Scanners (1981)
71%RT Audience Score: 64%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Scanners, the 1981 science fiction thriller directed by David Cronenberg, explores the idea of people who can control others with their thoughts. While some critics found the film lacking in payoff, others praised its unnerving and challenging nihilistic themes. The special effects were a highlight for many, but others found them curiously abstract. Despite its flaws, Scanners remains an entertaining and often exciting horror-thriller that has earned its place as a genre classic. Cronenberg’s exploration of the effects of signals on an organism is a recurring theme in his work, and Scanners is no exception. While it may not be his best film, it is certainly worth a watch for fans of the genre.
Scanners is a wild ride of exploding heads and mind control, but does it live up to the hype? Critics seem to be divided, with some praising the film’s special effects and others criticizing its lack of character development. Personally, I found it to be a fun and entertaining horror-thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. Sure, it may not be a classic, but it’s definitely worth a watch if you’re in the mood for some sci-fi gore. Just don’t expect it to be a deep exploration of the human condition.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
AVCO Embassy Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Year of Release
1981
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:NA
-
Runtime:1h 42m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 14, 1981 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 28, 2001
Genre(s)
Sci-fi
Keyword(s)
Sci-fi, telepathy, telekinesis, renegade, race, world domination, R, David Cronenberg, Claude Héroux, written by David Cronenberg, Stephen Lack, Cameron Vale, Jennifer O’Neill, Kim Obrist, Patrick McGoohan, Doctor Paul Ruth, Lawrence Dane, Braedon Keller, Adam Ludwig, Arno Crostic, Michael Ironside, Darryl Revok, AVCO Embassy Pictures, Filmplan, stereo, mono, flat, box office, budget, reviewed by Bruce McCabe, Keith Phipps, Nathan Lee, Dave Kehr, Derek Adams, Roger Ebert, Rob Gonsalves, Eddie Harrison, John Brosnan, Kenneth Turan, Joe Baltake, audience score, streaming, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, iTunes, rent, buy, subscription, MPAA rating, special effects, exploding head, conspiracy thriller, political tract, corporate executives, human conception, special gifts, safe, judicious manner
Worldwide gross: $14,225,876
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: $14,225,876
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $3,500,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $12,522,459
Production budget ranking: 1,580
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $6,743,344
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Jennifer O’Neill – Kim Obrist
Patrick McGoohan – Doctor Paul Ruth
Lawrence Dane – Braedon Keller
Adam Ludwig – Arno Crostic
Michael Ironside – Darryl Revok
Director – David Cronenberg
Producer – Claude Héroux
Writer – David Cronenberg
Director(s)
David Cronenberg
Writer(s)
David Cronenberg
Producer(s)
Claude Héroux
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (43) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (30) | Rotten (13)
Scanners, according to David Cronenberg’s new film, are people who can control others with their thoughts…The idea has a certain cachet. But Scanners doesn’t pay off on it.
April 28, 2018
Bruce McCabe
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
The generous selection of bonus features includes vintage elements, like a trailer made up almost entirely of the exploding-head scene, a handful of radio spots, and a 1981 talk-show appearance in which Cronenberg discusses his work up to that point.
July 14, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
Keith Phipps
The Dissolve
TOP CRITIC
Scanners consolidates the ruling problematic of the Cronenberg project from the sex slugs of Shivers to the financial abstractions of Cosmopolis: what are the effects of signals on an organism?
July 7, 2014
Nathan Lee
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Like Tod Browning, Cronenberg doesn’t have the stylistic resources to match the forcefulness of his ideas, but his movies remain in the mind for the pull of their private obsessions.
June 5, 2007
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Part conspiracy thriller, part political tract, it is Cronenberg’s most coherent movie to date, drawing a dark (but bland) world in which corporate executives engineer human conception to produce ever more powerful mental samurai.
June 24, 2006
Derek Adams
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Scanners is so lockstep that we are basically reduced to watching the special effects, which are good but curiously abstract, because we don’t much care about the people they’re happening around.
October 23, 2004 | Rating: 2/4
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
TOP CRITIC
Cronenberg does deliver the goods; it’s an efficient, intelligent sf thriller with the usual surplus of paranoid ideas.
December 1, 2022 | Rating: B+
Rob Gonsalves
Rob’s Movie Vault
…an unnerving and challenging work of nihilistic prescience…
September 17, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Eddie Harrison
film-authority.com
Not destined to be a classic, nor even the best Cronenberg so far, Scanners is nonetheless an entertaining and often exciting horror-thriller.
July 26, 2022
John Brosnan
Starburst
The picture is a genre classic, a masterpiece in its own spooky way, but saying that evokes visions of elitist projects that delicately scrutinize the human condition. Scanners is not like that all. It is a hard-edge, no-nonsense science fiction thriller.
June 17, 2022
Kenneth Turan
New West/California
Cronenberg continues to work on our nerves with his special effects, but in the manner of a sadistic dentist drilling away at our teeth. What he does is effectively excruciating, but not the least enjoyable. It’s a banal expedition into stupid slaughter.
June 16, 2022
Joe Baltake
Philadelphia Daily News
For young moviegoers… Scanners offers the preferred mixture of fright, mystery and silly science. One can only wonder, though, when audiences will stop patronizing gory movies simply because they “take them someplace they have never been before.”
June 16, 2022 | Rating: 2/4
Robert Alan Ross
Tampa Bay Times…
Plot
Scanners is a sci-fi film about a group of people with telepathic and telekinetic powers, some of whom plan to create a race that will rule the world.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels doesn’t have anything goofy or funny to say about the film Scanners, but they do mention the impressive special effects that will make your head explode.
David-Cronenberg.jpg
