hyped garbage

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This surprisingly enjoyable B-movie is a cut above most efforts from the early 1990s, thanks to a plot which takes the series in a new, interesting direction, plenty of gore and violence, and some decent acting. It's a movie with no pretensions which really packs in the groceries when it comes to gory action - I've never seen so many policemen get violently murdered in a single film! You know exactly what you're going to get with a film like this and it doesn't disappoint.The opening is admittedly cheesy, with a scene where a hallucinating man sees lots of little screaming faces appear in his forehead (nice effects, but there's something just too rubbery about it). After this arresting sight, things slow down in pace as we are introduced to the film's main hero, played by Daniel Quinn. Quinn is very charismatic in his role of the cop, torn between wanting a normal life and using his special powers as a method to fight crime. In fact, I really liked his performance and most of the performances in this film - some, like Richard Lynch's, are deliberately over the top yet still highly amusing. Hilary Shepard is an alluring femme fatale, while Richard Grove provides solid support. Only the introduction of Darlanne Fluegel as an unnecessary love interest rings false - her character is completely worthless to this film's development.The film focuses on a series of violent murders committed by members of the public who have been "programmed" to kill officers on sight. The unwilling murderers hallucinate that their worst fears are in front of them (bugs, gang members, etc.) leading them to attack with extreme violence. Of course, this is just an excuse for the special effects guys to show as many different monstrous beasties as possible. All of the classic 'scanning' action is saved for the film's finale, where the grue really flies.One clever scene has our cop hero scanning a dead woman - and following her soul down into hell. This scene is actually pretty highbrow for a simple film like this. There's a grand total of one exploding head, which is nice and meaty, and lots of disturbing imagery of asylum patients abusing themselves. The build-up to the ending is rushed and full of plot holes (including one of those staple moments from the Bond films and many others, where the chief villain traps the hero and leaves them to a fate worse than death, only for the hero to escape in the nick of time). However the final hospital battle is an intense one, with full of gooey bits and even some brief, effective stop-motion thrown into the brew. It finishes with the baddie's metal head-plate blasting from his skull in a spectacular fashion. SCANNER COP may not be an epic, but it sure is a lot of fun.

While the original "Scanners" was a ground breaking entry in the exploding head genre, "Scanner Cop" takes scanning to a new level. Daniel Quinn is quite good as the cop with brain reading powers. Naturally this asset can be very useful in a police investigation. Ordinary citizens have been programmed to kill cops by the always intriguing Richard Lynch and his fortune teller accomplice, Hilary Shepard. The story is fast moving and engaging as hallucinogenic programmed assassins think they are killing a programmed entity. As entertainment, this one is totally acceptable from any angle. Recommended. - MERK

I really didn't expect ANYTHING from 'Scanner Cop', and only rented it to see two of my favourites Richard Lynch ('Open Season', 'The Ninth Configuration', 'Little Nikita') and the late Brion James ('Blade Runner', 'Crimewave', 'Tango & Cash') on screen together. The bad news is that they never share a scene, and that James only has a pointless cameo of around two minutes. The good news is that the movie is surprisingly enjoyable above average b-grade sci-fi action.Daniel Quinn ('Wild At Heart') plays a young man with "scanner" powers who has been adopted by a kindly cop (Richard Grove - 'Army Of Darkness'). The movie begins showing how to two met but quickly flashes forward fifteen years with Quinn's first day as a rookie cop, Grove by this stage being police Commander. Cops, including Quinn's partner, suddenly begin getting murdered by seemingly normal citizens. Quinn finds himself on the trail of the criminal mastermind behind this fiendish plan (yup, you guessed it, it's Richard Lynch), but to do so he must stop taking the medication which suppresses his scanner powers. By doing this he risks permanent damage and possible insanity, so the case becomes a race against the clock, and one he can't afford to lose.Stupid but fun, with Lynch at his most villainous, and having a hammy good time.

You know, it doesn´t really need to be a high-budgeted, well-acted movie to be amusing, right? As long as the movie is at least a little bit original. The only actor that really shows up is Richard Lynch, always casted as a villain (Just look at his face and you´ll know why) Everyone else does their part normally. This movie talks about telepathic-telekinetic people who go to the good side or to the bad side. The main character is a cop that´s one of those people. The villain uses a telepathical kind of machine that kinda traumatize people and make them kill anyone wearing a batch. I say this movie is amusing, but it still needs some category.