"The title refers to a group of people who have telekinetic powers. Not only can these ""scanners"" read minds, they have the ability to make other people's heads explode. These scanners are the children of a group of women who took an experimental tranquilizer during their pregnancies. Now adults, the scanners have become outcasts from society, but one (Michael Ironside) decides to create an army of scanners to take over the world. The only person who can stop him is his brother (Stephen Lack), who wants to forget that he was ever a scanner. Cronenberg's story is occasionally a little slow, yet it is powerful. Furthermore, his effects are fantastic, even though many viewers might find them extremely repulsive. Scanners was followed by a few sequels, none of which involved Cronenberg."