Scanner Cop (1994)

SCANNER COP (1994)

Dir: Pierre David

Do you know that stupid line people repeat on the internet: I was this many years old with I found out…? Well, damnitt, that’s the case with Scanner Cop. I set out to watch all the Scanners films because I was this many years old when I found out that Scanner Cop and Scanner Cop 2 (1995) are part of the series. Sure, the title has scanner in it, but how was I supposed to know they made four movies out of one of the least successful David Cronenberg films?

Pierre David was a well known producer who actually produced several David Cronenberg films including the original Scanners and all its sequels. I’m assuming that after Scanners 3, he told himself he could do it better as the director. And essentially he was right. Scanner Cop is better than both 2 and 3 combined. One of the major draws for this film’s success is the special effects work done by John Carl Buechler. He’s worked on the Halloween, Friday the 13th, Re-Animator, Ghoulies, and Trancers film series to name just a few.

We begin with a scanner and his son hiding out in a rundown apartment. The scanner is losing his mind. In the mirror he sees as demonic head growing from his own forehead. The voices are screaming and finally when the police arrive, his insanity gets him shot. His boy has watched this episode and is taken in by the officer on scene. They learn the boy is a Scanner and instead of allowing doctors to experiment on him, the officer adopts him. Years later the boy becomes a rookie cop. He’s taken whichever version of Ephemerol that still works, every day of his life. That is until cops are being killed off in bazaar ways throughout the city. The rookie is asked to go off his meds and possibly face insanity to save the boys in blue.

The plot is just fine. The scanning is alright. Effects are great. And it makes me excited to see Scanner Cop 2, one because Scanner Cop is an okay watch, and two because then I’ll be done with this film series.