Head-Splitting Horror

World domination, psychic powers and Michael Ironside's head exploding; there's much to be said for David Cronenberg's cult sci-fi horror, Scanners. Clearly we're not the only ones to think so either, because a contemporary 'updating' of the film is now making its first tentative steps into pre-production. Cronenberg's original - and the string of increasingly disastrous sequels - depicted a world where the administration of an experimental antenatal drug has produced unexpected side-effects in a number of children. These scanners are in possession of formidable psychic talents that, aside from making them a bitch to beat at cards, include a talent for popping their enemies' heads like pi
tas. Led by the most powerful scanner of all, this cadre of super-humans decide to take over the world, however there's one errant scanner who might be persuaded to stop them. It's doubtful that any remake could capture the unsettling horror of the original, but while the 1981 Scanners was limited to putty and coloured goo, we can expect a series of all-new, technicolour CG brain explosions and assorted cranial carnage that should at least provide a measure of splatter appeal.