Wanting some new “Scanners” action and bummed out that David Cronenberg is making art-house films? Welcome to “The Mind’s Eye,” the best “Scanners” film that isn’t a “Scanners” film. The movie is a low-budget indie riff on “Scanners,” using a very similar plot, mostly unknown actors, a Tangerine Dream-like score, and a wonderful array of non-stop practical effects. Some will cry foul that it is too similar to “Scanners” but I think it’s groovy. It is so cheesy yet cool that I can’t find fault with it.
The high point, for me, is the cameo by Larry Fessenden, the director of such cult classics as “Habit” and “Wendigo.” He has been producing and directing fsome of the best indie horror films of the last 17 years, and in this movie and “You’re Next” he is proving himself a capable supporting actor. Films like “We are Still Here,” “Stakeland,” and this one have an ingenuity that is lacking in Hollywood films. Whereas a Hollywood film would just plaster on millions of dollars of bad CGI, this one gives us old-fashioned head explosions.
Hollywood, stop making fantasy crap and give us real films like this! I would much rather watch a film about mind control and government agencies done with spirit and on the cheap than one second of “X-Men Apocalypse.” Larry Fessenden is a way better actor than James McAvoy in my opinion. In short, “The Mind’s Eye” is a can’t miss for those of us who dig B-movies and “Scanners.” It puts the fun back in sci-fi horror. –CoolAC
