start of the ‘80s, makes perfect sense). It’s narratively thin, but quite a fun feast to behold. I know Cronenberg has been much more engaging and profound as a director (and I am certainly more of a Crash Cronenberg fan than a Scanners one), but seeing him channel fun and excitement over alienation and misery alone is a nice change of pace that I think resonates with people heavily. I think anyone that likes David Cronenberg, action, science fiction or gutsy horror films owe it to themselves to watch Scanners, at least just to see what it’s all about. Despite the carnage, it’s harmless otherwise.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.