Scanners III: The Takeover (1992)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1992
Running Time	96:03
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Christian Duguay
Studio Distributor	Malofilm Group Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Liliana Komorowska Valérie Valois Steve Parrish Colin Fox Daniel Pilon Peter Wright Sith Sekae Harry Hill Claire Cellucci Michael Copeman Chip Chuipka Jean Frenette Sylvain Beauchamps
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	Marty Simon

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Two words: God awful.

    Scanners III: The Takeover is everything bad about sequels and then some. It follows the story of a pair of scanner twins adopted by the wealthy CEO of a pharmaceutical company. When one scanner, Alex Monet (Steve Parrish), accidentally kills his best friend, he flees to Thailand. His sister Helena (Liliana Komoowska) remains, plagued by headaches, until one day her father brings home Ephemerol 3 – an experimental drug that is not as addictive as its predecessors. Sadly, it also induces psychosis and so Helena goes on a rampage killing people in order to take over her father’s enterprise, and then one day the world. It’s up to her brother to stop her, but can he put his past behind him and control his powers in order to save the world?

    I started watching this on the tail of Scanners II: The New Order, and by the end of it I felt like I’d just spent a month at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay. Forget sleep deprivation and evangelism – put this on repeat and you’ll be broken, I guarantee it. I think it’s time to indict director Christian Duguay for crimes against cinema, and make him watch this on repeat, over and over, until hauled before a Cinematic Tribunal.

    The worst thing – the acting is bad. Really bad. Wooden, uninspired, camp, and really silly. And that was the good moments. Not that the cast have anything to work with – they don’t. This script is so thin I’m surprised it didn’t crumble into ash on the way to the studio execs.

    In short – Don’t waste your time. I’m not wasting any more of mine...

Video

    This has been transferred at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced – I think this was done originally at 1.85:1, though I have no confirmation of this. Regardless, this is not a huge difference.

    The picture is slightly soft. The softness compensates for any graininess. Shadow detail is good, but a little murky due to the softness.

    Colour is better than previous Scanners releases, but is still slightly washed out.

    There are no MPEG artefacts. Film-to-video transfer artefacts are limited to minor aliasing. There was some dirt on the print but nothing too bad.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only an English 2.0 Dolby Stereo soundtrack.

    Dialogue is reasonably clear, and sync was acceptable, though not always perfect with the dialogue.

    The score is about the same as the first one – which was done over 10 years previously. Get a new act guys.

    There is minimal surround information and no subwoofer use.

Menus

    All menus are 16x9 enhanced. The main menu has periodic laughter. I’m not laughing.

    This title has not yet been released in R1 on DVD.

    Scanners III: The Takeover ... I can’t mince words, it is just plain bad. Aside from the spa scene, which was pleasant on the eyes if unpleasant on the ears, this is torture.

    Video is decent.

    The audio track is limited but does the job.

    There are no extras. Thankfully.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall