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Scanners
EMAILPRINTAvco Embassy Pictures
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 8 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Horror | Sci-fi | Suspense/Thriller
Written by: David Cronenberg
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 14, 1981
DVD: August 28, 2001
Running Time: 103 minutes, Color
Origin: Canada
Summary
RATING: R
Starring Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, and Michael Ironside
Scanners are telepathic and when one (Ironside) seeks to control the world, another (Lack) tries to stop him.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A History of Violence Crash Dead Ringers Eastern Promises eXistenZ M. Butterfly Naked Lunch Spider The Dead Zone The Fly Videodrome
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
Scanners offers at least one literally eye-popping moment and another that can only be called mind-blowing.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
Scanners is a memorable and absorbing genre entertainment.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
The film is more interesting as a phenomenon than as a movie. [27 Feb 1981]
The New York Times Vincent Canby
Unfortunately the plot thickens so rapidly and so lumpily that one very soon loses interest in spite of the quite stunning and gory special effects.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Dave Kehr
One of the most technically proficient of David Cronenberg's early gnawing, Canadian-made horror movies, though it lacks both the logic and the queasy sexual subtext that made his still earlier work - "Rabid," "They Came From Within" - so memorably revolting.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Scanners is a new horror film made with enough craft and skill that it could have been very good, if it could find a way to make us care about it.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott
The larger budget has given Scanners a high-gloss Hollywood look, the editing is occasionally elegant and the special effects, which consist mostly of imaginative ways of turning actors into meat, provoke from the audience the desired response ("Oh, yuk]"), but he is careful to keep the violence within currently accepted boundaries. [19 Jan 1981]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
