Scanners
Director: David Cronenberg
Year Released: 1981
Rating: 2.5
Still early-period Cronenberg is probably better known for its ideas than its actual execution, as super mind readers flood Canada and try to blow up each other's heads (and, naturally, take over the world). Michael Ironside is a memorable B-movie villain - he's got Jack Nicholson's demonic look down - and the special effects are decent (the famous head explosion scene is still grisly), though the dialogue lacks punch and it doesn't have the intellectual edge of some of Cronenberg's better work (although it's just as disturbing). Having caught glimpses of the some of the "sequels," they do even less with the concept.
