This was the second film I rented today. Turned out to be the superior of the two (the first being Basket Case) but I enjoyed them both. This is my seventh experience with sci-fi/horror genre god David Cronenberg.

With the exception of The Fly and A History of Violence, Scanners is the closest Cronenberg has come to "conventional" or "Hollywood." But like Japan's Takashi Miike, most, if not all, of Cronenberg's films are unique. This one is no exception.

The plot of Scanners is as follows: scanners are unique human beings with the ability to connect their nervous systems to those of others (basically telepathy except you'll find if you watch the film, it's a little more complicated). A corporation specializing in weapons development have tried to harness the power of scanners. The film opens with the first public demonstration of the scanners' ability but the event is quickly sabotaged by Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside), an ultra-scanner trying to turn the rest against society (this scene is just too cool, I'm not going into details as to what happens but it's awesome). As a result, the corporation recruits a "good" scanner (Stephen Lack) to track down Revok and kill him.

About halfway through Scanners, I was surprised at how coherent the plot was and the lack of WTF moments that littered Cronenberg's classics such as Naked Lunch and Videodrome. Everything seemed to stay the course the first few scenes had set up. The action scenes, which would normally be taken up by gunfights and martial arts, were mostly telekenetic battles between scanners (the main character in particular could incapacitate several people at once). It's a little weird but still somewhat familiar. The first half of the film could have easily become a generic action film but because of Cronenberg's touch, it doesn't.

In the second half, things start to get really weird. By the third act, you've completely entered Cronenberg's world. There're a lot of twists and an awesome final telekenetic battle (this is the heighlight of the film and I would recommend watching it for this scene alone). Those disappointed by the seeming lack of Cronenberg's signature trippiness in the first half of the film will be greatly satisfied.

All in all, another Cronenberg classic. I think this is my second favorite film of his (the first being The Fly). It has all the weirdness you'd expect from Cronenberg but flows nicely and isn't too confusing. Highly recommended to sci-fi and horror fans but also to everyone else. Enjoy!  

all i remember from this movie was the guys head exploding.  I should check it out again.