Scanners: Limited Edition – Second Sight Films (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)
Theatrical Release Date: Canada, 1979
Director: David Cronenberg
Writer: David Cronenberg
Cast: Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside, Robert A. Silverman, Lee Broker
Release Date: March 31st, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 102 Minutes 50 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English, DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region B (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: £39.99
"A scientist recruits a drifter with extraordinary telepathic ability to hunt down an equally powerful ’scanner’ who, together with others of their kind, is hellbent on taking over the world." - synopsis provided by the distributor
Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)
Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "A new 4K restoration approved by Director David Cronenberg."
Scanners comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD
Disc Size: 91.5 GB
Feature: 75.4 GB
The source looks excellent; Scanners has never looked better on home media. Flesh tones are healthy-looking, color saturation, image clarity, and compression are solid, contrast and black levels look perfect, and the image always retains an organic look. That said, Fidelity in Motion delivers another exemplary encode.
Scanners comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.
Disc Size: 46.1 GB
Feature: 30.7 GB
This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.
Audio: 5/5 (LPCM Mono English, DTS-HD 5.1 English)
This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in English and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English; included are removable English SDH. Both audio tracks sound outstanding; dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, ambient sounds and the score sound exemplary.
Extras:
Extras on the 4K UHD disc include a video essay by Tim Coleman titled Cronenberg's Tech Babies (13 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with makeup effects artist Chris Walas titled Monster Kid (21 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with makeup effects artist Stephan Dupuis titled Exploding Brains & Popping Veins (9 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with executive producer Pierre David titled The Chaos of Scanners (13 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with composer Howard Shore titled Mind Fragments (18 minutes 54 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with cinematographer Mark Irwin titled The Eye of Scanners (15 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Lawrence Dane titled Bad Guy Dane (5 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Michael Ironside titled Method in his Madness (30 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Stephen Lack titled My Art Keeps Me Sane (23 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with William Beard, and an audio commentary by Caelum Vatnsdal.
The Blu-ray disc has all of the same extras that are on the 4K UHD disc.
Other extras include a rigid slipcase, 6 collectors' art cards, and a 120-page book cast & crew information, an essay titled Long Live Scanners! written by Kurt Halfyard, an essay titled Mind-Blowing Body Horror Why We Still Can’t Get Scanners Out of Our Heads written by Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes, an essay titled Brain Matter The Cultural Context(s) of Scanners written by Craig Ian Mann, an essay titled Celebrating the Ground-Breaking Special Effects of David Cronenberg’s Scanners written by Heather Wixson, an essay titled The Flesh of the Mind written by Eugenio Ercolani and Gian Giacomo Petrone, an essay titled ‘We’ve Won’ The Power of Invisible Disability Representation in Scanners Jessica Scott, an essay titled Can’t Get You Out of My Head Scanners, Psychosis and Trepanation written by Emma Westwood, and an essay titled Exploding Inked Heads Metacinema and References Around David Cronenberg’s Scanners written by Francesco Massaccesi.
Summary:
Transformation and what it means to be human are central themes that run throughout David Cronenberg’s filmography. These two themes are explored in Scanners, a film about a new breed of humans wanting to replace mankind. A scanner is someone who can read minds and inflict pain by thinking about it. Though being a scanner has its advantages, there are side effects related to using these things too often.
Though David Cronenberg’s films deal with complex themes and ideas, they always engage you in a way that holds your attention. His delivery of these two things is never heavy-handed and is easy to latch on to. Though Scanners deals with things that at the time were far-fetched, it was forward-thinking like many of David Cronenberg’s films.
When it comes to the performances, the most surprising is Stephen Lack who portrays the protagonist, Cameron Vale. Though he had limited acting experience, his bland performance actually works extremely well in the story that unfolds. Rounding out the cast are a few recognizable faces like Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner), who portrays the doctor responsible for creating scanners; Jennifer O'Neill (The Psychic), who portrays Kim Obrist, a good scanner; and Michael Ironside (Total Recall), who portrays Darryl Revok, an evil scanner wanting to eradicate anyone who's not like him. That said, these three performances are outstanding.
Despite its futuristic elements Scanners is set in the present. The special effects are prominent throughout and they hold up extremely well for practical effects; especially the moment where a head explodes. The most elaborate special effects-related moment is a scene where the protagonist connects with a computer over the phone, gains control of the mainframe, and in response to this action, someone on the other end tries to harm him by self-destructing the computer while he’s connected.
The well-constructed narrative does a phenomenal job building momentum with tense moments that build to an ambiguous finale that provides a perfect coda. Another strength of narrative is how effectively it lays out characters' motivations. Though David Cronenberg gets most of the accolades for his films, one cannot overlook the contributions of composer Howard Shore and cinematographer Mark Irwin. Ultimately, Scanners is an exemplary film that finds that balance between thought-provoking and entertaining.
Scanners gets a definitive release from Second Sight Films, highly recommended.
Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.
Written by Michael Den Boer