One of David Cronenberg‘s most beloved films is getting a brand-new ultra-high-definition treatment. Blu-ray.com has revealed that the label Second Sight is going to be releasing new Blu-rays and 4K Blu-rays of Scanners. The sci-fi thriller, which features powerful telepaths, is sealed in history as having one of (if not THE best) head explosion scenes. And you can now see it in every gory detail when the new physical media is released on March 31.
Scanners stars Jennifer O’Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, and Michael Ironside. Following his 1975 film Shivers, Cronenberg penned a treatment for a sci-fi story called Telepathy 2000. The basic idea of the plot concerned a protagonist named Harley Quinn raping a woman telepathically in a subway before revealing itself as a spy story of corporate espionage. The evil Cytodyne Amalgamate Corporation deliberately bred Scanners as a government program to overtake the world. This idea eventually became the Cronenberg classic and you can check out the details of the release below.
The description reads,
“A scientist recruits a drifter with extraordinary telepathic ability to hunt down an equally powerful ‘scanner’ who, together with others of their kind, is hellbent on taking over the world.”
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 4K RESTORATION approved by Director David Cronenberg
- DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
- NEW audio commentary by Caelum Vatnsdal
- Audio commentary by William Beard
- My Art Keeps Me Sane: an interview with Actor Stephen Lack
- Method in his Madness: an interview with Actor Michael Ironside
- Bad Guy Dane: an interview with Actor Lawrence Dane
- The Eye of Scanners: an interview with Cinematographer Mark Irwin
- Mind Fragments: an interview with Composer Howard Shore
- The Chaos of Scanners: an interview with Executive Producer Pierre David
- Exploding Brains & Popping Veins: an interview with Makeup Effects Artist Stephan Dupuis
- Monster Kid: an interview with Makeup Effects Artist Chris Walas
- Cronenberg’s Tech Babies: a video essay by Tim Coleman
- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Krishna Shenoi
- 120-page book with 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
- 6 collectors’ art cards
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