scanners

Director: david cronenberg

Actor: jennifer o'neill,stephen lack,patrick mcgoohan,lawrence dane

Data Published: Wed Jan 14 1981

Genres: Horror,Sci-Fi,Thriller

Key Words: psychic power,exploding head,scientist,sabotage,investigation

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081455/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanners

Description: Scanners is a movie starring Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, and Patrick McGoohan. A scientist sends a man with extraordinary psychic powers to hunt others like him.

Plot: Private security firm ConSec plans to showcase a powerful new potential weapon: "scanners"; psychics with powers including telepathy/mind-control, empathy, biopathy, cyberpathy/technopathy, and psychokinesis/telekinesis. However, when ConSec's scanner demonstrates his powers, the volunteer turns out to be a more powerful scanner, who causes the ConSec scanner's head to explode, via hydrostatic shock from biopathically-increased blood pressure. When ConSec officials attempt to take the "volunteer" into custody, he kills them and escapes. Stung by this embarrassing experience, ConSec security head Braedon Keller advocates shutting down ConSec's scanner research program. Program head Dr. Paul Ruth disagrees, saying the assassination and escape demonstrate scanning's potential. Ruth attributes the operation to an evil scanner named Darryl Revok who, Ruth says, has his own underground network of scanners competing with ConSec's program. He argues that ConSec should recruit scanners to their cause to infiltrate and bring down Revok's group. Dr. Ruth brings in scanner Cameron Vale, a homeless social outcast driven mad by his undisciplined power, and injects him with ephemerol, which temporarily inhibits his scanning ability and restores his sanity. When Vale's mind is clear, Ruth asks for his help, explaining that Vale is a scanner and Revok is killing all scanners who refuse to join him. Under Ruth's guidance, Vale learns to control his scanning abilities. Unknown to Dr. Ruth, ConSec's security head, Keller, works for Revok as a spy. Revok learns of Ruth's infiltration plan, and dispatches assassins to follow Vale as he visits an unaffiliated scanner named Benjamin Pierce, who may know Revok's whereabouts. Revok's assassins brutally shoot Pierce to death. Enraged, Vale uses his telepathic power to kill the assassins. As Pierce dies, Vale reads from his mind a name—Kim Obrist. Vale tracks down Obrist, who has formed a telepathic alliance with a group of other scanners in opposition to Revok's group. Vale attends a meeting, but Revok's assassins strike again; only Vale and Obrist survive. Scanning an assassin, Vale learns of a drug company, which he then infiltrates. He finds large quantities of ephemerol are being distributed under a computer program called "Ripe", run by Revok himself through ConSec. Vale and Obrist return to ConSec, where Ruth suggests Vale cyberpathically-scan the computer system to learn more about the Ripe program. Meanwhile, Keller attacks Obrist and kills Dr. Ruth while Vale and Obrist flee the ConSec building. Vale cyberpathically accesses the computer network through a telephone booth and pulls ephemerol shipment information. When Keller discovers this, he orders the computer system shut down while Vale is scanning it; Keller hopes to harm or kill Vale by doing so. The plan backfires and the computer explodes, killing Keller and leaving Vale and Obrist unharmed. They visit a doctor on the list of ephemerol recipients, where Obrist discovers a pregnant woman's fetus has scanned her. Vale realizes ephemerol also causes fetuses to become scanners when administered to pregnant women. Obrist and Vale are ambushed by Revok's men and abducted. Revok reveals to Vale ephemerol was originally developed by Dr. Ruth as a tranquilizer for pregnant women: Ruth learned about the drug's side-effect by providing it to his wife during her pregnancies; Revok reveals that he and Vale are actually brothers and Dr. Ruth was their father. Because their mother received the highest dose of ephemerol, Revok and Vale are the most powerful scanners. By mass-distributing ephemerol to unwitting doctors, who prescribe it to their pregnant patients, Revok plans to create a new generation of scanners to take over the world, which he will control. Revok asks Vale to join him, but Vale refuses. The two have a final telepathic battle against one another, Revok declaring that he'll 'suck your brain dry' if he won't side with him. Instead, while Vale's body is incinerated, his mind takes over Revok's body to save himself. Obrist enters the room to find Vale's charred body on the floor. She hears Vale's voice coming from the corner of the room. In the corner is Revok, with his head scar gone and his eyes replaced with Vale's eyes. He faces Obrist and announces in Vale's voice, "We've won."