And here we go folks we’re trending through trenches in the form of the Scanners sequels/spin-offs. Now as I said from my Scanners review none of these films weren’t directed by David Cronenberg so chances are these films may be as good as the original.
We open on man who is screaming for some reason; I guess he must’ve read Twilight. We see the crazy screaming man entering an arcade place and begin playing a rail-shooter game. Suddenly the light gun controller is moving on its own as the crazy screaming man backs away a bit looking like he’s spazzing out. Apparently this guy is a Scanner who is controlling the light gun. His Scanner spasm continues until a security guard tries to stop him but gets force push…no wait Scanner push across the arcade place…yeah that’s better. The crazy screaming man freaks out and all of the arcades began to shake and then explode as the people run in a panic. Cut to the crazy screaming man hiding out in an abandon factory continuing to lose his shit at some mannequins…just go with it. Police arrived at the factory along with a couple of men armed with tranquilizer guns; move in and managed to apprehend him. Cut to the Morse Neurological Research Institute where we’re introduced to a Dr. Morse (played by Tom Butler) who is on his way to a secret lower level laboratory. There he tries to help the crazy screaming man Peter Drak (played by Raoul Trujillo) Drak is not listening and attempts to scan Morse’s mind but is injected with Ephemerol 2 or Eph 2. Morse is approached by Commander John Forrester (played by Yvan Ponton) who is very upset of Drak being injected with Eph 2. Apparently this new Ephemerol not only suppresses the Scanner abilities but becomes dangerously addictive; turning Scanners into Eph 2 junkies becoming useless to Forrester. Later we cut to our main character David Kellum (played by David Hewlett) who is a student at a veterinary school. At the school David arrives at pet surgery class already in progress when he starts hearing thoughts from his instructor and other students. Unable to stop the thoughts he leaves the room while Alice Leonardo (played by Isabelle Mejias) follows him. The two began to flirt and Alice asked him out her dinner; later they head to a diner until David starts hearing again and runs off as Alice follows. Cut to two men making drug dealings to a corrupt lawyer; but the corrupt lawyer is very suspicious and calls in an armed bodyguard. However, revealing to be Scanners and working for Forrester the two men take control of the corrupt lawyer and the bodyguard. They’ve taken the money and drugs from the corrupt lawyer and command the bodyguard to shoot the corrupt lawyer dead. The bodyguard tries to get away but is gun down by Forrester and his men. Later David stops by at Alice’s apartment about to have dinner but she needs a few items to finish cooking. David and Alice go to a nearby convenience store to pick up a few things when suddenly two armed robbers entered the store. One of the armed robbers takes Alice while the other guns down both of the store workers. David steps in and takes out the first robber then takes out the second by the most awesome fashion possible. That’s right David makes the guy’s head go KABOOM; well it wouldn’t be a Scanners film without at least one head explosion.
We cut to Forrester and Morse watching the store’s surveillance camera of what David just did and are now taking interests. Cut to a hospital David goes to see Alice who is recovering from a concussion, she asked David what he did back at the store. He explains that he’s been able to do things psychically since he was a child not knowing why or what to do about it. David returns home only to be approached by Forrester; he tells David he knows what David did and understands what he’s going through. Forrester then tells him that there are many others like him and this convinces David to go with him. Cut to David at the Neurological Research Institute being studied and tested by Morse; he reveals to David that he’s a Scanner but has never use his powers often. Morse tells David about Eph 2 and how it would help him but Forrester immediately tells him not to take it do to its deadly side effects. David is being pair off with Drak to be taught how to use his power; oh what could possibly go wrong here? Drak starts scanning David’s mind but he soon counters and scans right back ultimately wins this little sparring session. Of course Drak doesn’t take this so well at all you’ll see why later. We cut to David and Forrester at milk proceeding plant searching for the “Milk Murderer”…yeah just go with it. Who’s been poisoning milk containers with strychnine killing mostly children. David scans most of the workers’ minds until he comes across a Ralph Cheney who turns out to be the Milk Murderer. He tries to get away but David psychically stops him and is captured by Forrester. Back at the hospital Alice reads about it on the newspaper; David tells her that he found the Milk Murderer and made him confess. He then tells to her that he’s a Scanner and that he uses his Scanner powers to find the murderer. David scans Alice’s mind to…make her horny…again just go with it. Anyway this breaks out into a love scene that a nurse interrupts it but David uses his powers to have the nurse to go piss off. Cut to the home of the chief of police where he is taken control by Drak to kill himself with his own gun. OK this guy is not exactly Darryl Revok but the guy still stinks of evil. The next day back at the hospital David is summoned by Forrester to join him at city hall. At city hall Forrester convinces David to scan the Mayor (played by Dorothee Berryman) to have her announce Forrester as the new chief of police. Yeah this is not suspicious or evil at all I’m sure Forrester’s motives are good right….right….SOMEONE AGREE WITH ME! David is about to leave city hall until he’s approached by Drak; he talks about Forrester “new order” which involves using Scanners to control society. David doesn’t believe him so Drak tells him to check out the Scanners in Morse’s secret lab. After a little talk with Alice, David decides to head back to the institute to get some answers. Once there David confronts Forrester and scans him for answer, apparently what Drak said is true. A security guard enters the office but David psychically pins him down; Morse shoots David with a tranquilizer but he managed to get away.
Somehow he was able to drive from the institute all the away to his parents’ home before he passes out from the tranq dart. Cameron Vale wasn’t this resilient when he got tranq and yet David can easily shrug that off; continuity what’s that? David asked his mother if she was giving Ephemerol before he was born and why they didn’t tell him he’s a Scanner. However, it’s revealed they’re not his real parents but his adoptive parents. His real parents are what for it…..Cameron Vale and Kim Obrist who place David in care of the Kellums when he was a baby for safety sake. The Kellums are not what happen to Cameron and Kim but are aware they die. A little bit later one of Forrester men and Drak arrived at Kellums looking for David; they approached Pa Kellum about David’a whereabouts but he immediately lies. The two follow him to his house and proceed to kill him and Ma Kellum. David heard gunshots from afar run quickly back to the house only to find Pa Kellum barely alive and Ma Kellum dead. Cut to an ambulance already en route but Pa Kellum starts to die. David somehow wills his powers to keep Pa Kellums; through telepathy David learns that he has a sister who lives up north. David travels up north to Lake Washimeska where he stops at a cabin; there he finally meets his sister Julie Vale (played by Deborah Raffin). She tells him that their parents were bringing Scanners together discussing what to do with their powers. Some interested parties (Forrester and Morse) wanted to use Scanners for reasons that Cameron and Kim both opposed. So these interested parties had Cameron and Kim killed; yeah somehow this film managed to kill off one Scanner that’s so powerful that he completely inhabits another body. Julie had a fiancé named Walter who is also a Scanner, he signed up for a program to test a new drug eight years ago Eph 1. Just like the Eph 2 junkies he became addictive and disappeared. David wants to stop Forrester and Morse with her help but Julie refuses and prefers to let the humans destroy themselves. David doesn’t want that and goes back to the institute alone. David goes to the mayor’s home to warn her about Forrester and his new order; she doesn’t believe him until he displays his powers. The mayor’s fully convinced and calls the assistant director but is shot and killed by one of Forrester’s men. House is surrounded by police but David managed to escape and evades the police; he’s almost scot-free until he’s cornered by Drak. David tries to convince Drak not to fight together but to join for a better use of their powers. But given that Drak is bat-shit crazy he’s happier of being a murderous psychopath. Drak attempts to suck David’s brain dry…..ugh dude there was this guy who try that with someone else it didn’t turn out so well might wanna rethink that option. Anyway Drak is distracted by the interference of Julie allowing David to escape with her. David and Julie arrived at the institute; figuring out a way to see inside Julie teaches David a trick to psychically see what the other person sees. They use this trick on Forrester’s lackey who has arrived at the institute. Through his eyes they see the secret lab where the junkie Scanners are kept; one of whom Julie recognizes is her fiancé Walter. Forrester’s lackey approaches Morse for Julie through the lackey to psychically push Morse on to a table of Eph 2 filled syringes….OUCH! After which apparently a normal human injected with Eph 2 has deadly effects therefore Morse dies. Drak shows up and senses David in the lackey’s mind and attempts to kill him. David and Julie fight back but the lackey’s body can’t anymore of the psychic pressure to the point that you guessed it his head go KABOOM! Wow two head explosions in one Scanners film that’s gotta be a record. David and Julie rush into the institute and took out a few guards; one guard shoots Julie with a tranquilizer leaving David to rescue Walter and the other junkie Scanners. David is confronted by Drak and is getting mind crush when Walter and the rest of the junkie Scanners combine their powers with David and killed Drak. Forrester gets cornered by the press after arriving at the institute claiming he’s been using Scanners and been deliberately killing criminals to gain popularity. Forrester denies these claims but David shows up scans him to confess everything Forrester did. Forrester grabs a shotgun about to shoot David but he and Julie scan Forrester to the point that his face gets horribly disfigured. David announces to the press that Scanners mean no harm just here to help. David is united with Alice and Julie with Walter; David and Julie reached each other psychically one last time before the film ends.
My Final Verdict: This film overall may not be on par with Scanners but in fairness I give a B+ for the effort. The body horror effects are alright I wouldn’t say cheap or lazy but more like toned down just a tad. The film was made ten years after the first film and it rather shows; it does try to stay continuity with the first film as much as possible I think.
Well that’s one film done and it wasn’t too bad so let’s what the next one offers. Next time it’s Scanners III: The Takeover stay tuned.
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