Scanners 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Scanners 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

*SPLAT!*

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 15, 2025

Films rushed to production without a script usually don't turn out as well as David Cronenberg's Scanners, a piercing sci-fi thriller that's likely best known for that one part with the exploding head. More than a sporadic gore-fest, it's an early career highlight from the director and was based on two earlier scripts titled The Sensitives and Telepathy 2000, both originally pitched to Roger Corman in the late 1970s but ultimately abandoned. Scanners was later fast-tracked to take advantage of tax loopholes, but a sprawling nine-month post-production window made it one of Cronenberg's most emotionally exhausting productions. Part of that exhaustion is reflected in the film's occasionally sleepy narrative, but Scanners' dizzying highlights and clear-cut technical strengths propel it to four-star status in my book.

For an overview and synopsis of Scanners, please see Dr. Svet Atanasov's review of Criterion's 2014 Blu-ray or two earlier Blu-rays by Second Sight and Umbrella Entertainment linked therein. 11 years is a long time, so Second Sight has returned to usher Scanners to the UHD format via this outstanding Limited Edition combo pack, but standard remastered 4K and Blu-ray editions are also available. (The latter is locked for Region "B" playback only.)

Scanners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the included remastered Blu-ray, which is also available separately.

As Dr. Svet Atanasov pointed out in his review of Criterion's 2014 Blu-ray (has it really been more than a decade?), Scanners has had quite the varied visual history on home video as two earlier Blu-ray editions from Second Sight and Umbrella Entertainment sported mild to noticeably different degrees of color temperature, contrast, and black levels. Although his scores for all three discs were identical, I personally found Criterion's disc to be the least attractive of the three... which is at least a little strange, because it was the only presentation approved by director David Cronenberg. (Just for the record, that disc was also presented in open-matte 1.78:1 so it's doubly confusing.)

Well, fast forward to 2025 and Second Sight's new 2160p/HDR10/Dolby Vision transfer of Scanners has once again been approved by Cronenberg, and surprisingly enough it's quite a bit different than Criterion's 2014 Blu-ray. That's bad news for anyone who loves logic, but terrific news for 4K enthusiasts: Scanners is now extremely healthy, film-like, and organic with substantially improved color timing that, in my opinion, much more accurately reflects what most films actually looked like in the early 1980s rather than flat, washed out, and frankly kind of processed. Skin tones appear a hell of a lot more accurate this time around, depth is greatly improved, and fine detail gets a potent boost while being supported by film grain that varies in thickness but remains present from start to finish. The new HDR pass, whether or not you watch Scanners with HDR10 or Dolby Vision enabled, adds a nice richness and overwhelming sense of stability to the proceedings but in a typically subtle way that feels accurate to its original source, not overcooked.

It should almost go without saying, but Scanners also looks extremely clean with no obvious dirt or debris aside from two or three stray exceptions, which caught me by surprise but weren't enough to dock a half-point.

As always, the cherry on top of this great presentation is disc encoding by the ever-reliable Fidelity in Motion, as the film runs at an extremely supportive bit rate from start to finish on this triple-layered disc and regularly hovers at or even above the 80-90Mbps range. Absolutely no traces of compression issues could be spotted along the way, even during potentially troublesome areas like the diffused and foggy interiors of Biocarbon Amalgamate.

For those who love comparisons, I've attempted to match (either exact or closely) my first nine screenshots with various ones from the linked Criterion review to illustrate the clear upgrades in fine detail, color representation, black levels, contrast, density, on Second Sight's release. (Again, they're sourced from the included Blu-ray and even more evident on the 4K disc.) Please note that there are occasional jarring framing differences between the two; since both were approved by the director at one time or another, it's impossible to say which one is correct.

Scanners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Second Sight's primary option here is LPCM 1.0 (once again different from their previous Blu-ray, which was 2.0 but presumably split mono in a two-channel container); it's a terrific presentation of Scanners' original audio, which ranges from crisp dialogue to disturbing sound effects and long-time composer Howard Shore's dated but memorable original score. While there's only so much immersion you can achieve with a solitary channel, it's a great (and possibly the only) option for purists that, to its credit, gets the job done from start to finish with no exceptions.

Also here is an optional DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix, which is certainly interesting but may not be for everyone. There's obviously a lot more immersion obtained here, not to mention a more forceful presence that may heighten the impact of certain scenes and moments, but to my ears it sometimes plays a bit too fast and loose with channel panning and surround effects, often feeling overly reliant on echo which is sporadically a little distracting. That said, this one's still an engaging alternate mix and some fans may absolutely love it, so pick your favorite and enjoy.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature only, not the extras listed below.

Scanners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Second Sight's brick-sized Limited Edition packaging is quite impressive in-hand, nice and hefty with attractive design elements and very little wasted space. This two-disc release sits by itself in a dual-hinged Digipack case; also included are six bound collector's art cards and a 120-page softcover book that's a work of art in itself with newly-commissioned designs, stills and new essays by Dr. Xavier Aldana Reyes, Eugenio Ercolani and Gian Giacomo Petrone, Kurt Halfyard, Craig Ian Mann, Francesco Massaccesi, Jessica Scott, Emma Westwood and Heather Wixson, as well as cast/crew info and disc credits. Everything's tucked inside a thick outer keepcase bearing more newly-commissioned artwork that reinforces the film's unsettling atmosphere. Simply put, this one's a great-looking release as usual.

• NEW! Audio Commentary #1 - Canadian author and filmmaker Caelum Vatnsdal leads off with a comfortable audio commentary that's presumably new and exclusive to this release. He does a fine job serving up interesting details about the film in regards to its themes and construction but also takes frequent detours about the careers and backgrounds of supporting cast members and other lesser-knowns. It's a decent track and worth a listen, nothing too in-depth or consistently scene-specific but nonetheless a very relaxed and easy session.

• Audio Commentary #2 - Another author, William Beard (who penned the book The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg), is next and obviously provides a slightly broader track that gets a bit more in-depth about the director's career including recurring themes in his films, his use of gore, frequent cast and crew collaborators, his exploration of the mind and body, and other narrative and psychological through-lines in his extensive body of work. It's another solid track and doesn't have much in the way of overlap with the first. This commentary was recorded for a 2018 German Blu-ray, which also featured other exclusive extras.

• KINDA NEW! Cast and Crew Interviews - This series of interviews, some filmed recently for Second Sight and others first appearing on their 2013 Blu-ray edition, feature various cast and crew members. The titles and participants allude to most of the general subject matter covered, but some topics of interest include the early inception of Scanners, Cronenberg's earlier work, filming hardcore porn, the casting process, dreaming about a vomiting preying mantis, meeting Cronenberg for the first time, developing the characters, raising money for the film, Canadian hearing tests, establishing a mood for the score, painting the original Halloween mask, creative shortcuts, crafting that infamous exploding head, and much more. The length and quality of these interviews vary quite a bit, but all are worth watching and many include lots of vintage behind-the-scenes photos.

• My Art Keeps Me Sane - Actor Stephen Lack (23:46)
• A Method in His Madness - Actor Michael Ironside (30:32)
• Bad Guy Dane - Actor Lawrence Dane (5:18)
• The Eye of Scanners - Cinematographer Mark Irwin (15:11)
• Mind Fragments - Composer Howard Shore (18:54)
• The Chaos of Scanners - Executive Producer Pierre David (13:42)
• Exploding Brains & Popping Veins - Makeup FX Artist Stephan Dupuis (9:33)
• Monster Kid - Makeup FX Artist Chris Walas (21:42)

• NEW! Cronenberg's Tech Babies: Tim Coleman on Scanners (13:43) - A requisite visual essay to wrap things up, this short but worthwhile piece plays like a condensed audio commentary as select scenes and shots from Scanners play over the journalist and documentary filmmaker's carefully-worded thoughts about it.

Scanners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

David Cronenberg's Scanners is more than just that one part -- it's a true early career highlight for the director, who would nonetheless refine his craft with subsequent films later that decade including Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, and Dead Ringers. Second Sight does the film justice on 4K with terrific A/V merits, great packaging, and a solid collection of bonus features. That said, earlier Blu-rays linked above (besides for Second Sight's own 2013 edition) feature totally different extras, so die-hard fans can add another one to the pile. Highly Recommnded.