ElWormo Scanners 3 could just be the most unrelentingly ludicrous film in movie history, no exaggeration. I'm actually surprised it doesn't seem to have built up a retro cult fanbase the way movies like Troll 2, The Room or Samurai Cop have. I think it could easily reach those giddy heights of 'so-bad-it's-ridiculous' acclaim if enough of the right audience saw it. It veers like a drunk on steroids from one totally demented set piece to another, never pausing long enough to ask itself wtf is going on. The acting is gloriously OTT, especially from the female lead who comes across like the ultimate pantomime baddie, cackling sneering and roaring her way through the film with a luminous green flashing circle stuck behind her ear (don't ask).It seems pointless describing much more. If you're a fan of the bizarre, the absurd, the bad, the twisted, the preposterous, the uncanny and the warped, then enter this way and bring a crash helmet. It's years since I saw Cronenburg's original and I can't even remember if I saw the first sequel, but Scanners 3 must surely stand alone as probably the most bonkers piece of cinema, of the 1990s at least, but possibly ever?

David Massey 'Scanners 3: The Takeover' is actually a bit of a mini-epic. It doesn't have half the budget of the previous film and there are some off-the-wall, kooky performances from almost all of the characters but this is definitely the better – and by better, I mean camp fun - of the 2 films. The film begins with an introduction to Alex Monet, a brash Scanner that has reduced his abilities to a literal party trick. When he absent-mindedly kills his best friend at one such party, he decides, in an effort of contrition, to find a way to better hone his powers. This leads him to the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet. Meanwhile, his sister, Helena Monet, (who is the heir to the pharmaceutical company that is working on a 'cure' for the previously-described side effects of the scanning mutation) is experimenting with said drug, turning her into a power-hungry megalomaniac. Much as the original 'Scanners' introduced the ability to control computers, Helena attempts to control people by passing a 'scanner signal' through pre-recorded video. When Alex returns, it is a cat and mouse game pitting brother against sister.There is no doubt in my mind that the spark that inspired these follow-ups was the singularly iconic exploding head from the original and these sequels do not let down. There is a surplus of gooey gore and a sense that each death is an attempt to outdo the last. If you're after the headier (no pun intended) aspirations of Cronenberg, you are bound to be disappointed with these. If you are hoping to see fountains of blood spewing from the skulls of random characters, this is the place.

viligeidiot The first two Scanner movies were actually palatable... this however reeked of exploitation of a good series name, asinine acting, shoddy special effects, HORRIBLE dialogue and story.Whoever has given this a decent rating has either never seen a decent movie in their lives or is somehow attached to the making/production or distribution of this pile of dog crap. It's movies like this that make Canadian cinema regarded as a joke world-wide.I swear to god this was a (mostly) Government funded vacation for some sleazebags who wanted to go to Thailand without paying for it and attached a movie production to it to get the grants.Avoid at all costs. Not even campy enough for a laugh. Someone here mentioned the scanner 'powers' consisted of making dirty faces at each other until someone died or flew away... pretty much on the money except I'd add doing your best 'retard' conniption fit at the same time. Excellent example of horrible french-Canadian cinema.

Paul Andrews The film opens with a scrolling caption informing us of what scanners are. The film begins proper at some Christmas party. Alex Monet (Steve Parrish) and his best friend are talking to some girls. The conversation turns to scanners. The girls don't believe they exist. Alex is a scanner and his friend convinces him to prove the girls wrong. So using his psychic power he makes his friend slide backwards on his own. Someone then grabs Alex and pats him on the back, Alex is surprised and loses control of his powers, his friend is jerked back violently and out of the balcony doors over the guard rail and to his death 40 odd floor to the concrete pavement below. Oops. Alex is upset, even though officially it was ruled an accident. We learn that he has traveled all over the world and finally decided to settle at a monastery in Thailand so he can learn to control his powers. Meanwhile back home his sister Helana Monet (the sexy Liliana Komorowska) is trying to lead a normal life. However see experiences severe pain and headaches. Her and Alex's father who adopted them, Dr Elton Monet (Colin Fox) is the owner of a large medical research company and is trying to invent a drug in the form of a patch which releases the drug into the bloodstream through the skin, eventually Dr Monet thinks it will help all scanners. He tells Helana about this drug, and that at this stage it's highly experimental and hasn't been tested properly. One night when the pain becomes unbearable Helana tries the drug, immediately the pain disappears. The next morning at breakfast outside a Pigeon craps on her hand, she stares at it and using her powers makes it explode. The drug has changed her from a nice, sweet girl into a wild, power-crazed murderer in mere hours! Later that night she visits Dr Baumann (Harry Hill) who is performing experiments on scanners. She frees all the scanners in his care and gives them patches so she can control their psychic powers too. From then on she sets her evil plan for world domination in action! The family lawyer Micheal (Daniel Pilon) becomes suspicious and tracks Alex down. He convinces Alex to go back home. Once back Helana realizes that Alex can stop her so she uses other scanners to try and kill him. Alex survives and enlists the help of research scientist and Helana's best friend Joyce Stone (Valerie Valois).Together they discover Helana is going to transmit her mind controlling signals using video and into tens of millions of American homes through their T.V.s! Competently but sometimes flatly directed by Christian Duguay, and called scanner force here in the UK, this was better than I expected, thanks to a script by B.J. Nelson, Julie Richard and David Preston (it took three people to write this?!) that at least keeps things moving at a fair pace and is fairly entertaining if a little silly at times. But the films main ace up it's sleeve is Liliana Komorowska as Helana, the films over the top villainness. As far as I'm aware I've never heard of her before, or seen her in any other film, but I really liked her in this. Probably better than the film deserves to be honest. She's a sexy, dominant, evil and devious, murdering scanner, by the end of the film I really wanted her to die in the most painful gory way possible, unfortunately I didn't get my wish, which seemed a bit of an anti climax. Easily the films best sequence involves her, she walks into Dr Baumanns office, dressed in a long coat, a sexy mini skirt, knee high leather boots and a white scarf, she looks classy, dominant and sexy. She teases and plays with Baumann, making his finger explode, and then finally making his head explode as well. She slowly walks around the facility killing the remaining guards using her powers before eventually making an over the top speech to her fellow scanner to try and convince them to join her, and help her carry out her evil plans. At one point she says "we shouldn't be at the bottom of the dung heap, we should be at the top!", she's class all the way through and makes the film watchable all on her own, and she gets naked in a hot tub as well! Alex makes a likable hero. We get some nudity and sex, at some points it looks like a cheap porno, especially with the busty blond nurse hitting on Alex! She is half undressed on top of Alex on a pool table, four men burst in and one says "what do we have here a rapist?", the nurse replies "oh no, he was willing!". The gore was sort of disappointing, there is only one exploding head and it's only on screen for about a second, blink and you'll miss it. Although I did like the sequence where Alex kills another scanner by spinning him around in a revolving door! There is an action sequence where Alex on his motorbike is chased by four scanners dressed like 1930's gangsters in a bus, but because of the low budget there are no other cars on the road at all, it looks a bit sad actually! The ending is a bit of a let down also, nothing more than Helana's patch falling off turning back into the sweet innocent girl she was at the start of the film. Probably worth a watch at least, if not for Liliana Komorowska's delightful villainness. Watchable, if nothing spectacular.