Scanners

release year: 1981
genre: sci-fi
viewing setting: home DVD, 8/17/08 and 11/30/01

synopsis: Be advised that a few hundred people in the world have vast mental powers, and some of them are evil and ambitious.

impressions: Neat stuff. I really like the idea of a tiny percentage of the population having ESP or more. The movie feels a little dated at times, especially with the computer-related bits, but all in all it's a cool concept which was executed in an entertaining way. The powers ranged from thought-reading (complete with nosebleeds) to pyrokinesis, telekinesis, and exploding heads. There was also the undercurrent of normal peoples' fear of the scanners, and their hunting/killing of them in the extreme cases.

things to watch for: Exploding head!

acting: I can't say much for the guy who played the protagonist - he seemed aloof. A young Michael Ironside was good as the evil scanner, and the guy who played the head of the lab was suitably evil as well. Most of the performances in this movie were just...odd.

final word: Good sci-fi, even if it feels a little 70s.

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