Editorials
‘Scanners’ at 40: Michael Ironside’s Explosive Performance as One of Cronenberg’s Best Villains
Forty years later, the one thing people remember most about David Cronenberg‘s Scanners is its iconic head exploding head scene. It’s understandable; it’s a gory, shocking moment in an otherwise more subdued, cerebral thriller with a fairly complicated plot. That explosive onscreen kill serves as an unforgettable introduction to the film’s villain, Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside). In the decades since Scanners‘ January 14, 1981 release, Ironside has delivered many memorable movie villains and his turn as Revok is chief among them. What makes his portrayal all the more impressive is that Revok initially wasn’t going to be a large part.
Cronenberg has referred to Scanners as one of his most frustrating and challenging films to make because the movie was rushed into production without a finished script. The filmmaker had to write the story as he went, providing all sorts of unexpected challenges. In an interview with Empire from 2016, Ironside revealed that he’d been “hired for one day’s work on that film, which was the flashback sequence, and David started rewriting because he didn’t have a full script.” Cronenberg fleshed out Revok’s character as he went along.
The flashback sequence in question shows Revok explain to a medical professional that he drilled a hole in his forehead to relieve the pressure and let the “voices” out. It’s a disturbing revelation that says a lot about Revok’s power and determination. Ironside plays the scene with a sadistic calm as if self-trepanning is normal and easy. That alone would’ve successfully sold how dangerous the Scanners could be. Luckily Cronenberg expanded the character and gave Ironside a larger role to play in the battle to take down ConSec and lead a new generation of Scanners.
Even in that iconic exploding head scene, Ironside imbues Revok with a cool arrogance, making him such a fantastic foil for protagonist Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack). Revok infiltrates a marketing event and volunteers to assist with a ConSec Scanner’s display of power, the latter utterly unaware that Revok himself is also a Scanner. The scene builds in intensity until that brain-splattering second that leaves the audience fleeing in terror. All of it ultimately proves to be part of a grander scheme.
Like the best cinematic baddies, Revok believes in his cause. Whereas private military company ConSec aims to capture and control all Scanners, Revok is working to liberate and lead them. He’s the horror sci-fi equivalent of Marvel’s Magneto. In other words, Revok may have a disturbing mean streak and absolute arrogance, but Ironside plays him with righteous anger. This is a character who’s justified in their feelings but takes it to an extremely dark place. Revok’s unparalleled power further corrupts that rage.
Revok marked one of Ironside’s earliest roles in a prolific career dotted with numerous baddies and villainous turns. The actor excels at tough-guy roles; his adept ability to portray icy, cunning characters makes him well-suited for chilling villains or fierce allies. Revok falls in the former category, imbuing much-needed stakes and danger in a cerebral thriller that spends most of its focus on a much meeker protagonist. Comparatively, Ironside isn’t on screen all that much, but he makes every scene count. The exploding head a mere fifteen minutes into the runtime remains an all-timer for practical effects reasons. It’s also an iconic and vulgar display of power by one of Cronenberg’s best villains.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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