TRANCERS (1984) - Dont mess with Jack or he'll be the deth of you !!!

DIRECTED by Charles Band

SCREENPLAY by Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo.

STARRING  - Tim Thomerson as Jack Deth/Phil Dethton,  Michael Stefani as Martin Whistler/Detective Weisling,  Helen Hunt as Lena,  Art Le Fleur as Detective McNulty,  Alyson Croft as "Baby" McNulty,  Biff Maynard as Hap Ashby.

PLOT  - It is the 23rd century and the city of Los Angeles lies sunken at the bottom of a crevice that opened up during an Earthquake, in its stead, built from the ashes, lies Angel City - a futuristic metropolis where the hub of life now resides.

One resident of Angel City is tough, unconventional cop - Jack Deth, who for the past few years has been charged with tracking down Martin Whistler - a criminal mastermind with uncanny telepathic powers.  Whistler's powers enable him to subsume the minds of those who are mentally weaker than himself, transforming them into 'Trancers' - viscious zombies without a will of thier own who physically mutate whilst under Whistler's control.

Now, Whistler has travelled back in time to the year 1984 in a bid to murder the ancestors of the ruling councillors of Angel City so that they will never be born to oppose him in the first place. Jack Deth is assigned to stop him and his mind is sent back in time to inhabit the body of his own ancestor - Phil Dethton.

Jack is armed with a handful of gadgets to help him in his mission - including a watch which can temporarily freeze time itself, giving him a 'long second', accompanied by his ancestors new found girlfriend - Lena - and helped/hindered by his boss McNulty (who, to his embarrassment, is inhabiting the body of his own ancestor - a 10 year old girl) - Jack must stop Whistler before he kills the unsuspecting, innocent ancestors of the ruling council and change history forever.

But, the Trancers are out there...hiding... waiting...ready to do Whistler's bidding, and they will stop at nothing to defend thier evil master...

DIALOUGE  - Jack (to McNulty) - "If I catch you in L.A. again, I don't care if you're a kid, an old lady or a kitty cat, I'm gonna kick your ass !!!"

Jack - "Dry hair's for squids."

Jack (After watching an episode of 'Peter Gunn' on TV) - "What kind of name is Peter Gunn ?"  Leena - "What kind of name is Jack Deth ?"

PERFORMANCES  - Veteren B-movie actor Tim Thomerson plays Jack Deth and he makes for a very cool hero. Very much in the mould of a traditional hard boiled Marlowesque detective, with his trenchcoat, slicked back hair and down at heel rugged demeanour he slouches through the neon lit streets of 23rd Century Angel City and the sunny boulevards and night-time back alleys of 1984 Los Angeles. He seems equally at home and fits into both time zones whilst at the same time seeming slightly apart from either - a man out of time both literally and metaphorically. With his grizzled features and world weary attitude, Thomerson as Deth brings a lot of presence to the character and is an archetypal hero to root for.

Future Hollywood Academy award winner Helen Hunt stars as Lena - a young punk girl with a day job as an elf at a supermarket Santa's grotto who had a one night stand with Jack's ancestor Phil whose body Jack now inhabits. She becomes Jack's companion/love interest and Hunt puts in a good performance. It's strange to see her in a B-movie considering the respect she gets these days, but this was very early in her career. Lena makes for a compelling character - at first being sceptical and angry at Jack's wild claims and eventually believing him and helping him in his mission. Hunt has good chemistry with Thomerson and they make for a believable couple (even though Jack looks old enough to be Lena's father), The two bounce dialogue off each other and become a good double act - the lively, optimistic Lena sparking off the care worn, stoic Jack, softening his character in the process, giving him more grounded, personal stakes to fight for.

Michael Stefani makes for a good villain - it's a steely eyed, cold performance he gives - he does seem more like a standard gang leader than the megalomaniac psychic super villain the script makes him out to be, but I suppose that's the whole point. Whistler is hiding, insinuating himself into the society of the past to carry out his mission to change future history, it wouldn't do to draw too much attention to himself by standing out. As a result his performance is understated but effective.

Biff Maynard puts in a good turn too as Hap Ashby - the ancestor to the council leader -Ash. He's a washed up ex baseball player, a homeless alcoholic when Jack and Lena find and rescue him. Hap has to sober up and straighten himself out fast, if he is to survive the numerous attempts on his life. In the process, Hap becomes an unlikely hero and Maynard makes the character likeable despite the characters personal flaws and weaknesses. He's also very good at acting convincingly drunk, which I am led to believe is one of the hardest types of role for an actor to pull off realistically, so kudos there too.

SFX - There are some pretty good make-up effects in this film. The Trancers themselves look suitably horrific with thier pale, pustulating skin and dead staring eyes. They're kind of like standard zombies but a lot more agile and feral - spitting green bile as they launch themselves at thier intended victims. They make for effective monsters and disposable foot soldiers for the leading villain.

The rest of the effects are fairly standard sci-fi laser effects. When a Trancer is despatched by Jack they disintegrate in a flash of video effect neon laser light...well, it WAS the 80's after all. 

SEX & VIOLENCE - Punch ups, shoot outs and disintegrations abound, usually party to these is Jack Deth himself.

RATING  - Trancers is a good, solid little sci-fi action movie. It has good central performances and moves at a nice quick pace, never getting boring and always being fun.

The grimy neon lit streets of the 23rd century are well depicted, being gloomily atmospheric and a great example of good set design done on a low budget. There are also some good set pieces - the Trancer attack in Santa's grotto being especially memorable.

It all hangs together very nicely and sets up the series of films well. There where to be five further entries into the franchise after this. The second and third films are also very good, the fourth and fifth movies are terrible and the final one is enjoyable but lacks Tim Thomerson (Jack Deth leaps instead into a female ancestor's body, becoming Jo Deth in the process).

It's a movie with lots of good comic book like sci-fi concepts - I particularly like the 'long second' watch, it reminds me of the type of weaponry 2000AD's 'Strontium Dog' comic character would use. All in all, Trancers uses its small budget well and looks like it cost a lot more to make than it actually did, its a quality little piece of hard boiled sci-fi fun that never outstays its welcome.

4 time displaced gumshoes out of 5.

Also, what the hell happened with this poster ?

That looks NOTHING like Jack Deth - he seems to have morphed into Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks. Ah well...its still better than the film posters we get nowadays...