Scanner Cop

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.

Opening scene Special Effects were really Cheesy, and I mean REALLY!!! Cheesy. The plot wasn't that bad, and overall the acting wasn't all that bad either. Special effects were done well for a low budget film. If you're going to the movie store to rent one movie, don't rent this one. If you're got a 5 movies 5 bucks deal...pick it up, it's worth it then! :)

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.

A tense and bloody mix of gruesome body horror and an action-packed police thriller, Scanner Cop is far better than one might originally think as a quasi-sequel to Cronenberg's Scanners. While the script may be nothing overly special, it's a tightly written and fast-paced thriller that delivers an abundance of B-movie exploitation goodness. Marking his directorial debut Pierre David, long-time producer on all the other Scanner films and Cronenberg's Videodrome, delivers a humourless, somewhat bleak approach to help sell the bizarre subject matter. Populated by a plentiful cast of the usual suspects including an always-welcome Richard Lynch doing what he does best in the villain role. Backed by a funky synth score by Louis Febre, there's never a dull moment in Scanner Cop but almost too many highlights to list, although the minuscule and completely irrelevant role of Brion James feels criminal.

Scanner Cop (1994) was an interesting spin-off of the Scanners trilogy. This small budgeted film follows the remnents of the "scanner" underground. One of these is a young man who's a scanner and he tries to deal with his powers. Darlene Fluegal co-stars as a doctor who tries to help the "scanner". But somewhere in the big city there's an evil scanner hell bent on declaring war on the "normals".

I saw this film nine years ago on cable t.v. I was impressed by it because it didn't try to hard. Just a movie about a couple of unaccounted rogue scanners roaming amongst the "normals". Not a masterpiece by any means. A nice little time killer that I wouldn't mind seeing again in the near future.

Watchable, if on the idiot box.

B-

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