David Cronenberg’s Scanners is a Body Horror Triumph with a Unique Spin on Psychic Powers

I was finally able to watch David Cronenberg’s Scanners, and I couldn’t believe how incredible and insane the story was. This is probably one of Cronenberg’s most bizarre films ever made, but the concept is genius.

The story follows a man named Cameron Vale, who is kidnapped by a secret lab who specializes in people who are known as ‘Scanners.’ A scientist named Ruth reveals to Cameron that some people are born with psychic abilities, and are extremely powerful.

Cameron happens to be one of the most powerful scanners, and the scientists decide to use him to help them defeat one scanner who uses his power for evil.

This man’s name is Darryl Revok, another powerful psychic like Cameron.

And wow, Revok is terrifying.

Revok was a Scanner who went mad, and is now determined to wipe out any Scanner would dare to oppose him.

This is where we get a taste of the villainy of Revok, a tyrant who doesn’t hesitate to murder Scanners in any manner possible. In one of the best sequences of the film, Revok sent an army of people to go after Cameron.

Cameron has a meeting with a man named Benjamin Pierce, who is secretly a Scanner who uses art to convey his mind to the world. This is where we witness how powerful Cameron really is, when Revok sents a group of assassins to kill Pierce.

Pierce dies, but Cameron is able to defeat every single opponent with his psychic abilities. Cameron learns from the dying Pierce that there is a group of Scanners that will aid Cameron against Revok.

He meets a woman named Kim Obrist, who leads this group of Scanners.

While Cameron, Kim, and her group are having a type of Scanner meeting, they are attacked once again by Revok’s assassins. After a crazy brutal fight, only Cameron and Kim are the survivors.

Cameron learns of a company that Revok is running, and the duo heads over to investigate. Cameron then returns to the scientist lab to meet with Ruth, who admits to Cameron that he is the one responsible for the creations of Revok’s company.

Then things go wrong for Cameron and Kim once again when they learn that someone from Ruth’s lab is working for Revok, a man named Keller. He murders Ruth, and attempts to take down Cameron.

Cameron uses his abilities through a telephone booth to hack the lab of Ruth to gain information about the Scanners, and his powers end up exploding part of the lab, killing Keller and several scientists.

The duo once again is one the run to find the truth behind the Scanners…and it isn’t what they expect.

They discover that the pharmaceutical company that Revok led, prescribed medication to women to give birth to Scanners. When they discover this information, the duo is taken by Revok’s group.

The duo is taken to Revok, where he will reveal a crazy secret to Cameron.

This is the part of the film where we get our psychic war!

Revok reveals that he is the secret brother of Cameron.

I honestly let out a little gasp here, because I genuinely did not see this twist coming. I was so into the film, I really felt like I was on some kind of rollercoaster that kept freaking me out.

Then he reveals that Ruth was actually their dad.

This part really pissed me off, because Revok straight up murdered their dad, so there goes the heartfelt reunion, I guess. I was at least glad that Cameron was able to bond with Ruth, but that still really sucked.

Ruth gave his wife the Scanner medication, and found a way to make his two children the most powerful Scanners in the world.

This explained why Cameron and Revok were so over powered, because I was a little lost why these two kept kicking ass compared to the other Scanners lol.

Revok asks Cameron to join him, but he refuses.

THEN WE GET OUR PSYCHIC WAR!

This is one of the best scenes I have seen through the use of body horror in David Cronenberg’s work! Watching Revok’s face slowly receive horrible wounds while Cameron’s body gets set on fire was an amazing battle sequence.

I have no clue how Cronenberg pulled this entire fight scene off, but damn, the effects were amazing!

I freaked out when Cameron’s body got set on fire, and I loved it when Revok’s eyes became a pure white as he was screaming in agony.

We see Kim wake up in Revok’s lair, and she discovers the burned body of Cameron. She walks slowly over to Revok, who is the sole survivor of the fight.

The film ends with Revok telling Kim they won, and we get a look of his eyes, revealing that Cameron had taken over his body, making him the victor of the battle.

It was another awesome twist, and I freaked out when the credits started to roll. I was so sad when Cameron died, but realizing that he had taken over Revok’s body was pretty damn shocking!

I have watched a lot of David Cronenberg’s films, but this one has to be his most shocking one yet. I have no idea where that idea even came from, but who cares?

I was so entertained by the body horror, and I think that is one of the best battles I have seen in horror history!

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn