BLOOD
OVERALL
BEASTS
BREASTS
Aka: Scanner Force
Director: Christian Duguay
Writers: David Cronenberg (characters)
B.J. Nelson (written by) ...
Cast---
Liliana Komorowska ...  Helena Monet
Valérie Valois ...  Joyce Stone
Steve Parrish ...  Alex Monet
Colin Fox ...  Dr. Elton Monet
Daniel Pilon ...  Michael
Peter Wright ...  Mark Dragon
Sith Sekae ...  Monk
Harry Hill ...  Dr. Baumann
Claire Cellucci ...  Suzy

Runtime: 101 min
SCANNERS III: THE TAKEOVER (1991)

 Director Christian Duguay returns from the lackluster sequel to helm the surprisingly awesome third film
in the Scanners saga. Maybe they realized that their sequel was incredibly dull or maybe its the fact that
they had a team of writers on this one, instead of one. B.J. Nelson returns for scripting, along with Julie
Richard, David Preston, and series producer Pierre David. The script by committee never usually works,
but it works wonders here in the third and final in the original series.

 At the start of the film, Scanners have become a natural part of the world. Now the grandkids of the
original batch of Ephemeral test subjects are roaming the world, but most people still believe they are a
myth. We meet Alex Monet, who shows off his Scanner telekinesis at a party and ends up launching his
friend out of a ten story window. He leaves the city, feeling horrible that he caused the death of his
friend, and disappears into a Buddhist temple in Tibet. Then we meet his adopted sister Helena Monet.
She is shy, meek, and fragile...oh, and she is also Scanner. Their foster dad is Dr. Elton Monet, a caring
Scanners researcher who took them in to protect them from the world. Dr. Monet is working on a new
drug to not only curb the crippling headaches that plague Scanners, but possibly improve their way of
life altogether. The drug is EPH-3 (EPH-2 became addictive and was the cause of most of the trouble in
suck ass part 2) and Helena, who is suffering more than ever, really wants to be the first human test
subject but her father vetoes the idea. That night, when the migraines reach an all-time high, she finds
her way to her father's briefcase and pulls out a sample of EPH-3. It comes in the form of a patch that
you wear behind your ear and she slips it on.

 The next morning, Helena is a changed woman. She is tough, and dare-I-say, super villain-like. To
prove it, she blows up a bird with her mind when it shits on her hand during breakfast. The new,
confident Helena becomes a power-mad monster (not literally, of course). First she gets even with
Doctor Baumann, who experimented on her as a kid and frees the lab rat Scanners in his lab. She gives
them all EPH-3 and recruits them into her Scanner army because she is planning....a takeover! She
does away with anyone in her way until she becomes the head of her father's company. I didn't want to
give this away, but I guess I sort of did with that last sentence. She becomes the head of her father's
company by showing him her boobies then making him have a heart attack. One of the great things
about this installment is that it isn't afraid to show us boobs...and twice, too! Her impressive (cough)
brainpower is showcased in scene after scene with a fantastic goodie bag of gore gags to go along with
them. Her plan is not just to be the CEO of her father's multi-billion dollar corporation, it is the eventual
sublimation of the human race and world supremacy. She wants to make "the self-righteous normals
squirm like worms on hooks".

 The family lawyer visits Thailand and finds Alex, he has become a monk. He tells Alex about his father's
death and that something is definitely wrong with Helena. Alex is not sure he wants to return until they
are attacked by a roving band of Muay-Thai fighters and the lawyer is killed. Alex lays the smackdown
with his mind and finds that a Scanner trailed the lawyer and was controlling the men to attack and kill
Alex. Alex returns home immediately to set right what has gone wrong. He runs afoul of his sisters army
and his powerful, Buddhist Monk- trained mind defeats the men in glouriously gory fashion. There are
some great chase and shoot sequences spaced throughout this portion as Alex realizes that Helena is in
charge and bent on world domination. Soon Helena gets the rights to a slew of tv stations and plans to
Scan a signal through the TV to spread her message to as many people as possible during a big
football game. Alex, racing against time, has to come up against his uber-Scanner sister and stop her
before the entire human race is lobotomized.

 This movie manages to deliver, two mainstays of 90s cinema: Karate and lasers. The karate comes in
the form of their trip to Thailand and the Muay-Thai fighters. Also from the fact that almost everyone in
Helena's Scanner force knows karate. The lasers come from a weapon created by Dr. Baumann to keep
Scanners under control, and is used whenever possible. The film also delivers an interesting,
action-packed, fx-loaded, sci-fi horror movie that almost (almost) rivials the Cronenberg original.
Helena's character is so interesting, she is gorgeous, but evil, and she steals every scene she is in. Mr.
Duguay's directing has gotten better and the script, as I have mentioned, is just top-notch and
well-constructed. This is a true sequel because it manages to really use the Scanners power to its
maximum potential, while delivering a plausible next chapter. Not that part 2 wasn't plausible, it was just
lame. This entry is both believable and fantastic.




                                                                                               - Jose Prendes
IMAGES
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Scanners III: The Takeover (1991)
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