They may not be masterpieces, but the “Scanners” sequels do a damn good job in taking the Cronenberg universe established in “Scanners” and expanding upon it. I was never big on the original “Scanners,” anyway, so the brunt of disappointment with the follow-ups aren’t as rough. The sequels aren’t continuations of the characters, but more the idea of the world filled with Scanners. Scream Factory makes the second and third sequel finally available in a Double Disc combo on DVD and Blu-Ray for the consuming.
The 1991 follow-up “Scanners II: New Order” paints a world where Scanners are now an underground breed trying to hide out and remain incognito. In spite of the government’s assumption that they’d all but captured all of the Scanners, there are new individuals with amazing powers being discovered every day. After a local psychopath named Peter Drak wreaks havoc at a local arcade with his abilities, he’s captured by authorities. Commander John Forrester not only plans on capturing the scanners, but is looking for ways to control them and turn them in to his own private army. Sadly, the drug used to control them turns them in to addicts and they soon lose their will to function. Forrester uses Drak as his own personal aide, seeking to destroy the underworld and take over the role of Mayor as a means of starting a new world order. Now that Drak is corrupted, Forrester seeks out a new Scanner, and finds David Kellum.
Kellum has just begun realizing his powers as a Scanner, and after saving his girlfriend in the middle of a grocery store robbery using his powers, he’s sought after by the commander. Using Drak, Forrester destroys Kellum’s last remaining relatives, and Kellum is fortunate enough to discover he has a long lost sister. She not only knows about Scanners, but trains Kellum how to hone his abilities to infiltrate Forrester’s organization, and stop his plans. “Scanners II” is a constantly entertaining and thrilling follow-up, that further expands on the idea, allowing for good and evil Scanners. Kellum’s training with his sister provides some of the best material of the film, as he finds ways to implement his powers as a weapon without killing. All the while Raoul Trujillo is great as the evil Drak, who not only loves using his powers to kill, but is intent on killing David, to fulfill Forrester’s role as his right hand man.
The sad fact is that the Scanners world is never as realized as it could be, thus we’re left with a narrative that feels unrealized. “Scanners III” is an immensely goofy follow-up, that you can count as a guilty pleasure. “The Takeover” lacks the complexity of the first film, and really kind of turns the ideas from Cronenberg in to comic book devices. Apparently now Scanners are common knowledge in society and Alex Monet is a scanner who prides himself in using his powers as party tricks. After accidentally killing his friend, he travels to Thailand to master his abilities. Meanwhile, his sister Helena is a tortured and bitter Scanner who decides to strike down the people that tormented her when she was locked up as a Scanner.
From there begins to take over her father’s corporation, and plans to use Scanners to–say it with me–take over the world! Liliana Komorowska provides a performance that the script basically demands of her. She snarls, she cackles like a comic book villain, and she’s a powerful scanner who takes pleasure in controlling her victims and turning them in to sex fiends. “Scanners III” can never pick a main character. Thus Alex is the hero who goes off screen for a while, as we meet Helena who we’re supposed to empathize with, and then hate once she becomes a power hungry villain, and then root for when she insists it was for revenge. There’s also a really goofy final scene that hints now Scanners can… possess electronics? Both films are now available in High Definition.