And that is the source of all your agony. “You’re a scanner, but you don’t realize it.

Ruth confronts Vale with the reality of his situation as well as working as an informer for the audience, setting up the scenario. Paul Ruth, played by veteran actor Patrick McGoohan. When he awakens strapped to a bed, we meet the mysterious mentor Dr. This action makes him the target of two men who pursue him through the mall and sedate him with a tranquilizer dart. He focuses his rage on one of the women who suddenly falls into convulsions. As he eats, he overhears a conversation between two women that he should not be able to hear. He is a directionless derelict wandering through the food court of a shopping center stealing leftover food from trays left on tables. When we first meet our hero, Cameron Vale ( Stephen Lack), he is unformed and unable to control his unusual skills. The hero encounters obstacles and allies along the way, ultimately leading him to an epic showdown with the villain. There is a gifted protagonist with unrefined abilities, a powerful and engaging villain, and a mentor with a hidden past.

This internal struggle made external coalesces into one of the most inventive and intellectually complex horror films of the entire decade.įor all its intricacies of plot, Scanners is ultimately a thematically focused film and structured very much like a superhero origin story. Though it still contains some of the most memorable body horror effects in history, Scanners could perhaps more accurately be called “mind horror.” It delves deeply into the nature of the power of the mind as well as fears of mind control, particularly being manipulated by an outside force against one’s will. His first three major horror features, Shivers (1975, aka They Came From Within ), Rabid (1977), and The Brood (1979), established him as a master of what is usually referred to as “body horror.” In 1981, under very difficult production circumstances, he released a very different kind of movie. By 1981, David Cronenberg had already gathered a great deal of respect in the Canadian film industry and was beginning to make his mark abroad.

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