Scanners, Scanners II, Scanners III

A worthy successor followed by a not so worthy but watchable successor.
I picked up the original “Scanners” Criterion Blu-Ray at Barnes & Noble a few days before I got this and I really liked it. I’d never seen it before but as soon as I watched the original Cronenberg film I saw the Burroughsian influence of the “Senders” from “Naked Lunch” and the familiar feeling of paranoia and conspiracy you’d find in a William Burroughs novel brought to screen. The sets and direction of the original 1980 movie are fantastic and I absolutely adored the film.So naturally, I was curious about the sequels, and this Blu-Ray set from Scream! Factory is pretty cheap for two movies plus a DVD of both, included (if you want to watch it at a friend’s house and they don’t have a Blu-Ray player or something). As some other reviewers have said there are no special features whatsoever, not even trailers, which is a little disheartening because the second movie “Scanners II: The New Order,” is not a bad movie at all. It picks up some twenty years after the original and is about a new generation of scanners who are being hired to change the course of government in the city (which is never named) but of course there’s drama and turmoil along the way.I was surprised how much I enjoyed “Scanners 2,” I probably enjoyed it way more than I should have. The cinematography is similar to Raimi’s chaotic camera techniques employed in “Evil Dead 2” and it has a far more fast-paced feel than the first movie in the “Scanners” trilogy, but it doesn’t subvert the oddities of the original– at least, I didn’t feel like it did. There’s a bit of a plot twist maybe two thirds of the way through that links the second movie to the first which most will pick up on but some (including those who haven’t seen the original movie) won’t, and even if you don’t, “Scanners 2” works fine as a standalone film. The new bad guy, Drak, is similar to Michael Ironside’s character, Revok, from the original, but he’s less refined with his powers and more abrasive in his use of them, making him almost as dangerous as Revok. The hero is played by an actor from one of the “Stargate” TV shows and I felt he did a great job in the part of Kellum, who has a very memorable scene in a convenience store early in the movie.I also liked that the opening scene of “Scanners 2” paralleled the opening of the original, but inverting the type of character we’re following at first throwing us a misdirection. All in all, I was very happy with “Scanners 2” and I’d highly recommend it to any fan of the original 1980 David Cronenberg movie!So then I watched “Scanners 3: The Takeover.”It’s pretty bad, it’s like the kind of movie you’d see featured on “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” The same director as “Scanners II: The New Order” returns to direct this third part, which is widely unrelated to the original and its first successor. For reasons beyond my understanding, many of the characters, whom I’m assuming are either supposed to be from the Midwestern United States (Detroit area, I’m guessing) or Toronto, Canada speak with European accents. It’s kind of funny to watch, because they seem so out of place in the movie and it’s any character that will start speaking with a Polish or Norwegian accent for reasons that are not explained in the movie and left completely ignored.”Scanners 3″ is about a new version of the drug from the original movie, Ephemoral, which helps scanners deal with the constant headaches and anxiety they are born into. Unfortunately it seems to take away their sense of right and wrong, or rather just their sense of right. The villain is a scanner woman who runs the company and is getting high on her own supply and the hero is her brother who’s become a Buddhist and lives in a monastery in Thailand where he meditates day and night to block the scanner-related pain he has to deal with. This third part ties in loosely to the first two films, but maybe too loosely. The wacky cinematography is back, and that’s fun, but the script is just so downplayed and in comparison to the first films it seems cartoony and immature. While the second movie had a cartoonish element to it, the third movie drinks the Kool-Aid and goes off the wall with goofy sound effects, bad dubbing (some of the characters are dubbed, I don’t know why) and poor dialogue and writing that left me feeling kind of empty. It’s a dumb but harmless movie and it’s fun to watch if you have nothing better to do or are just curious about the scanners.The major downside to the Blu-Ray and DVD combo is that neither of them have subtitles, I’m a bit hard of hearing and sometimes the characters mumble their lines and I had to turn the volume way up to hear what they were softspokenly saying.So, all in all, I give this Blu-Ray set five stars ultimately for “Scanners 2,” which outweighs the underwhelming “Scanners 3.” There’s no reason not to buy it if you’re a fan of the first or second movie. And if you really liked the third one, well, it’s all presented here in stunning HD, so go check it out!

Telekinetic Horror Presented in Awesome Widescreen; Unfortunately, No Extras!
****No Plot Spoilers****Ever since watching Brian De Palma’s “Carrie” (Carrie) and “The Fury” (The Fury), I’ve been obsessed with telekinesis. The Scanners franchise also fulfilled my desire to watch people move objects with their thoughts. The original “Scanners” (Scanners) was directed by David Cronenberg who became famous for his controversial science fiction horror films starring controversial actors [e.g., “The Brood” (The Brood), with brawler hunk Oliver Reed, and “Rabid” (Rabid) with former porn star Marilyn Chambers]. “Scanners” focuses on an emotionally disturbed, homeless scanner, Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) who meets an art gallery assistant, Kim Obrist (supermodel Jennifer O’Neill) who is also a scanner. Together, they attempt to locate an evil scanner, Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside), who wants the scanners to rule the world. During their quest, they discover the dark secret concerning the origin of scanners. Note: Scanners not only have the ability to move objects with their thoughts, but they can also read (i.e., scan) and manipulate other people’s thoughts. However, many become insane because of sensory overload.Having owned “Scanners” on DVD for years, I was naturally thrilled to learn that Shout Factory had released its first two sequels as a Blu-Ray and DVD combo pack. I saw them on VHS too many years ago in muted, full-frame formats. Thanks to Shout Factory, each film has been presented correctly in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1. All colors are bright, clear and crisp and the audio is great (DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo for Blu-Ray; Dolby Digital Stereo for DVD). Each film appears as though it has been recently released at the theatre. There are no vertical lines or dark splotches. I played the DVD version on my Blu-Ray player and couldn’t tell a significant difference from the Blu-Ray. The remastering for both the Blu-Ray and the DVD has been excellent. I`ll be able to loan the DVD to my girlfriend, Tammy, who doesn’t own a Blu-Ray player. A horror buff like me, she’s going to kill me with her evil thoughts when she learns I watched these films without her.Both Scanners II and III were directed by Christian Duguay. Like “Scanners,” they boast gorgeous casts, contain themes of good versus evil and were filmed in and around the cold, gray environs of Montreal and Quebec, Canada. In “Scanners II: The New Order,” a veterinarian student, David Kellum (David Hewitt) is a scanner on the run who finds another scanner, Julie Vale (Deborah Raffin); together they try to destroy the corrupt Commander John Forrester (Yvan Potton) who is using scanners to kill anyone who stands in his way of becoming mayor. Similar in plot to the original “Scanners,” it has, however, some shocking twists. Also, it has considerably more gore and violence than the original. This one was more emotionally disturbing to me because it deals more with violence perpetrated against family members.In “Scanners III: The Takeover,” a Christmas tragedy causes a scanner, Alex Monet (Steve Parrish), to become a monk in Thailand. Meanwhile, his sister, Helena (Liliana Komorowska), also a scanner, is suffering from severe migraine. She uses her father’s experimental drug and becomes insanely diabolical. She then commandeers her father’s pharmaceutical company to take over the world. As in the previous film, there is a tremendous amount of violence and gore. Again, there is familial violence; this time, it is even sadder when relatives attempt to kill one another. Note: I loved the unforgettable character of Helena. She is extremely diabolical, beautiful and sensual. Komorowska played her perfectly.There are two discs in this Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack. One disc contains both films on DVD and the other disc contains both films on Blu-Ray. Unfortunately, the combo pack doesn’t have any extras. There are no subtitles, no audio commentaries, no theatrical trailers, no deleted scenes, no “making off featurettes,” and, worst of all, no scene selections. The menu gives you a choice of which Scanners movie to watch and that is all. Unbelievable! If not for the widescreen presentations, stereo audio and remastering, I would have thought that these two films had been released by Mill Creek, which churns out films on Blu-Ray and DVD at a high rate, regardless of quality. Because of its blatant lack of extras, I cannot give this Scanners II and III Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack the highest rating.If you are a fan of horror films, especially the ones involving telekinesis, then I recommend this Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack. However, I wish Shout Factory had either included a digital copy or just decreased the price and given us the choice of buying the Blu-Ray or the DVD, not both. I also wish that Shout Factory or another company would properly release “Scanner Cop” and “Scanner Cop 2: Volkin’s Revenge” on Blu-Ray. Both films star Daniel Quinn as Detective Samuel Staziak who hunts down rogue scanners. The original “Scanners,” released by MGM and out of print at the time of this review, also deserves the Blu-Ray treatment. Many fans are hoping it will be re-released by the Criterion Collection. My MGM release of “Scanners” only has a theatrical trailer and subtitles for extras. A commentary from David Cronenberg would be nice.Joseph B. Hoyos

A Movie I Was Looking For!
It took me quite a few years to find a copy of the SCANNERS II movie. I finally found a copy compatible for the U.S. DVD players (Region 1). I was a bit worried at first when I saw that the disc was a BLU-RAY version. When I saw that a DVD version was included in the set, I immediately ordered the item and I was happy to receive it. I was pleased to be able to see the SCANNERS II movie and enjoyed it a lot. I was also happy to see the SCANNERS III movie that came with the set and I enjoyed that film as well. Even though I don’t use the BLU-RAY discs at this time, they are nice to have whenever I get a chance to buy a BLU-RAY player.

I was lucky enough to buy the box set at an amazing cheap price and now I’ve got a set of some of horrors most important movies, especially the first. Scanners (1) is a wonderful movie with a great story, (no pun intended) mind blowing special effects . It’s one of those you have to see it to believe it movies and Michael Ironsides performance is worth buying it for that alone. Parts 2/3 fit nicely but it’s the original that stands out that little bit further,not that two or three should be missed far from it.

I was curious about the other 2 Scanner films, so I purchased the box set, although the first one is classic, the other 2 are not so good, but that’s just my opinion