The Mind's Eye

Almost a competent film, there isn't an original thought in this movie. Whoever made it saw Scanners and said, Hey rather than do yet another low budget zombie movie, let's do Scanners. And that's what they did. It almost a paint by numbers recreation of Scanners right down to the mind off (face off) at the end. Not horrible. But not good either.

Here's a first for yours truly: a review of a yet-to-be-released film that's currently making the festival circuit. The 'secret movie' and highlight of Brooklyn's Nitehawk Cinema's Halloween 'Nite to Dismember'celebration turned out to be director Joe Bego's follow-up to "Almost Human," the very 80's (particularly Steve Moore's wall-to- wall electronic soundtrack) "The Mind's Eye." What "Turbo Kid" is to 80's post-apocalyptic movies "The Mind's Eye" is to David Cronenberg's "Scanners": a contemporary homage that looks/sounds like the genuine article, right down to the ugly-looking logo of the institute at the center of the intrigue. Per Begos' representative at the screening, the director's aim was to make the sequel/follow-up to "Scanners" that he feels the actual "Scanners" sequels didn't live up to. It takes an awful lot of trouble for "The Mind's Eye's" psychokinetic characters to flex their mental muscles. A simple ax or gun seems to do the trick better for most of the film. Even though it mercilessly teases early on that big exploding heads and psychokinetic duels are coming, it's not until the final act that "The Mind's Eye" truly goes berserk in a good way. You know, like "Rabid" and "The Brood" and, yes, "Scanners."

Personally I feel "The Mind's Eye" has some shortcomings in the casting of its leads. Either that or Begos deliberately went with actors that feel miscast (Graham Skipper) or way over the top (John Speredakos) to match similar bad casting in Cronenberg's late 70's/early 80's films. That would be an even more meta tribute to the Canadian master of body horror than the "Videodrome"-like opening titles/fonts that start the movie. At least the supporting cast is populated with low-budget horror luminaries, from Larry Fessenden ("I Sell the Dead") and Jeremy Gardner ("The Battery") to Noah Segan ("Starry Eyes") and Lauren Ashley Carter ("The Woman"). For a 2015 low-budget film that sets its story in the early 90's (which makes it feel closer to Cronenberg's prime decades) the action is decent and the deaths/gore off-the-charts groovy, something "Scanners 2 & 3" definitely skimped on. For fans of body horror missing the old Cronenberg now that the genuine article is doing mostly psychologically-heavy stuff (not that I'm complaining), "The Mind's Eye" will make for a pleasant and entertaining evening's entertainment. Me and the Nitehawk Halloween crowd really dug it.

I'm a very big fan of low budget Sci-Fi films, and this one was quite impressive.

If you ever seen the David Cronenberg film, Scanners, it's very, very similar to that experience, The effects are simple and effective, and a good use of both visual and sound effects to make the psychokinetic powers seem eerie.

It's a good set of interesting characters with the best one being the guy who played the main antagonist, Slovak. He starts off sane and gets crazier like a super villain as the movie progresses.

The Mind's Eye follows Slovak as he hunts down and experiments on the ever growing population of psychokinetic people, in hopes of gaining great power from them, only to have to chase down a few of them who had escape his clutches.

I'm also a sucker for movies that allow me to reminisce over my 80s upbringing with a look and a soundtrack that remind me of that era (The film actually takes place in the early 90s)

It's a stellar production.

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If this feature stood on it's own, it might have made a weak 4 on my list, but as a rip off of the 1981 classic it barely gets a 2. So let's settle then on 3.

Though the story line deviates from David Cronenberg's Scanners, this feature is a clear rip off from Scanners with very obvious parallels – even a classic reference to the forced veins on the face of Michael Slovak, the deranged scientist.

Someone clearly forgot to tell this movie maker though that if you are going to try and emulate the style of a legendary director like Cronenberg, one should probably at least try and come up with an original idea or study the thematic content of that particular director before putting out a half-bred attempt to cash in on a new generation that would not know the classic.

But with a very weak story line, a complete lack of thematic content, an over obvious choice to emulate Cronenberg's style and an insulting lack of innovation and originality, the best thing about this film is the B-grade special effects that is slightly nostalgic of early Rob Zombie films.

Imagine if David Cronenberg had just a 100 IQ. This then is what Scanners would've looked like. It doesn't suck, but it's not all that impressive either.

Unlike Scanners, there is no cerebral subtext. What you see is what you get and nothing more. One thing that drove me sorta nuts watching it is that the characters will announce that some course of action is not a good idea and then proceed to do just that. They also engage in fights to the death, where they get the upper hand, but then do not finish off their opponents. Guess what happens.

The lead actress and the score are pretty good. Plus, the general storyline is interesting, the foreboding atmosphere is well maintained, and the practical gore effects are impactful. All in all, I'd probably rather just rewatch Scanners, but that said, you could do a lot worse than watching this homage/ knockoff/ what-have-you.