[6]

A scientist sends a man with dangerous telepathic powers on a mission to destroy a renegade adversary with similar powers. David Cronenberg (Videodrome, The Dead Zone) wrote and directed Scanners, so you know it’s sure to be a bit slow-paced and sublimely melancholy, but with a couple moments of unforgettable gore. Here the big visceral accent comes about fifteen minutes in, when the bad psychic uses his powers to blow someone’s head up — a legendary effect for which we can all thank effects wizard Dick Smith. Steven Lack is a bit dry in the lead role, but the script later reveals a good reason for his stilted performance. Supporting players Michael Ironside and Patrick McGoohan compensate with their combined formidable screen presence, and Howard Shore works wonders with his evocative score, which I’d say is responsible for about seventy-five percent of the telekinetic dread. For a movie about people staring at each other and using invisible powers of mind control, Scanners generates quite a bit of suspense and terror, and the idea of an underground network of outcast psychics is a pretty cool one. With Jennifer O’Neill.