There are very few Canadian films that have achieved as high cult status as David Cronenberg’s 1981 film Scanners. This Canadian classic starring Stephen Lang, Jennifer O’Neill, Patrick McGoohan and Michael Ironside kicked off a new age of 80s horror and launched Cronenberg into the Hollywood limelight.
Scanners tells a modern day story of an underground group of people with incredible telekinetic and telepathic powers called scanners. Scanners are divided into 2 factions, 1 group allied with a security company called ComSec, the other led by a scanner named Darryl Revok, played by a young and very scary Michael Ironside. Revok’s group has the ultimate goal of ruling over mankind with a new breed of scanners loyal to him.
Be warned...the trailer is a bit grizzly..
THE EDGE
Unfortunately due to the nature of the film stock used Scanners has a Canadian look. Due to it's 4:3 aspect ratio with the poor yellowy coloring Scanners looks very dated. It makes up for that with creative storytelling and world-making that makes it unique as a film. Cronenberg presents us with a pseudo-natural world of fantasy that layered on top of our own. For this reviewer, it is a unique film because of it’s shooting locations in Toronto and Montreal in 1980. Locations include; Yonge and Elm street, Glencarin Subway station, the now renovated Young and Bloor center. It is a time capsule of a Toronto that was paved over. In one shot early in the film, you can see the “Sam The Record Man” sign.
THE LOWDOWN
In Cronenberg’s own words making Scanners was sheer hell. Because of the tax credit rules at the time, the film could only prep for 2 weeks. Forcing filmmakers into production much earlier than they should have. As a result, Cronenberg had to prep and shoot at the same time creating a chaotic and disorganized production experience. It is always shitty to work under those kinds of restrictions. Based on info from the guys that I know who worked on Scanners, Cronenberg was a gem the whole time which makes all the difference to a production. It would have been nice to work on a film in Toronto, when it was still a new experience for the city, but the hectic nature of the production would have made this not a fun one to work on.
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