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.

I really didn't expect ANYTHING from 'Scanner Cop', and only rented it to see two of my favourites Richard Lynch ('Open Season', 'The Ninth Configuration', 'Little Nikita') and the late Brion James ('Blade Runner', 'Crimewave', 'Tango & Cash') on screen together. The bad news is that they never share a scene, and that James only has a pointless cameo of around two minutes. The good news is that the movie is surprisingly enjoyable above average b-grade sci-fi action.

Daniel Quinn ('Wild At Heart') plays a young man with "scanner" powers who has been adopted by a kindly cop (Richard Grove - 'Army Of Darkness'). The movie begins showing how to two met but quickly flashes forward fifteen years with Quinn's first day as a rookie cop, Grove by this stage being police Commander. Cops, including Quinn's partner, suddenly begin getting murdered by seemingly normal citizens. Quinn finds himself on the trail of the criminal mastermind behind this fiendish plan (yup, you guessed it, it's Richard Lynch), but to do so he must stop taking the medication which suppresses his scanner powers. By doing this he risks permanent damage and possible insanity, so the case becomes a race against the clock, and one he can't afford to lose.

Stupid but fun, with Lynch at his most villainous, and having a hammy good time.

Really far exceeded my expectations.

The lead actor is quite good and did not annoy me like so many actors have a tendency to do.

I will agree that the opening scene special effects were very poor, with a dolls head popping out of latex on a guy's forehead. But after that, the effects were not as embarrassing.

The evil guy, played by the same guy who plays villains in many horror movies, is really good, too. The female evil partner is very hot and convincing. She looks like the black widow type.

Pete, the cop who adopts the scanner is very good too.

I was surprised by the decent acting and cool effects after the opening scene. Most hardcore horror fans will get a kick out of this one.

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.

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.