Scanners III: O Duelo Final

'Scanners 3: The Takeover' is actually a bit of a mini-epic. It doesn't have half the budget of the previous film and there are some off-the-wall, kooky performances from almost all of the characters but this is definitely the better – and by better, I mean camp fun - of the 2 films. The film begins with an introduction to Alex Monet, a brash Scanner that has reduced his abilities to a literal party trick. When he absent-mindedly kills his best friend at one such party, he decides, in an effort of contrition, to find a way to better hone his powers. This leads him to the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet. Meanwhile, his sister, Helena Monet, (who is the heir to the pharmaceutical company that is working on a 'cure' for the previously-described side effects of the scanning mutation) is experimenting with said drug, turning her into a power-hungry megalomaniac. Much as the original 'Scanners' introduced the ability to control computers, Helena attempts to control people by passing a 'scanner signal' through pre-recorded video. When Alex returns, it is a cat and mouse game pitting brother against sister.

There is no doubt in my mind that the spark that inspired these follow-ups was the singularly iconic exploding head from the original and these sequels do not let down. There is a surplus of gooey gore and a sense that each death is an attempt to outdo the last. If you're after the headier (no pun intended) aspirations of Cronenberg, you are bound to be disappointed with these. If you are hoping to see fountains of blood spewing from the skulls of random characters, this is the place.

Opening with a Christmas party in which a scanner shows off his powers with unexpectedly tragic results, this second sequel to David Cronenberg's 'Scanners' begins on a chilling note. Things only get more interesting as one of the party guests soon has to use her scanning abilities to fend off muggers, which results in massive headaches (having avoided scanning in so long) with a possible cure in an experimental nicotine patch style of sorts. After this promising start though, the plot soon derails as the patch as the side effect of turning her into a homicidal megalomaniac, similar to Raoul Max Trujillo in 'Scanners II'. Lead actress Liliana Komorowska manages to chew the scenery even more so than Trujillo though in such a wildly exaggerated performance that it is draining to watch. There are also a host of ill-defined supporting characters who inexplicably wear sunglasses all the time (to stop accidentally scanning??) and as she manages to control others through television sets, her powers end up more fantastical than pseudo-scientific as in the first two films. 'Scanners 3' does, however, deserve some points for presenting a more original plot than Part 2. There is also quite a bit of humour in the mix (forcing an obnoxious date to dance; waking up in a morgue) and the special effects are uniformly excellent, but this is a hard film to get excited about.

Let me start out by saying that this is a wonderful film. When I rented this movie initially I thought that it was going to be one of those low budget action films with awful special effects, terrible dialogue, terrible plot and gratuitous nudity (like the highlander movies). I was dead wrong.

Scanners III is a wonderfully cerebral film, chock full of allusions and references to American folklore, popular science fiction novels of the past century (i.e. 1984 and just about everything by Michael Chricton), Huey Lewis and The News song lyrics (I've got a brand new drug) and the religion and philosophy of the Algonquin Indians. What an analytical treat!!

As the iconography in this film suggests, American culture is dominated by the media, the pharmecutical companies, and cheap dares we do to impress girls on Saturday nights. We are soulless zombies, only acting on impulses that have been passed down to us by our parents. If we only used our heads (as Alex Monet does in this film (monet is an obvious reference to the french impressionistic artist...there are many more delicious reference-goodies in this gem!)), we could overcome the social and mental chains that are hindering us from developing as a society.

The film is beckoning us to cast away homburg hats and black suits of the nineteen forties for more casual clothing, eschew hot concentual sex with busty mental-hospital nurses for passionate lovemaking with loved ones, to send christianity and all of western society to the junkyard and take up Tibetan Buddhism, the only religion that has the capability to give one enough strength to overcome one's weaknesses. In no way is this film just another sequel to David Cronenberg's far inferior film Scanners. This is a treatise on how to live life successfully. I urge you to watch it immediately.

During the Christmas party in her apartment, Joyce Stone (Valérie Valois) welcomes the stepbrothers Helena Monet (Liliana Komorowska) and Alex Monet (Steve Parrish), who is her boyfriend. Alex's best friend asks him to demonstrate his abilities of scanner and during his demonstration, Alex is distracted by a guest and accidentally kills his friend. Alex is considered non-guilty but decides to travel to a monastery in Thailand to learn to control his powers.

Two years later, Joyce and Helena are attacked by a gang in an alley and Helena activates her ability of scanner to save them. She has a severe migraine associated to the sound of voices and her stepfather Elton Monet (Colin Fox) shows an experimental EPH-3 patch that he is developing in his company to be used in scanners. Helena offers to be the guinea pig, but he does not accept the offer since he is still studying the side effects. During the night, Helena opens his wallet and secretly uses the EPH-3. Immediately her migraine disappears and she feels good; however her personality changes to an evil person. She humiliates her boss Mark Dragon (Peter Wright), who is the owner of the TV network where she works, and later she destroys him to assume the control of the television; she kills Elton to assume the control of his company and research; she kills Dr. Baumann (Harry Hill), who conducted painful experiments on her when she was a teenager. Meanwhile Alex's lawyer and friend Michael (Daniel Pilon) travels to Thailand to warn Alex about the changes in Helena but he is murdered by a scanner sent by Helena to follow him. The Monk (Sith Sekae) gives a final training to Alex and he returns home. Will Alex succeed to control Helena?

"Scanners III: The Takeover" is not a bad movie as indicated in the IMDb Users Rating; actually it is a good sequel of Scanners. The plot is well constructed through a tight screenplay; the story has a great villain; the acting is reasonable for a movie directly released on video. The transformation of a sweet woman into a powerful villain is a great idea and there is also humor, like when the gang is thrown into the garbage truck or her boss dancing in the restaurant; or Alex waking up and walking in the morgue. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Scanners III - O Duelo Final ("Scanners III: The Final Duel")

Of the five "Scanners" movies that have been made to date, "Scanners III: The Takeover" is the least of the series. That is not to say that it isn't fun to watch; if you like B movies, this particular one does have some entertaining elements. It's pretty well made for what was a low budget, there are some pleasing splatter moments here and there, and the core of the story does have some intriguing idea that had potential. However, the actual execution of the story does have some unsatisfying aspects to it. Even though the movie runs only 95 or so minutes, you can really feel the padding; it didn't have to run as long as it did. The expansion of the powers of the scanners gets downright silly and unbelievable at times, even though this is a B movie. And the occasional attempts at humor run all over the map, ranging from being low key effective to downright embarrassing. If you liked the other entries of this series, you'll probably find enough to enjoy here, but you'll still think that the screenplay (by four writers!) should have had some serious rewrites before filming started.