Scanners, Scanners II, Scanners III

A worthy successor followed by a not so worthy but watchable successor.
I picked up the original “Scanners” Criterion Blu-Ray at Barnes & Noble a few days before I got this and I really liked it. I’d never seen it before but as soon as I watched the original Cronenberg film I saw the Burroughsian influence of the “Senders” from “Naked Lunch” and the familiar feeling of paranoia and conspiracy you’d find in a William Burroughs novel brought to screen. The sets and direction of the original 1980 movie are fantastic and I absolutely adored the film.So naturally, I was curious about the sequels, and this Blu-Ray set from Scream! Factory is pretty cheap for two movies plus a DVD of both, included (if you want to watch it at a friend’s house and they don’t have a Blu-Ray player or something). As some other reviewers have said there are no special features whatsoever, not even trailers, which is a little disheartening because the second movie “Scanners II: The New Order,” is not a bad movie at all. It picks up some twenty years after the original and is about a new generation of scanners who are being hired to change the course of government in the city (which is never named) but of course there’s drama and turmoil along the way.I was surprised how much I enjoyed “Scanners 2,” I probably enjoyed it way more than I should have. The cinematography is similar to Raimi’s chaotic camera techniques employed in “Evil Dead 2” and it has a far more fast-paced feel than the first movie in the “Scanners” trilogy, but it doesn’t subvert the oddities of the original– at least, I didn’t feel like it did. There’s a bit of a plot twist maybe two thirds of the way through that links the second movie to the first which most will pick up on but some (including those who haven’t seen the original movie) won’t, and even if you don’t, “Scanners 2” works fine as a standalone film. The new bad guy, Drak, is similar to Michael Ironside’s character, Revok, from the original, but he’s less refined with his powers and more abrasive in his use of them, making him almost as dangerous as Revok. The hero is played by an actor from one of the “Stargate” TV shows and I felt he did a great job in the part of Kellum, who has a very memorable scene in a convenience store early in the movie.I also liked that the opening scene of “Scanners 2” paralleled the opening of the original, but inverting the type of character we’re following at first throwing us a misdirection. All in all, I was very happy with “Scanners 2” and I’d highly recommend it to any fan of the original 1980 David Cronenberg movie!So then I watched “Scanners 3: The Takeover.”It’s pretty bad, it’s like the kind of movie you’d see featured on “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” The same director as “Scanners II: The New Order” returns to direct this third part, which is widely unrelated to the original and its first successor. For reasons beyond my understanding, many of the characters, whom I’m assuming are either supposed to be from the Midwestern United States (Detroit area, I’m guessing) or Toronto, Canada speak with European accents. It’s kind of funny to watch, because they seem so out of place in the movie and it’s any character that will start speaking with a Polish or Norwegian accent for reasons that are not explained in the movie and left completely ignored.”Scanners 3″ is about a new version of the drug from the original movie, Ephemoral, which helps scanners deal with the constant headaches and anxiety they are born into. Unfortunately it seems to take away their sense of right and wrong, or rather just their sense of right. The villain is a scanner woman who runs the company and is getting high on her own supply and the hero is her brother who’s become a Buddhist and lives in a monastery in Thailand where he meditates day and night to block the scanner-related pain he has to deal with. This third part ties in loosely to the first two films, but maybe too loosely. The wacky cinematography is back, and that’s fun, but the script is just so downplayed and in comparison to the first films it seems cartoony and immature. While the second movie had a cartoonish element to it, the third movie drinks the Kool-Aid and goes off the wall with goofy sound effects, bad dubbing (some of the characters are dubbed, I don’t know why) and poor dialogue and writing that left me feeling kind of empty. It’s a dumb but harmless movie and it’s fun to watch if you have nothing better to do or are just curious about the scanners.The major downside to the Blu-Ray and DVD combo is that neither of them have subtitles, I’m a bit hard of hearing and sometimes the characters mumble their lines and I had to turn the volume way up to hear what they were softspokenly saying.So, all in all, I give this Blu-Ray set five stars ultimately for “Scanners 2,” which outweighs the underwhelming “Scanners 3.” There’s no reason not to buy it if you’re a fan of the first or second movie. And if you really liked the third one, well, it’s all presented here in stunning HD, so go check it out!

SCREAM FACTORY’S SCANNERS II & III
I’m a big fan of Scanners especially the original scanners film by David cronenberg which is a classicbut Scanners II is pretty Good and Scanners III is a bit ridiculous but still Good.any fan of Scanners knows what scanners II & III are about, they’re both similar to the originalScanners II was released in 1990 but was a Direct to video releasei don’t think it was shown in many cinemas, if it was shown in some Cinemasthen it would have been a short runScanners III was no different, it was released in Cinemas 1 year after Scanners IIagain Direct to Video after a short run playing in some cinemas.both Scanners II and III never got a U.S. DVD release everboth Scanners films were only released on Anchor bay DVD in the U.K. back in 2003so both scanners films have only been available in the U.K. on Anchor bay DVD.Until now this year, scream factory who’s part of shoutfactory in L.A. Californiafinally got the copyright to release both films on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time ever in the U.S.both films on DVD and blu-ray are in Widescreen formati didn’t bother watching the DVD version cause the Audio quality is only in Dolby stereoso i just assumed the picture quality would be average anywayi only watched the blu-ray of both films in HD surround soundi was blown away and amazed, the picture quality looks fantastic in blu-raythe Audio quality is even better in High Definition surround soundscream factory really Did make an effort to enhance the picture and audio qualitythis blu-ray version is better quality than the U.K. Anchor bay release for sure.Definitely worth getting this blu-ray release if your a big fan of scanners II & IIInow about the special features, there is none at all not even a Trailervery very unfortunate that there is no making of featurettethere’s no interview with Director Christian Duguay or even Producer Pierre Davidwho produced all 3 scanner films which i thought Pierre David should’ve been interviewed at least.there’s not even an Audio commentary by the Christian Duguay or Pierre Davidi did email scream factory about the special features the person that emailed me backsaid to me that Christian Duguay and Pierre David wasn’t interested and declinedto be interviewed for this blu-ray release for some reasonthe person who emailed did not give me details so i just had to accept it.you only get 2 films on 1 Blu-ray/DVD Disc which is better than nothingso all you do is choose which film you want on the Menu that is it.considering this blu-ray is the first time both films have been released on dvd or blu-ray in the U.S.be Grateful for thatbut it’s Definitely worth the money for the Blu-ray quality for surei gave this blu-ray/dvd combo 4 stars based on thatif there was any extras at all like an interview with Christina Duguay or Pierre Davidor even an audio commentary i would have given this blu-ray 5 star rating.but Definitely worth the money just to watch both films in High Definition Audio regardless

A Movie I Was Looking For!
It took me quite a few years to find a copy of the SCANNERS II movie. I finally found a copy compatible for the U.S. DVD players (Region 1). I was a bit worried at first when I saw that the disc was a BLU-RAY version. When I saw that a DVD version was included in the set, I immediately ordered the item and I was happy to receive it. I was pleased to be able to see the SCANNERS II movie and enjoyed it a lot. I was also happy to see the SCANNERS III movie that came with the set and I enjoyed that film as well. Even though I don’t use the BLU-RAY discs at this time, they are nice to have whenever I get a chance to buy a BLU-RAY player.

I was lucky enough to buy the box set at an amazing cheap price and now I’ve got a set of some of horrors most important movies, especially the first. Scanners (1) is a wonderful movie with a great story, (no pun intended) mind blowing special effects . It’s one of those you have to see it to believe it movies and Michael Ironsides performance is worth buying it for that alone. Parts 2/3 fit nicely but it’s the original that stands out that little bit further,not that two or three should be missed far from it.

I was curious about the other 2 Scanner films, so I purchased the box set, although the first one is classic, the other 2 are not so good, but that’s just my opinion