A scanner discovers a plot by renegade elements in the city government to take power with the help of evil scanners.
First of all, there is a weak, unnecessary connection to the first film with the main character being the son of the characters from David Cronenberg's "Scanners". This is somewhat silly, as the story would be just as good (or bad) if these were just a new generation of scanners with no connection at all.
Beyond that, it is not a terrible film. Clearly it is not on the level of the original, with absolutely zero star power or big name crew. Director Christian Duguay had no prior film experience, having done only a few television episodes. But some real thought was put into crafting a tale wherein some scanners would be good and others evil while the average human can either choose sides or stay out of the way. (Writer B. J. Nelson had one prior credit: the Chuck Norris action flick "Lone Wolf McQuade".)
The film has its own sequel (though it was concurrently) and another spin off, "Scanner Cop" (with its own sequel). Exactly why this was never made into a television series is unclear, because under the right hands this would be a better format for an ongoing story of good and evil, cops and baddies. Something of a more sophisticated "X-Files", perhaps.
Now that "Scanners II" and "Scanners III" are out in a combination set from Scream Factory, they are well worth checking out. Regrettably, not a single special feature was added to the package, but at least we get to see a series that has long been neglected (and forgotten).
First of all, there is a weak, unnecessary connection to the first film with the main character being the son of the characters from David Cronenberg's "Scanners". This is somewhat silly, as the story would be just as good (or bad) if these were just a new generation of scanners with no connection at all.
Beyond that, it is not a terrible film. Clearly it is not on the level of the original, with absolutely zero star power or big name crew. Director Christian Duguay had no prior film experience, having done only a few television episodes. But some real thought was put into crafting a tale wherein some scanners would be good and others evil while the average human can either choose sides or stay out of the way. (Writer B. J. Nelson had one prior credit: the Chuck Norris action flick "Lone Wolf McQuade".)
The film has its own sequel (though it was concurrently) and another spin off, "Scanner Cop" (with its own sequel). Exactly why this was never made into a television series is unclear, because under the right hands this would be a better format for an ongoing story of good and evil, cops and baddies. Something of a more sophisticated "X-Files", perhaps.
Now that "Scanners II" and "Scanners III" are out in a combination set from Scream Factory, they are well worth checking out. Regrettably, not a single special feature was added to the package, but at least we get to see a series that has long been neglected (and forgotten).