Scanners II : The New Order (1991)

Dir: Christian Duguay

Bland, tedious sequel sees a return of the Scanners; men and women who have strong telepathic and telekinetic abilities and can do anything from reading thoughts to making heads explode. They also have mad arcade game skills, although I can't work out quite how. It's never explained. Nor is the reason why the Scanners are being exploited by a corrupt policeman who gets them hooked on an experimental drug in order to form a private Scanner army and bring about a vague "new order" in Canada (it's the fourth reich, eh! What's that all aboot?). A generic 'good vs evil' plot emerges as puppy-eyed country boy scanner David Hewlett decides to stop the Bad Man. The expected scan-offs occur, there's a semi-ok exploding head effect and some creepy/groovy contact lens work, but the story is so transparent and predictable, it just plods without generating the slightest bit of tension or interest. The only surprise here is that it wasn't actually made for TV, as it certainly feels like it was. At 100 minutes, it long outstays its welcome too. Ah well. Easy come, easy go. *1/2