David Cronenberg
Scanners

We are in 1981, and the director David Cronenberg is finally gaining international recognition with the film "Scanners." This film is actually the true starting point for the director and the genre (as mentioned in other reviews), so-called "Body Horror". It's precisely with this film that Cronenberg will definitively embark on the style that sets him apart from other directors in the Horror/Science Fiction genre, which will characterize his future works.

In "Scanners," you find the germs of what will become his Cult masterpieces in the years to come. Cameron Vale, the protagonist (played by an anonymous Steven Lack), will indeed turn out to be the typical character of the Cronenbergian stylistic line, as seen in "Videodrome" and "eXistenZ." Therefore, in this film too, we find the theme of Metamorphosis and/or corporeal transubstantiation, which, unlike the other two films that would come later, is not mixed with technological themes (Man/TV in Videodrome and Man/virtual reality concerning eXistenZ), but is found in the protagonist's psychic telepathic capability. This ability allows him to penetrate another's mind through telepathy but also to have his own mind penetrated in order to take control of the enemy.

This film, though 100% Cronenbergian, has often been underestimated carelessly; the only difference is that the transformation is not corporeal as the director will show in future works... but the dimension of the transformation is Mental, Psychic, and it's precisely this aspect that makes it very fascinating and, at first glance, anomalous for Cronenberg's themes and style. In reality, the inner transformation of the character and/or the ability to empathize with the "New Flesh," the term that will appear in the film "Videodrome," is merely disguised not in an exterior aspect but interior, precisely the mental aspect, the finale being the ultimate proof. "Scanners" is and will always remain the matrix of the works that Cronenberg will create in the future and in my opinion, remains the Best that the director has ever made, at least until now. The film itself, or the plot, is rather complex, and before you can understand it, you would need to watch the film almost till the end; the psychic power that Cameron Vale possesses, in fact, though it seems at first sight to be a natural gift, will later turn out to be the result of an experiment led by a certain Dr. Routh, who works for a ruthless multinational pharmaceutical company called ConSec, related to a project to create "Scanners," a generation of telepaths that should allow them to rule the world. Cameron Vale will try to thwart this project, clashing with Revok, another Scanner who also aims to rule the world not under ConSec's supervision but by becoming the leader of the Scanners scattered around the world.

Very gripping plot, therefore, which masterfully manages to mix Thriller with Science Fiction with a hint of Horror. In this case, it is the mind of the Scanner that could be compared to the Videodrome videocassette or the Bio-port of eXistenZ, which is why probably many did not understand the Capital importance this film had in Cronenberg's career development.

As in other films by director Cronenberg, here too we find the critique of potential mass control methodologies. In this case, scientists and doctors are criticized for attempting, through pharmaceutical multinationals, to create individuals with certain abilities to control the society of first countries, then cities and nations, until reaching global control. A situation that prompts much thought, also because theoretically possible in today's reality... just as for the film's protagonist, we too cannot entirely be sure about what our doctor prescribes us, which would be what pharmaceutical multinationals put on the market. The film "Scanners" had two sequels, absolutely not up to the mark, it has a complex plot that, however, unfolds in an orderly manner. Another gem from the Canadian director that cannot be missed and probably if not the best overall, certainly part of the winning podium.