Movies
How ‘Scanners’ Iconic Head Explosion Scene Was Pulled Off
Ever wonder how they got Louis Del Grande’s head to explode in Scanners? While most people’s first guess would logically be “explosives,” it was actually a lot more tricky (and awesome) than that.
For their new Blu-ray release of the film, the Criterion Collection talked with photographer Mark Irwin, special effects supervisor Gary Zeller, and makeup artists Stephen Dupuis and Chris Wallas about the effect. The guys explain the difficulties in creating the now-iconic moment, saying how they made several attempts to make it look real before finally deciding to do things the old fashioned way.
Check out the video below for the whole, messy story.
In the wake of this past weekend’s extended “Everything Must Go Edition,” which features 16 minutes of extra bonus footage from Kane Parsons after the movie, A24’s Backrooms is headed home soon, and A24 has dropped one more little treat ahead of the Digital release.
A24 has officially uploaded a video to YouTube titled “1 Hour of Backrooms Ambience,” and it’s probably pretty self explanatory by the title alone. The video no-clips you back into the Backrooms for an hour-long ambient experience, offering up the perfect spooky vibes to fall asleep to or keep running in the background while you go about your work day.
Click “play” below to enjoy 1 hour of Backrooms ambience!
You are not supposed to be here…
From A24 and director Kane Parsons, Backrooms is the second highest grossing horror movie of 2026, scaring up an incredible $349.7 million at the worldwide box office to date.
In the film, Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as the owner of Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire. One night, he discovers a strange doorway in the basement of the furniture showroom. He sets out to explore the mysterious, liminal space, walking headfirst into a creepypasta nightmare.
Renate Reinsve (A Different Man) also stars in Backrooms.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her review, “Backrooms is at once complex and sparse, but never repetitive. It might be set in 1990, but it effectively captures modern anxieties and isolation in a way that frequently makes your skin crawl. While the journey ultimately loses steam by its cryptic end, Parsons’ visual representation of the human psyche disturbs like no other.”
YouTube prodigy Kane Parsons makes his feature directorial debut based on his creepypasta-inspired video series, which debuted in 2022 and has amassed over 190 million views to date.