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      Scanner Cop

      R 1993 1h 34m Sci-Fi List
      Reviews 25% 500+ Ratings Audience Score Sam Staziak (Daniel Quinn), a rookie cop with the Los Angeles Police Department, is also a "scanner" who can read, control and even destroy the minds of others. He takes drugs to suppress his self-destructive powers. But a series of cop killings by otherwise law-abiding citizens seems like a mystery only a scanner can solve, so Staziak's boss and adoptive dad, Cmdr. Harrigan (Richard Grove), asks the rookie to go off his meds and track down whoever is turning average folks into assassins. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

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      Brian Orndorf Blu-ray.com Lead performance from Quinn is also committed enough to pass, working his close-ups with eye-popping fierceness, adding some horror emphasis to a film that's not especially exciting, but hardly an embarrassment. Rated: B- Jun 23, 2021 Full Review Alex Sandell Juicy Cerebellum Not quite bad enough to be entertaining. Rated: 2/5 Jun 28, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      SpontaneousWeasel Extremely cheesy sci fi movie with lots of constipation faced psycho kinetic powered rubber faced 90s style make up action. Its an interesting concept that entertains as much as it somewhat lacks in its sophistication. Fun to pass the time to! Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/01/23 Full Review Charles T The producers of the "Scanners" series decided to take this in a whole new direction. This time out, we meet young scanner Samuel whose birth father goes insane. He is adopted by an understanding cop. Years later, his adopted dad is police commander and Samuel Staziak (Daniel Quinn) is a rookie cop. He is on drugs to keep his scanning under control, but helps out his dad after a bunch of cops are shot by usually normal people. It seems Karl Glock (perennial villain Richard Lynch) is programming people to kill cops as revenge for his being shot by the commander. The whole plot is just fine and dandy, but this film feels like one of those old syndicated TV action shows like "VIP" or "Silk Stalkings." Better action has been witnessed on "T.J. Hooker." It seems all the budget was spent on the special effects by John Carl Buechler, which are fine except for a hilarious finale involving a defibrillator. The film makers also do not remember their own mythology, as we see the scanner cop chase someone in an elevator by taking the next elevator that comes along. As we know, and the film shows us, scanners can "control" machines, so why doesn't he just scan and tell the elevator with the criminal in it to stop? In the finale, as the scanner cop is running all over a hospital looking for his injured dad, he scans everyone he comes in contact with. The facial contortions and scanning take longer than just using his mouth and asking where his father is. I had the same reaction to this that I did with "Scanners" I and II. Fine, I have now seen them, time to go outside. This is average in the purest sense of the word, and I wish the film makers had taken more chances with this by-the-numbers production. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/15/23 Full Review Audience Member If you thought you knew everything there was to know about Scanners, think again. From the minds that brought you Scanners 2 and Scanners 3, comes a bold new vision in horror. A cerebral cop drama that will- are these mind puns doing it for you? Too forced? Look he's a Scanner, he's a cop, he's a Scanner Cop. What more is there to know? 4 stars Check out our podcast episode to hear more anchor.fm/foundonshelfpod/episodes/Scanner-Cop---1994-e1i9qi5 Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member It's a bit corny, but it's a fun continuation of the scanners series. Lynch is always a fun character actor to have around, so having him as the bad guy was a treat. It just barely survives having such a dull lead actor. But it does survive and goes on to be a fun B-movie. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/15/22 Full Review Audience Member The fourth film in the Scanners series and the first film in the Scanner Cop series, this movie is all about rookie LAPD cop Sam Staziak (Daniel Quinn), a scanner who has been brought onto the force to use his telekinetic and telepathic abilities to stop crime. When a series of murders target the police, Sam begins to lose it, with his powers going into overdrive and his mind potentially betraying him as he hunts the killer. In all honestly, this movie is hundreds of times better than it has any right to be. You have to admire the sheer balls it takes to grab the Scanners idea, throw it into a straight police movie and just go with it. Even better, Richard Lynch, the bad guy of all bad guys, shows up and does his thing. This was directed, produced and written by Pierre David and was the first film he directed. He executive produced Scanners, Videodrome and The Brood. He may have only directed one other movie, Serial Killer, but he has 216 production credits, mainly TV movies like She Is Not Your Daughter, My Daughter's Psycho Friend, Murdered at 17 and My Life as a Dead Girl. I still can't believe how much I loved this movie. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Low budget semi sequel/spin off from scanners. For what it was it was fine,with decent effects for the money Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Scanner Cop

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Sam Staziak (Daniel Quinn), a rookie cop with the Los Angeles Police Department, is also a "scanner" who can read, control and even destroy the minds of others. He takes drugs to suppress his self-destructive powers. But a series of cop killings by otherwise law-abiding citizens seems like a mystery only a scanner can solve, so Staziak's boss and adoptive dad, Cmdr. Harrigan (Richard Grove), asks the rookie to go off his meds and track down whoever is turning average folks into assassins.
      Director
      Pierre David
      Producer
      René Malo
      Screenwriter
      John Bryant, George Saunders
      Production Co
      Image Organization, Republic Pictures (I)
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Sci-Fi
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (DVD)
      May 1, 2008
      Runtime
      1h 34m
      Sound Mix
      Stereo