Editor Reviews:

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David Cronenberg's 1981 horror film is a darkly paranoid story of a homeless man (Stephen Lack) mistakenly believed to be insane, when in fact he can't turn off the sound of other people's thoughts in his telepathic mind. Helped by a doctor (Patrick McGoohan) and enlisted in a program of "scanners"--telepaths who also can will heads to explode--he becomes involved in a battle against nefarious forces. A number of critics consider this to be Cronenberg's first great film, and indeed it has a serious vision of destiny that rivals some of the important German expressionist works from the silent cinema. Lack is very good as the odd hero, and McGoohan is effectively eccentric and chilly as the scientist who saves him from the street, only to thrust him into a terrible struggle. --Tom Keogh

Rating : - Pure Camp
This is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. The performances are wooden, the dialogue painfully awkward and cheesy, and the plot is full of holes. However, I laughed almost the whole way through. It is just pure silliness, delicious camp. Not a great film, maybe, but certainly great entertainment!

On another note, I had to wonder if Cronenberg wrote this shortly after reading Alfred Bester's 'Demolished Man.' It's not really the same, but similar in enough ways to make me wonder.