Scanners III: The Takeover (AKA Scanner Force)

Dir: Christian Duguay

1992

**

Scanners II: The New Order was an unnecessary sequel to the 1980 classic. Scanners III: The Takeover was taking the flimsy story way too far. For some reason it was called Scanner Force in the UK but we all knew what it was – the sequel no one asked for. That said, I think director Christian Duguay realised his mistakes and knew that at this point, people just wanted to see heads explode and that is exactly what he gave us. It is more horror than sci-fi and, dare I say it, is so bad that it is actually quite good. Maybe even better than Scanners II, but only for the fact that it takes itself far less seriously. One again it was a straight to video release. The film opens with a scrolling caption informing us of what scanners are for all the people who like to start a trilogy at the end. The story begins at a Christmas party. Alex Monet (Steve Parrish) and his best friend are talking to some girls. The conversation turns to scanners. The girls admit that they don’t believe they actually exist so Alex, who  is a scanner, is pushed by his friend to prove the girls wrong. So using his psychic abilities, he moves his friend backwards with only the power of his mind. Being a seasonal party, a drunken reveller pats Alex on the back, surprising him and making him lose control of his powers. His friend is thrown back violently and out of the balcony doors, over the guard rail, and to his death twenty odd floors to the pavement below. Officially it is ruled an accident but it weighs on Alex mind. He decides to leave and thanks to a montage we learn that he has traveled all over the world and finally decides to settle at a monastery in Thailand so he can learn to control his powers. Meanwhile back home his sister Helana Monet (Liliana Komorowska) is trying to lead a normal life, even though she suffers severe pain and headaches. Alex and Helana’s adoptive father, Dr Elton Monet (Colin Fox), is the owner of a large medical research company and is trying to invent a drug in the form of a patch which releases the drug into the bloodstream through the skin, hoping it will help cure all scanners of the pain they suffer. He tells Helana about this drug, and that at this stage it's highly experimental and hasn't been tested properly. One night when the pain becomes unbearable Helana tries the drug and immediately the pain disappears. The next morning while enjoying an alfresco breakfast, a bird poops on her hand. Angered, she stares at it and using her scanner powers makes it explode. While she has used her scanner skills before in self-defense, she has never used it out of revenge or spite. The drug seems to have changed her from a good scanner to a bad one over night. Later that night she visits Dr Baumann (Harry Hill – no, not that Harry Hill, another Harry Hill) who is performing experiments on scanners. She frees all the scanners in his care and gives them patches so she can control their psychic powers too. From then on she sets her evil plan for world domination - and why not. The family lawyer Micheal (Daniel Pilon) becomes suspicious and tracks Alex down. He convinces Alex to come back home and sort his family laundry. Once back, Helana realizes that Alex can stop her so she uses other scanners to try and kill him. Alex survives and enlists the help of research scientist and Helana's best friend Joyce Stone (Valerie Valois). Together they discover Helana (who luckily works at a television studio) is going to spread her mind controlling signals using video which she plans to transmit into tens of millions of American homes through their televisions. Can Alex stop her? Yeah, of course he can, and he does. It is somehow both flat and over the top, with only a few exploding heads and Liliana Komorowska ridiculously camp performance to enjoy. The rest of the film is firmly in so bad it’s good territory, although I did appreciate the attempted humour. It’s trash but its entertaining trash and far easier to watch than the last Scanners film. The nude scene was unashamedly unnecessary but much appreciated as a twelve-year old boy. The trilogy was over after this but it did have a sort of spin-off in the form of Scanner Cop and Scanners: The Showdown (AKA Scanner Cop 2). These ‘straight to video’ films were helmed by Pierre David who is best known for executive-producing the original Scanners, as well as other iconic films directed by David Cronenberg, such as Videodrome and The Brood. Not as bad as you might think but still pretty bad.

Scanners II: The New Order

Dir: Christian Duguay

1991

**

No one, other than David Cronenburg, should have attempted a sequel to the 1980 sci-fi horror classic Scanners and even then, the film was left in such a wonderfully ominous manner, that it was always best left as it was with all the questions it raised left unanswered. However, this was the 90s, films rights must have been dirt-cheap because nearly everything of quality received either a poor adaption, dumb sequel or crumby remake. Not much has changed. The Scanner story continues but without any of the intrigue the original left us with. Known as ‘Scanners II: The New Order’, the film takes place years after the events of the first film. During one of his classes, a young veterinarian intern named David Kellum (David Hewlett) discovers that he has mental abilities to read and control minds of others. When he moves from his country home to the city to continue his studies, he finds difficulty in controlling himself amid the congestion of many minds and the ability to hear voices overwhelms him. He stumbles across a store robbery one day and kills the gunman with his mind. Police Commander John Forrester (Yvan Ponton) watches the store's security tape and plans to enlist David to work for him. He tells David that he knows what he is - a Scanner, and that there are others like him around the world. He asks for his help in tracking down elusive criminals and David agrees. After capturing a man who put strychnine in milk containers throughout the city, Forrester introduces David to Peter Drak (Raoul Trujillo), another Scanner who also works for him. Drak proves to be more aggressive when it comes to using his powers. Forrester teaches David techniques by using Drak as a test subject. Drak considers David an enemy but is injected with the drug Eph2, a variant of Ephemerol. It calms him down before he could harm David. The drug Ephemerol was what originally created Scanners. It was administered to ease expecting mother's discomfort in the 50's. Its side effect caused babies to develop into Scanners. Forrester tells David that although Eph2 manages to calm a Scanner's mind, the drug is addictive and that he should never use it. Forrester encourages him to develop and control his mental abilities on his own. David feels he has accomplished something by helping with law enforcement. His feeling changes when Forrester orders him to control the mayor and have her announce Forrester as the next Chief of Police. Forrester reassures him that it is the best choice for everyone and together they can stop all crimes. David, feeling guilty, disagrees and questions Forrester's agenda. He explains to the mayor how he forced her to appoint Forrester and apologizes. They then plan a way to remove Forrester from office. David tells Forrester that he is quitting, so Forrester has Drak attack David and kill the mayor before she can react. David escapes and hides at his parents's home. He asks his parents about his abilities, and they tell him that he was adopted. They explain that his birth parents were Cameron Vale and Kim Obrist (Stephen Lack and Jennifer O'Neill, respectively, from the first film Scanners). Vale and Obrist told them about his abilities and that he was in danger. They took David in as their own. David needs to go for a walk but while he is gone, Drak and his accomplices kill David's mother and leave his father for dead. When David returns, his father tells him about his older sister, Julie Vale (Deborah Raffin). He leaves his father with paramedics and begin searching for his sister. He finds Julie in a secluded cabin. She confirms who she is and explains that their parents were killed by Forrester for resisting him. She also states that her former boyfriend Walter agreed to test the earlier version of Ephemerol and was one of the first Scanner to use the drug, a more unstable version. Walter was kidnapped by Forrester and never seen again. Julie agrees to help David. Together they go to Forrester's secret compound and discover that Walter is alive and is one of the test subjects with addiction in Eph2. Julie and David disable the perimeter guards. But, once inside, Julie is tranqilized by a dart. David leaves her behind to destroy the research and free the test subject Scanners. Drak attacks David in the test subject quarters. Drak almost succeeds in killing him, but is stopped by a combined attack by all test subjects, which drains away Drak's life force. This reverses the physical damage all addicted Scanners were suffering from, as well as David's injuries from Drak's attack. Forrester arrives on the scene, in response to David and Julie's assault. Television news reporters and camera crews also show up. He denies the existence of Scanners and his connection to the mayor's death. With his power, David forces Forrester to admit his involvement and motivation before camera. Afterward, Forrester grabs a gun and tries to shoot David, but David and Julie deform Forrester with telekinesis. Everything is caught on tape. David then announces that Scanners mean no harm and wish to live in peace – even though he’s just burst a man’s head live on air. It is probably no surprise that this was a ‘straight to video’ release. No one from the first film was involved in the sequel with pretty much everyone who was asked declining the offer. They had moved on and so should have the story. The special effects are worse, which is ridiculous given the fact effects were ten years more advanced than they were in 1980. Forgettable with only one good head-bursting scene.