Directed by David Cronenberg • 1981 • Canada
Starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O’Neill, Michael Ironside
With SCANNERS, David Cronenberg plunges us into one of his most terrifying and thrilling sci-fi worlds. After a man with extraordinary—and frighteningly destructive—telepathic abilities is nabbed by agents from a mysterious rogue corporation, he discovers he is far from the only possessor of such strange powers, and that some of the other “scanners” have their minds set on world domination, while others are trying to stop them. A trademark Cronenberg combination of the visceral and the cerebral, this phenomenally gruesome and provocative film about the expanses and limits of the human mind was the Canadian director’s breakout hit in the United States.
Up Next in ’80s Horror
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Road Games
Directed by Richard Franklin • 1981 • Australia, United States
Starring Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion EdwardStacy Keach is Pat Quid, a trucker who plays solitary games to keep his sanity on long hauls through the desolate Australian outback. Jamie Lee Curtis is a free-spirited hitchhike...
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Basket Case
Directed by Frank Henenlotter • 1982 • United States
Starring Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly BonnerDuane Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck) is a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed, fleshy lump whom he carries around in a wicke...
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Next of Kin
Directed by Tony Williams • 1982 • Austrlia, New Zealand
Starring Jacki Kerin, John Jarratt, Alex ScottWhen a young woman (Jacki Kerin) inherits a creaky retirement home, she finds herself plunged into a waking nightmare of murder, madness, and a legacy of evil that may be inescapable. Awash in...
