SCANNERS/BD BD [Blu-ray]
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(as of Sep 06, 2024 17:56:32 UTC – Details)
A scientist sends a “scanner” to hunt others like him with explosive psychic powers. Directed by David Cronenberg.
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 5.6 ounces
Item model number : CRRN2358BR
Director : Cronenberg, David
Media Format : Widescreen, NTSC, Color, Blu-ray, Multiple Formats
Run time : 2 hours and 7 minutes
Release date : July 15, 2014
Actors : Lack, Stephen, O’Neill, Jennifer, McGoohan, Patrick, Dane, Lawrence, Shamata, Charles
Studio : Criterion Collections
ASIN : B00JPUUQVE
Number of discs : 3
N. Andreassen –
The film that took “mind blowing” to a whole new level!
I bought the Blu-ray; Cronenberg’s “Scanners” has never looked better–although it still looks low-budget and seedy. But five stars anyway. Think about it: if a film has anti-technology themes and yet is technologically stunning, isn’t it contradicting itself? And if, on the other hand, it stands its ground, it’ll need to stand, somehow, at the low-tech end of moviemaking. So that’s one thing, and here’s another: this film has makeup by the great Dick Smith; music by Howard Shore; and, obviously, somebody out there created all those wonderful sculptures we see in the art gallery-scene and in the artist’s studio-scene, so, obviously, a lot of attention was paid to certain details in this film, from which it must follow that if “Scanners” fails to look and to sound as you think a great movie ought to look and sound, then maybe “Scanners” wants to mess with your mind–and let’s not forget that nothing about a motion picture is ever “natural”: your expectations for the movies are mostly all just learned behaviors–or in other words, you’re putty in a smart director’s hands, aren’t you? So try watching “Scanners” with all that in mind; and watch it more than once; and watch it back-to-back with Brian De Palma’s “The Fury”: let your daydreams build a playground on the common ground between the two films. In fact, one of the most remarkable thing about “Scanners” is that it and “The Fury” are two separate films. After all, both were made within just a few years, and both concern the same clash of values between, on the one hand, confused, fragile humanists with too much psychokinetic ability for their own good; and, on the other hand, self-righteous, power mad sociopaths willing to disappear anyone who gets in their way. Plus, “The Fury” ends with a body exploding through the power of the mind, leaving only a head falling back to earth; and “Scanners” had, as its original first scene, a man’s head exploding through the power of the mind, leaving only the body. So, there’s a bit of point-counterpoint going on, which we can take much further: pick at random a few major virtues of De Palma’s “The Fury”– say, (1) an A-list cast delivering bright, charming performances, (2) smart and sharp cinematography, (3) beautiful sets, (4) a typically engaging John Williams score, and (5) a high-level, Pakula-like conspiracy at the root of the on-screen action. Well, sure enough, Cronenberg presents us with (1) a relatively unknown cast giving mostly wooden performances, (2) quite a bit of amateur-looking camera work, (3) decidedly ugly sets, (4) a musical score that Amazon reviewers disparage, and (5) at the heart of the action, a grass-roots conspiracy of apparent street punks hoping to take down corporations. So, all that’s all flip for flop, isn’t it? And it doesn’t end there: the politics of “The Fury” are those of a James Bond flick (Kirk Douglas in the white hat; Cassavetes in black), while those of “Scanners” are a mess: the only heroes are a handful of doomed, pacifistic outcasts; and just who the “bad guys” are, and what they want, and why they want it, are beyond the viewer’s grasp from first to last–and then, even beyond the last and into the credits, as the viewer beside you is heard to mumble, “Uh…, what just happened?”It must be true then, all things considered, that the wooden acting in “Scanners” is, for some reason, what the director wanted. Why? Well, wooden acting does keep the viewer slightly outside the drama. Maybe that means it can also help keep us thinking critically. “Scanners” compares well, in that respect, to “Frenzy,” another auteur work that deliberately exploits an unknown cast in order to keep the viewer from taking sides: with no Jimmy Stewarts on deck, we’re on our own.Take a look at the sets in “Scanners”: the film opens in what seems to be an off-world location but turns out to be just a big, crass shopping mall. (The shopping mall in “The Fury,” by the way, is a thing of beauty: full of live trees and natural light) so Cronenberg begins by showing us the commercial realm as a place of artificiality, peopled by consumers who are equal parts smug satisfaction and final impotence. The story then moves to inhabit faceless, concrete, corporate strongholds–so power, in this movie, is definitely ugly; and, in contrast, the commune scene (think “Easy Rider” with ESP instead of LSD) is genuinely touching and terribly hopeful. In another key scene, the humanist school bus (yes, literally) crashes into a record store (and yes, there did used to be record stores on Planet Earth)–and what could be more appropriate? Granted, the war between Art and Technology is nearly imperceptible to us these days, since “cold blooded Technology” is winning it hands-down: we take for granted the green-screen scene and the tweaked, re-tuned audio–but let’s for a moment recall that an Art-versus-Techno war was in fact fought across most of our lifetimes, and was fought, in particular, within the music industry and in moviemaking. So, there’s something surpassingly poignant in the way that a crashed bus lies ajar amongst all those scattered vinyl disks–and video did, in fact, kill the radio star, which is also surely relevant: take, for instance, Jennifer O’Neill’s role in “Scanners”: why do we root for her? Just because she’s pretty! And that, my friend, is a smart director proving in a snap just how easily he takes control of your mind.And then there’s this: ESP and psychokinesis are not in fact high-tech devices, are they? Nor are they in some way “modern.” In fact, ESP and such are (would be) the lowest-tech possible form of what we now call “energy” because, if humans could perform incredible feats using only our collective minds, then we wouldn’t need any wheels and levers, wouldn’t need to buy apps and upgrades–heck, we wouldn’t even need math. So, the common struggle of the ESP-freaks in “Scanners” and “The Fury” must be seen and understood as an anti-technology Declaration of Human Independence, represented on the silver screen, in both films, by compassion and a sense of community; and in “Scanners” also as a consciously Art-for-Art’s-sake sensibility–e.g., “My art keeps me sane.” The ESP freaks in both these films aren’t ghosts in the machine: they’re ghosts outside the machine; and their fundamental struggle is to remain outside–that is, to evade soul-crushing aspects of modern culture–and yet to remain, somehow, still alive. And that gestalt is fundamental to Cronenberg’s oeuvre. Right? Of course.None of this is meant to suggest that “Scanners” succeeds as a slick, mesmerizing, complacently satisfying, modern entertainment. The point is that mesmerization’s dime-a-dozen, and how much more of it do you need? Why not watch something more quirky? Something that might make you wonder, worry, feel discomfort, maybe even doubt a few of your consumption assumptions–maybe even doubt “human progress”–and all in the name of good, clean, vicariously dangerous fun.
Zachary Bednar –
Scannerific!
I canât get Scanners out of my head. It is absolutely chilling and itâs all about atmosphere. It is a film that is legitimately scary. It is a film that has truly given me the shakes. As my more morbid side digs through the conspiracy files and distorted histories of PSYOPS and MKULTRA, I do indeed find that David Cronenbergâs 1981 spectacle has struck a chord somewhere in me. Cronenbergâs vision is a sterile one. It is hard not to think of Cronenberg as a surgeon. His films nurture extremely cold and scientific manifestations. His films are mostly horrifying and uninviting. Yet his films are puzzling on account of their strange charisma. Behind the camera, Cronenberg adopts the aseptic mentality sought after by no one. His vision is oblique. Each film is like an autopsy video. Cronenbergâs films seek to identify an illness, assimilate the symptoms, perpetuate the anomaly, and ultimately deconstruct its physical anatomy. Simply put, Cronenberg has the horror genre down to a science.Atmospherically speaking, Scanners is possibly Cronenbergâs most disturbing work. I found it to be nightmare inducing. It was clinical and detached, bizarrely neutral, shut off and mesmeric. This is a film that will haunt you without permission. It is psychologically stirring. It is a film with an illness, it is sickly. It is contagious and cerebral.In Scanners, Freudian symbolism abounds, yet the true subtext is found in archetypical dimensions. Cronenbergâs films have all been overtly Freudian in thought and Scanners is unique in inhabiting an unusually Jungian dichotomy. Jung believed that archetypes were psychic elements of the collective unconscious, motifs that can eventually manifest themselves in actual physical behavior. Scanners employs Jungâs theory by way of instinct through symbolism. Great transitions and revelations are being made throughout Cronenbergâs film and the characters involved assume symbolic archetypical characteristics to represent them. The most fascinating use of the archetype is what I believe to be at the true heart of Scanners. It is the archetype disguised as parable. It is the amalgamation. It is the tale of the two brothers.In Scanners, we are presented with two undisputed absolutes. We are given a definite villain and a definite hero. According to Cronenbergâs use of Jungian thought, we are actually given an undisputed transfiguration. This is a spiritual and mental change that is happening throughout the film, not just during the final showdown sequence. I actually believe that you can watch the filmâs two brothers as if they were always combined, that their narratives are interchangeable or that they are at least operating in union with each other. Scanners is a film about becoming one with your psyche. Utilizing Jungian duality of man, wielding it as an archetype of transfiguration. A psychological complex enters the realm of the parable. The two brothers share one soul, the physical apparatus is but a container, or a hollow box. What Freudian thought encourages us to think of in this instance is that of a womb. The hollow box of the body, the archetype of opposing dualities or possibly even the restraint of both psyches, is in symbolic actuality a womb. These men are in the process of being born. The drug Ephemeral which created them and gave them their powers can also be used to repress them. A drug that is administered intravenously, the needle is a phallic symbol that operates in direct opposition to the hollow box of the body. It is an oppressive symbol. Dr. Ruth and his phallic instrument represent their God. Dr. Ruth as the supreme creator. He tampers with the boys psyches and restricts the very power his deliberate injections have fostered. The phallic symbol of Ephemeral and the feminine symbol of the body coalesce into scanners. Into archetypes. These scanners are warring with their feminine and masculine psyches. The two brothers are aware of this rift and amplify the archetype. It is a mental birth, a marriage between two warring factions: that of the body and that of the mind. The mother and the father. The brother and the brother, as one and at peace. Freud would interpret their transfiguration as a distorted form of wish fulfillment. Jung would simply see it as fulfillment. A subconscious takeover of the telepathic enigma. Scanners works as a Freudian interpretation of an intrinsically Jungian concept.Scanners in manifest is also a daring and provocative showcase of special effects. A group led by the legendary make-up artist Dick Smith does not disappoint. Scanners is home to at least two are the most remarkable and notorious horror effects sequences of all time. Scanners is both a technical and artistic triumph. It is even commercially viable thanks to narrative tricks of the trade. As a science fiction film, it follows the code of subtext and contemporary allegory as well as sensationalist exhibition. Cronenberg had learned well from both the literature and the monster films he had indoctrinated himself with at an early age and uses the narrative tools of the trade as only a master could. The âbody horrorâ film has been fully realized.It would also be impossible to write about Scanners without writing about Michael Ironside. His performance as Darryl Revok is one of the most significant of the whole science fiction genre. An understated and too-often overlooked character actor, Ironsideâs legend is eternal thanks to his work in Scanners. A riveting and entertaining tour de force. I wholly believe Ironsideâs Revok to be the stuff of genre picture magic.â¨â¨The science fiction sub-genre of telepathy or mental horror is a category that deserves great distinction. I wish that more classics existed within its parameters. The mental horror sub-genre can assume many different tones and pursue unlimited psychological symbolism. More filmmakers should take advantage of this rough terrain. Cronenbergâs film is smooth as silk and justifies the sub-genre in every possible way. Scanners elevates it and Scanners takes to the heavens.This is one of the scariest films you will ever encounter on account of how psychologically jarring it can be. It is one of my favorite films ever made and one of the most deceivingly profound horror films ever imagined. A perfect early masterpiece from a man who would one day become the king of the genre. Scanners is proof of genre transfiguration. It is extraordinary.
Isabelle 64 –
DVD et livraison conforme à ce qui avait été annoncé
Giuseppe T. –
Forse il più famoso dei film del Cronenberg prima maniera, questo Scanners presenta una trama allucinata ed efficacissimi effetti speciali. Da avere.
Ramiro Alvarado –
Es una excelente edicion en DIGIPACK de CC.Estaba indeciso entre pedir esta pelicula o VIDEODROME que es un semi digipack pero que a fin de cuenta es una caja normal con slipcover, y pues incluso en material bonus, esta pelicula es superior ya que trae una de las primeras peliculas de Cronenberg entre sus materiales bonus y una enorme serie de entrevistas.
Movieman, Montreal –
Despite it’s low budget, David Cronenberg’s Scanners is a great horror film and remains a personal favorite. Tracking down this Canadian cult classic has been difficult, so I’m happy to finally own a good copy for my collection at a reasonable cost. I first saw Scanners just after it was released on Pay TV in the 80’s when I taped it onto VHS. 35 years later, it’s now a part of my movie library on DVD! A difficult movie to find – many fans will no doubt be thankful to Criterion for finally releasing it with a slew of extras. That being said, Criterion DVD’s are very expensive, so I looked into some cost saving alternatives…Tracking down a movie can be an adventure, rather than purchasing the pricey Criterion version, I opted to save myself some money. I took a chance and imported my copy of Scanners from the U.K. in PAL format. The version I own is a 2013 DVD release in 16×9 Anamorphic widescreen, running 99 minutes, and is released by Second Sight Films. The print quality is excellent, and the disc also includes 5 special bonus features – which differ from the Criterion release. The disc is region 2, so you need a multi-region player to play it. I am sure the Criterion release of this film is fantastic, but in this particular case, I didn’t want to spend $45 or more! I still occasionally will splurge on a film, but these days, it’s becoming rarer. I was able to buy my copy of Scanners for about $12, including shipping. Scanners is a movie I really wanted, call it a guilty pleasure if you will, and at this price I couldn’t be happier. These days I’m looking to the U.K. more and more to find rare titles at reasonable prices. I’m 100% satisfied.
S. Stephenson –
Wow, my memory must be getting bad. I remember this as being a whole lot better when it first came out, so maybe I’ve mixed up some of this with some other movies, like maybe the other Scanner movies. Wasn’t bad, but it’s certainly not edge of your seat stuff. I believe there was only one exploding head in the movie, so if you’re in it for that, check the others. Lots of intense stares and bleeding noses though.