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Exploding heads, white eyes, burnt corpses… welcome to the world of Scanners.

The plot? A homeless man with deadly telepathic abilities named Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) is picked up off the street by Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan). Vale learns that there are other telepaths like himself called ’scanners’ and is trained to use his abilities to kill Daryl Revok (Michael Ironside), the leader of an underground movement whose goal is to unite all scanners. As the film progresses, Vale not only uncovers a conspiracy to create more scanners, but learns the truth about his own mysterious past.

I was not an early admirer of director David Cronenberg. My admiration grew with time, and finally coalesced with his last two films - A History Of Violence and Eastern Promises. Weaned on Spielberg and Lucas, Cronenberg’s phantasmagorical vision made me uncomfortable and tested my patience. Which is exactly what it was meant to do. Much like David Lynch, he’s an acquired taste. Revisiting Scanners increased my appreciation for the film, but also proved that some of my complaints as a teenager were valid ones.

At this point in his career, Cronenberg was somewhere between an amateur and a professional. His direction is solid from a technical standpoint, but his sense of pacing is terrible. His script is intelligent and imaginative, but contains virtually no characterization (reportedly the film was greenlit without a completed script and rushed into production). This is also evident in his casting instincts. On one side we have Patrick McGoohan, Michael Ironside and Jennifer O’Neill… not too shabby. On the other side, we have Stephen Lack as our lead, and his performance is simply dreadful. In future films, Cronenberg would compensate for these weaknesses, but Scanners is rife with them.

It’s easy to see how Scanners was a success in its day. The violence is still shocking, and the concept is still intriguing. But without characters you can care about, it’s an empty exercise.