El destructor 2: la venganza

I enjoyed SCANNERS 2 and SCANNERS 3, which I thought had effective spins on the original SCANNERS movie. Recently I saw SCANNER COP, and I enjoyed that movie as well, so I eagerly rented SCANNER COP II when I found it at my local video store. Unfortunately, this entry in the series, while not really awful, is disappointing all the same. I will admit that the movie never has a boring moment, and it boasts some good make-up effects and other gory moments. Despite this, the movie comes across as quite cheap at times, with shabby sets or locations that look like they were shot in abandoned warehouses. There is also a subplot involving the hero's long- lost mother that seems awkwardly tacked on, and is hardly worked on for the most part. The biggest problem is that much of the movie seems to be repeating itself, with the villain doing the same things over and over. If you've seen the other entries in the series, you might as well watch this, but definitely keep your expectations low.

I've never seen David Cronenberg's 1981 "Scanners", nor its sequels which the "Scanner Cop" films are supposedly a spin-off from. The sequel to "Scanner Cop" is workably unfashionable b-grade stamina, but presentably quick moving with plenty of icky make-up and blood that doesn't let up for one second. Anyhow it's a fun entry consisting of numerous skin-splitting action and carved out tension, but it does lose shape towards the latter end with repetitive actions making their way in. Forget the silly plot, as even though it's an atypical concept, what progresses is predictable (cop after bad guy scenarios) with there being little in the way of a story. What it becomes is nothing more than a slide show for the head-jigs, strained facials (which goes full-ball for the film's climax) and of course the exhilarating make-up effects, which are commendably achieved. Patrick Kilpatrick in the bad guy role is great as the viciously stringent scanner going about scanning the power out of other scanners to become even more powerful, so he can take on scanner detective Samuel Staziak (who's perfectly played Daniel Quinn). Kilpatrick was the only one in the cast that didn't seem to be taking all that seriously with the constant grimaces when notoriously scanning his victims (but he's meant to be playing a nut-case), which was the opposite for a determined, stone-cold Quinn. Khrystyne Haje, Stephen Mendel and Robert Forster provide fine support.

Both "Scanner Cop" and "Scanner Cop 2" can be used as examples to contradict people if they claim that cool and amusing horror movies didn't get made during the 1990s. They may not be masterpieces, but these spinoffs to David Cronenberg's magnificent classic "Scanners" (1981) are action-packed, entertaining, and extremely gore!

Troubled Scanner and young Brad Dourif lookalike Sam Staziak once more needs to control and wisely divide all his powers, this time to defeat a maniacal scanner - Karl Volkin - who found a method to literally drain and absorb the abilities of other Scanners. Volkin is buffing up to confront Staziak because he killed his brother by using his scanning skills during a police intervention.

The script of "Scanner Cop 2" isn't groundbreaking or particularly clever, but it does offer an unpretentious, exhilarating, and straightforward cat-and-mouse situation between a likeable hero and a loathsome villain. The latter, played by Patrick Kilpatrick, is responsible for several of the most sadistic, excruciatingly painful, gooey, and splattery murder sequences of the entire 90s decade. What Volkin does to his fellow Scanners to obtain their abilities is beyond sadistic, as he drains and pulverizes them like a vampire without teeth. Their skin burns, their entire body melts, and their corpses remain behind unidentifiable. Special effects and make-up wizard John Carl Buechler must have tremendously enjoyed himself during this assignment. What makes it extra cruel is that most of these people didn't even (ab)use their scanner skills and were trying to lead a normal life.

SCANNER COP II (1995) is the last (for now) and least of the SCANNER franchise and a direct sequel to the last one with Brad Dourif lookalike Daniel Quinn reprising his role of scanning detective Staziak. This time around, he's on the trail of a murdering psychopath who's given up taking his ephemerol to instead go on a city-wide killing spree, murdering other scanners to ingest their powers.

Where to start with this one? It's a real cheapie for sure, a straight-to-video enterprise that looks static and small scale. The plot is extremely limited and basically has the baddie killing people until he faces off with the cop at the end. That's it. Quinn's okay but the film really belongs to B-movie veteran heavy Patrick Kilpatrick who's having a ball as the orgasmic, demented villain. Robert Forster has a small role too. To make things a bit easier there are plenty of gooey and very slimy SFX courtesy of John Carl Buechler, always creative, and at least one crowd-pleasing head explosion.

Karl Volkin (Patrick Kilpatrick) is a vengeance-crazed Scanner who's escaped from prison, and is hellbent on striking back at heroic Scanner cop Samuel Staziak (Brad Dourif look alike Daniel Quinn). What he does to work towards this end is suck the life out of other Scanners, leaving them twisted, burning hunks of flesh. He hopes to become even more powerful than his nemesis, and stops at nothing.

This is actually a pretty good B movie, made with competence (if not flamboyance) at every level. Its story, concocted by Mark Sevi, is ultimately very routine, but director Steve Barnett does keep us entertained. It's amusing, as it always is with these movies, to watch actors make all manner of faces as they unleash their devastating mental abilities. Volkin leaves quite the trail of bodies behind him, so viewers can take comfort in a respectable body count, as well as some reasonably impressive (if protracted) makeup effects sequences devised by John Carl Buechler and his company.

The cast gives it their best effort. Quinn is a decent enough good guy, but he's outshone by veteran movie villain Kilpatrick, who's fun to watch. A number of recognizable actors pop up along the way, although Robert Forster is given precious little to do as Staziaks' superior officer. Khrystyne Hage ('Head of the Class'), Stephen Mendel, Brenda Swanson, Jerry Potter, and Jewel Shepard ("The Return of the Living Dead") co-star, while Eugene Robert Glazer ('La Femme Nikita'), Allan Kolman (Cronenbergs' "Shivers"), Aaron Lustig ("Bad Channels"), and none other than Kane Hodder have small parts.

A worthy follow up to "Scanner Cop".

Seven out of 10.