I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Scanners is my favorite Cronenberg film, because it really isn’t.  But, whenever his name is mentioned, it is the first film that I picture in my head. I don’t know if it is because of the exploding head scene at the beginning of the film, or if it is Michael Ironside’s spectacularly eerie “scanning” face, but either way, at the mere mention of his name, it is immediately the film I associate with David Cronenberg. As a matter of fact, if you were to ask me what my favorite Cronenberg film was, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I have debated with myself for a long time now about this very thing. The problem is, Cronenberg’s body of work is so diverse, that it’s hard to pinpoint just one of his films to label as THE Cronenberg film. I know most people associate him with body horror, to the point that anytime a new horror film comes along that features a killer within a human host, it is immediately referred to as “Cronenbergian”, and, he has earned that credit, to say the very least. But when you really look at his complete filmography, he is so, so much more than that. David Cronenberg might be one of the most diverse genre filmmakers that has ever existed. Even his “horror” films are completely different when compared. The world of Blu-ray has felt a little less complete, due to the lack of a Scanners release, but I assumed since Criterion had previously released Naked Lunch and Videodrome, that it would be here eventually, and be placed in the best possible hands for a restoration job, and that day has finally come. Criterion have released the definitive edition of the explosive Sci-Fi epic, and it sits nicely on the shelf next to Scream Factory’s Blu-ray double feature release of Scanners II and Scanners III.

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