There's an adage stating imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but were I David Cronenberg, I'd be far more insulted than flattered here. This movie is a poor-man's remake of Scanners (with shades of The Fury) with less interesting characters, storylines, visual effects and actors. Not that Scanners is sacrosanct, but it is a masterpiece in comparison to this pale imitator. The direction, synth-music, styles, effects, settings, look and feel come across as an intentional 80's throwback, wearing its influences and love for the original on its sleeve. But unlike similar 80's retro throwbacks (Stranger Things, Almost Human), this film doesn't attempt injecting anything new into the equation, instead covering the same ground, while neglecting and limiting the scope and ambition of the original films (sacrificing plots of global psychic espionage in favor of a by-the-numbers mad scientist). The last act goes for gross-out thrills, and finally goes over-the-top with the insanity of its premise with psychokinetic superpowers going head-to-head. While this last bit is fun, slogging through the rest of the film to get to it is a chore, and honestly not really worth the time. I might be unfairly critical here, as the film does actually accomplish what it intends, both in look and feel and with its story, its just not that engaging or entertaining, and with not much likeable about the characters or the actors playing them. To be fair, as a spiritual sequel to Scanners, this movie is far better than all four of the actual Scanners sequels, but as a tepid rehash of the original ideas, you're far better off renting the original.
The Mind's Eye