Well, in the traditional of remake news, I have to announce that David Cronenberg’s “Scanners” is getting the ol’ once over now. And this may or may not be good news. Remakes have been annoying us for quite a while now, but the director that has signed on to do the dirty deed is none other than Britney Spears. Just kidding. She is a little busy at the moment, so they got Darren Lynn Bousman to fill her shoes. You may remember Bousman as the director of “Saw II & III”. Oh and some other dude named David Goyer is writing the script. And he wrote “Batman Begins”, which is a little flick you probably never heard of, but should check out.
And in case you never heard of “Scanners”, it was a 1981 classic Sci-Fi movie by the always entertaining David Cronenberg. It is set in the future when a race of Scanners exist with psychic powers that can inflict damage on others. The most powerful Scanner is played by a kooky Michael Ironside that is hell-bent on world domination. But when a doctor trying to save the world finds one of the remaining Scanners, it’s party time! Oh, I mean there is a big ass fight at the end. The film also features a great head explosion and facial meltdown.
So whether or not the “Scanners” remake will reach new levels of suckage is completely dependent on the talent behind it. Bousman is pretty good with gore and multi-cultural casts, so he has an advantage in the remake race. I have a feeling he will not cast a Laguna Beach graduate or a wrestler like another director I know. For the character of Darryl that Ironside made so memorable, he will have to get a strong actor.
It remains to be seen if Bousman can create an epic. He is also busy working on the upcoming “Saw IV” and a horror/musical called “Repo” now. So while the other horror sites are foaming at the mouths and tonguing someone’s ballsack, I am on the fence on this one.
- Molly Celaschi
[Editor's Note: I am not behind a Scanners remake.]
Scanners Trailer
