Scanner Cop

After Samuel's Dad - who was a scanner - is killed, a cop takes custody of him. The film then jumps ahead 15 years and Samuel (Daniel Quinn) now too is a cop. Just like his dad, he also has telepathic powers, and needs to take pills to suppress his powers.

But when someone starts killing cops, Samuel realizes he has to use his powers to find and stop the killer. The killer and the film's antagonist is Dr Karl Glock (Richard Lynch), a psychiatrist who brainwashes people to commit the killings. To those who have been brainwashed, cops appear to be giant insects or horrible creatures, and they unintentionally kill the cops.

'Scanner Cop' is a spinoff to the 'Scanners' series, which started back in 1981. The final act is a wild ride filled with hellish images. It becomes an all-out clash between our hero's powers, and hallucinations. The film has an 80's feel to it, with excellent practical effects.

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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After the abysmal, but consequently very entertaining Scanners III, which once again saw good scanners versus bad scanners, the franchise took a different approach, focusing on the character of Samuel Staziak (Daniel Quinn), a young policeman who uses his powerful psychic abilities to uphold the law. In Scanner Cop, B-movie bad guy Richard Lynch plays Karl Glock, who has a score to settle with Staziak's adoptive father, police commander Harrington (played by Richard Grove, who, in reality, was only a year older than Quinn), the villain using brain-washing techniques to achieve his goal.

Scanner Cop is cheap straight to video nonsense that is far removed from the brilliance of Cronenberg's classic shocker, but it's not an entirely worthless effort: the film features some reasonable special make-up effects by John Carl Buechler, including bulging blood vessels and one exploding head (they had to do it); there's a handful of enjoyable hallucination scenes, including a large insect creature and a zombie; we get one pair of boobs; and Lynch is as loathsome as ever. Hilary Shepard is also fun as Glock's evil henchwoman Zena, who seems to be in it for the sh**ts and giggles. Quinn does well in the central role, genuinely looking like he's about to have an aneurysm whenever he uses his powers.

If you're a fan of the franchise, this one will most likely entertain, especially if you don't go in expecting too much from it. 5/10.

While the original "Scanners" was a ground breaking entry in the exploding head genre, "Scanner Cop" takes scanning to a new level. Daniel Quinn is quite good as the cop with brain reading powers. Naturally this asset can be very useful in a police investigation. Ordinary citizens have been programmed to kill cops by the always intriguing Richard Lynch and his fortune teller accomplice, Hilary Shepard. The story is fast moving and engaging as hallucinogenic programmed assassins think they are killing a programmed entity. As entertainment, this one is totally acceptable from any angle. Recommended. - MERK

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! :)