Scanners III: O Duelo Final

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.

Scanners were the offspring of women that were given a drug during pregnancy. They had severe mental and emotional problems, but one great power: the ability to blow someone else's brains up if you pissed them off. I did not see Scanners II, but by number III they not only got the ability to use psychokinesis, but to control others actions--even over the television.

One brother went to a monastery in Thailand to learn to control his powers, while his father gave his sister an experimental drug that gave her the same powers instantly (but for only 24 hours while wearing a patch). She becomes power mad and uses them to take over her father's drug company and next the world?

Her brother finds out about his relatives deaths and returns. His sister has released a bunch of drug enhanced Scanners as hit men to prevent his displacing her.

The final battle reveals which approach is stronger--it is not as straight forward as you think.

Just like in Scanners (I), not enough of what scanners were famous for--blowing up heads. How expensive can this special effect be anyway?

This movie is not a bad waste of viewing time and the sister is not hard on the eyes -- one brief nude scene in a hot tub.

It seemed to have been a curse of good 80's films with exploitable theme to sink ever lower depth, cheaper effects and amateurish actors, the more Roman numerals one would attach to them. Remember "RoboCop"? Half-decent sequel, a third part that reeked. "Warlock"? Cult-classic first part, mediocre second, unwatchable third. "Highlander"? "American Ninja"? "Batman"? The list could go on.

"Scanners III" neatly fits into that mould; the original being a true classic, the second part a cartoonish but enjoyable romp and the third, well, it makes you glad they didn't film a third "The Fly"-film (although an African video-vendor tried to sell me a bootleg of "The Fly III", but that's another story).

Short story shorter: a pair of Scanner siblings, one good one who has learned to control his powers and his evil sister, who chemically boosts her powers in order to take over the world, battle it out with the usual Scanner abilities. The powers are stronger, the theatrics – mostly due to the lack of acting abilities – are even more theatrical but the human-factor of the original "Scanners" has left the franchise forever. The original Scanners were mostly portrayed as average people who had to deal both with a power and a disease. One felt for their misery and, through the minimalist approach of original director David Cronenberg, one could almost imagine those people were troubled, but real people. The Scanners of this film seem like comic book heroes (and villains) who might well have fitted in with some cheap TV-production of "Super Friends".

This film isn't even cartoon anymore; it's the purest of C-grade straight-to-video Dreck. But there's the golden 80's principle and the producers had a concept there: most of the fans still slavishly rented or purchased the film, same as they did with "Scanner Cop" and "Scanner Cop II". I know I did. And I watched all the RoboCops because, you never know, there might be a shine of former brilliance to surface yet. People, we've all been conned. Will I go watch another sequel or a remake? Sure, I'm an incorrect able sucker for franchises and plan to stick to that – one can always complain later.

And by the way: when in East-Africa and they somebody tries to sell you a video-copy of "The Fly III", don't buy it! It's just a cheap horror-film, left on the cutting board table somewhere in Hong Kong, about a woman who stings herself on a mutated plant and gives birth to a giant killer-bug. Trust me: I know what I'm talking about! Four points for the film, one for nostalgia.

'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.

A young female scanner turns from a sweet young thing into a murderous, power-crazed villain after she takes an experimental drug developed by her father. Her brother, who is also a scanner, is the only one powerful enough to stop her.

We start out with the standard good and evil plot, brother against sister... but, in all fairness, this is a plot structure that works. From there, it actually gets much more creative, introducing the use of Eastern meditation to control the scanning and the use of TV to more widely broadcast scanning.

Some memorable moments are here, too, including the mind-control dance scene, the Taiwanese boxing and plenty of firefights and explosions, including an arm that flies off.

As with "Scanners II", this definitely could have been a series, even more than the last film. The ideas developed here really set up a broader picture of good scanners against bad ones, and how such powers could be used not just on a combat level, but to actually infiltrate and dominate society. There is much potential.