Even if you’ve never watched or even heard of David Cronenberg’s 1981 Sci-Fi horror film Scanners, there’s a really good chance you’ve seen the film’s most well-known scene. Hell, we’ve probably used the GIF several thousand times over the years to represent our frustrations with stupid people or stories, but people still see this endless loop of some guy’s head exploding, and they most likely think, “Oh yeah, that’s Scanners!”
If you don’t recognize that GIF, then perhaps you remember the scene in Wayne’s World, when Garth is left to fend for himself on the set of the show, and the guy in the booth asks, “You ever see that scene in Scanners when that dude’s head blew up?” And if you still don’t know what I’m talking about, well, I don’t know what to tell you. Fortunately, the Criterion Collection recently shared this video that explains how the head explosion scene in Scanners was accomplished. It turns out that making Louis Del Grande’s noggin blow up was a lot harder (and more disgusting) than the special effects and photography crews expected. But it was still very awesome.