This was director David Cronenberg's best film - until he came up with The Fly - and deservedly put him on the international map. 'Scanners' are superior if tormented beings who can kill by thought transference. Literally, they blow your mind. Consequently, Cronenberg is predictably interested not so much in the story as in the opportunity it provides for special effects. These are exceptionally good, especially in the scene of a head blowing apart, and in the final duel between two master scanners. The ending is cryptic in the way the best of Roger Corman's films were and, if the acting is not too hot, the subject matter remains fascinating to the end. Canadian character star Michael Ironside made his first big impact as the principal bad guy.

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