Scanner Cop

My copy of Scanner Cop is included in a 10 movie set from our friends at Payless Entertainment entitled 10 Action Movies Vol. 3..

This is the fifth of the set I have watched and I can confidently say that this, along with Coyote Run, has been the pick so far.

The others, Maximum Security, Black Thunder and Strategic Command, were just awful, even with the presence of Walter White and Richard Norton in Strategic Command.

Anyways, Scanner Cop at least has some reasonable acting, pretty good (if rather disgusting) special effects and an ok storyline.

I am not holding out any hopes for the rest of the titles here. I think I have seen the two best.

While the original "Scanners" was a ground breaking entry in the exploding head genre, "Scanner Cop" takes scanning to a new level. Daniel Quinn is quite good as the cop with brain reading powers. Naturally this asset can be very useful in a police investigation. Ordinary citizens have been programmed to kill cops by the always intriguing Richard Lynch and his fortune teller accomplice, Hilary Shepard. The story is fast moving and engaging as hallucinogenic programmed assassins think they are killing a programmed entity. As entertainment, this one is totally acceptable from any angle. Recommended. - MERK

This is so much better than the previous sequels. The opening in the apartment is pretty awesome. The writing isn't deep but it is engaging. It does what is needed for this kind of film. The concept though is more interesting than the first two sequels put together. If you are reading this then you like b-movies and this is one of the better ones. On a technical front it's well made. I actually enjoyed this way more than I was expecting. Even though it's not as good as the first film, I did enjoy it just as much, maybe even more. It's a fun b-movie.

After the abysmal, but consequently very entertaining Scanners III, which once again saw good scanners versus bad scanners, the franchise took a different approach, focusing on the character of Samuel Staziak (Daniel Quinn), a young policeman who uses his powerful psychic abilities to uphold the law. In Scanner Cop, B-movie bad guy Richard Lynch plays Karl Glock, who has a score to settle with Staziak's adoptive father, police commander Harrington (played by Richard Grove, who, in reality, was only a year older than Quinn), the villain using brain-washing techniques to achieve his goal.

Scanner Cop is cheap straight to video nonsense that is far removed from the brilliance of Cronenberg's classic shocker, but it's not an entirely worthless effort: the film features some reasonable special make-up effects by John Carl Buechler, including bulging blood vessels and one exploding head (they had to do it); there's a handful of enjoyable hallucination scenes, including a large insect creature and a zombie; we get one pair of boobs; and Lynch is as loathsome as ever. Hilary Shepard is also fun as Glock's evil henchwoman Zena, who seems to be in it for the sh**ts and giggles. Quinn does well in the central role, genuinely looking like he's about to have an aneurysm whenever he uses his powers.

If you're a fan of the franchise, this one will most likely entertain, especially if you don't go in expecting too much from it. 5/10.

A tense and bloody mix of gruesome body horror and an action-packed police thriller, Scanner Cop is far better than one might originally think as a quasi-sequel to Cronenberg's Scanners. While the script may be nothing overly special, it's a tightly written and fast-paced thriller that delivers an abundance of B-movie exploitation goodness. Marking his directorial debut Pierre David, long-time producer on all the other Scanner films and Cronenberg's Videodrome, delivers a humourless, somewhat bleak approach to help sell the bizarre subject matter. Populated by a plentiful cast of the usual suspects including an always-welcome Richard Lynch doing what he does best in the villain role. Backed by a funky synth score by Louis Febre, there's never a dull moment in Scanner Cop but almost too many highlights to list, although the minuscule and completely irrelevant role of Brion James feels criminal.