Trancers is the first entry in a whopping six-film cult-movie franchise (plus the lost footage turned sequel, Trancers 1.5).
Its misleading movie poster leans cyberpunk. It’s like you will follow this helmeted hero into a netherweb of blue hexagons and triangles of a cyborgian future that must be tamed.
Instead, we’re off to the future only to turn back time.
The film follows a Humphrey-Bogart-style detective from a waterlogged 23rd century who comes to the 1980s to stop a telepath (I think) and his could-be-zombie followers.
And did I mention it’s a Christmas movie?
Known in some regions as “Futurecop“ (not to be confused with 1994’s Timecop), the film is like a mishmash of Terminator and Blade Runner.
But this is the Full Moon Features version of those masterpieces – made on a shoestring budget and with hardly the cinematic quality.
This should be just another of the many Terminator fake-out cash-ins, but the Trancers fanbase has lasted decades.
And though praise was far from unanimous, even credible reviewers like Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times or then-critic, now lowercase author god Neil Gaiman enjoyed the picture at release.
So is Trancers a good movie?
The Plot of Trancers:
In the 23rd century, Angel City Trooper Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) has defeated his all-time nemesis, Martin Whistler (Michael Stefani) – a cult leader with the power to turn people into zombie-like followers known as Trancers.
But when an Angel City Chairman is murdered, it’s revealed that Whistler is behind it. Having traveled back to 1985, Whistler is prepared to find and murder the ancestors of the two remaining city council members, wiping them from history.
Can Deth go to 1985 and stop Whistler before the rest of the council is killed?
The Rest of the Main Cast Includes:
- Helen Hunt as Leena
- Art LaFleur as Detective McNulty (as Art La Fleur)
- Biff Manard as Hap Ashby
- Telma Hopkins as Ruthie Raines, The Engineer
- Richard Herd as Chairman Spencer
- Anne Seymour as Chairman Margaret Ashe
- Alyson Croft as “Baby McNulty” (as Allyson Croft)
- Peter Schrum as Santa Claus
- Barbara Perry as Mrs. Santa Claus
- Richard Erdman as Drunken Wise Man
- Wiley Harker as Dapper Old Man
- Miguel Fernandes as Officer Lopez
What’s Working Well Here:
Near-Camp Tone and Fun Strange Things, + 5 Points
Trancers oozes with an enjoyable near-camp strangeness. It lives up to the billing of a film with a main character named Jack Deth.
Nearly every scene makes itself watchable, popping a clever line of dialogue or unexpected quirky event.
Five minutes into the film, Deth punches an old lady in the face (it’s okay – she’s a trancer trying to kill him).
There’s a duel to the death in the middle of the mall against an Evil Santa Claus.
For some reason, the film is a Christmas movie, complete with a good-bad punk rock cover of Jingle Bells.
Deth’s supervisor, McNulty, returns to the past to give him an earful. Yet he’s comically forced to lecture him in the body of the only ancestor he could find — a young girl.
And there’s a Moped chase, including a silly escape down a flight of stairs.
The film’s could-be cinema sins turn into assets thanks to its playful screwiness. Many things stop making sense, but you won’t care because it’s Trancers.
Performances, +4 Points
Tim Thomerson and Helen Hunt’s performances in the lead roles are a glue that wraps itself around the film’s leaks. As the film batters you with strangeness, their chemistry holds it together.
Hunt’s Lena flicks back her blue-streaked hair and hotwires things. A supposed punk rocker, she can handle a little danger but carries herself cute and feather-graceful – able to drive a motorcycle through an older man’s window and courteously ask to be let out the front door.
And Thomerson just eats this role for breakfast. His posturing and delivery make the most of his goofy lines. Like Bruce Campbell’s comedy in the first three Evil Dead films, you can’t see the film working without Thomerson’s shoulders in the trench coat.
Art LaFluer chips in as Deth’s well-dressed supervisor, Detective McNulty, constantly disapproving of the Trooper’s methods.
And young Alyson Croft steals her scenes as McNulty’s little-girl ancestor, a blonde pint-sized pixie berating Deth.
Blue Future and Cool Lights, + 2 Points
This film is so into cobalt vibes they went with a blue-on-blue color scheme for the opening credits (warning – the clip is the first five minutes of the movie).
The cyberpunk/Blade Runner mood kicks into high gear as Deth parks outside Mom’s No. 3 cafe. Yet despite the future cool, the interior is throwback cool.
In his trenchcoat, the wrinkle-browed Deth is ready to pay for his hard-earned cigarettes and non-synthetic coffee.
The mix of neon future and hardboiled past is unique. Unfortunately, it falls out of the film early since Deth goes “down the line” to 1985.
Still, there are occasional bits where the lighting or set design stays otherworldly. There’s the world’s strangest tanning booth or the red glow as a Trancer gets “singed,” its body melting into nothing.
And I enjoyed the minimalist makeup on the trancers, simple spooky faces of menace.
Time Travel and Gadgets, +1 Point
The film has fresh time-travel game.
And that’s good. I was concerned Deth’s eyebrows were too thick for time warping, and he’d be forced to shave them down Olympic-swimmer style for less time-travel resistance.
But he was spared the grooming because, rather than a portal or doorway you step through, a medication transports your consciousness back to that of an ancestor, inhabiting their body. Meanwhile, your parts remain suspended in the future, supported by a technician.
Deth’s main weapon is a boilerplate laser pistol or 0.38 Special revolver. Still, the film compensates for that lack of imagination by busting out a prehistoric bullet-time.
Deth is packing a James-bond-style trick watch dubbed “The Long Second.” When pushed, it slows time for everyone around him, giving him ten seconds where the real world has one.
It looks like false advertising because the effect lasts much longer than ten seconds. Deth can complete a quarter of a hero’s shopping list of tasks before anybody can move again.
But, again, it’s Trancers; so you’ll go with it.
Soundtrack, +1 Point
At first, I didn’t like Mark Ryder and Phil Davies’s soundtrack, dismissing it as passable boilerplate 80s upbeat synth.
But giving it a listen, it’s grown on me.
“Cafe Trancer” or “Deth vs. Santa” mirrors the goofy not-terror of fights on display, little hits of silly scare sounds echoing.
Tracks like “Lost Angeles” pop with silly intrigue more than revel in genuine despair. And “Long Second Escape” slows us down mystically.
The goodness lies in the many drum fills, refreshing in what could be just repetitive drum machining, hitting their apex in “Confrontation on the Roof.”
Pacing, +2 Points
The film’s rapid-fire pacing is essential.
With a 76-minute runtime, every scene advances the story, even if they must rely on happenstance or hokiness.
And the speed covers for the potholed plot. Before you can process the latest story puncture, the movie has already zipped five steps ahead.
What’s Not Working So Well Here:
Desolate Warehouses, -3 Points
You need to grant low-budget films some leeway to play fair. It’s not like Trancers had the funds for dazzling locations and probably shot their wad with the set of the opening sequence.
Still, you can only blame a weird script choice for what plunges the movie into a brief slog.
One of the ancestors Deth must track down is a former professional baseball player who seems to have lost everything and become homeless.
This sends the movie into a weird, literally dark stage as Deth and Lena quiz singing homeless people and prowl around deserted warehouses.
With the freedom to write this ancestor any way they wanted, it’s an odd choice.
Slapdash Ending, – 3 Points
**Heavy Spoilers Here **
The movie launches straight into a head-scratching ending, leaving you wondering if the production ran out of money.
First, Deth picks up his phone and calls Whistler to strike a deal, like an instant end-the-movie button.
Sans a lasting transition or establishing shot, we’re on a rooftop, and Lena has been taken hostage by Whistler.
Things proceed predictably, with Deth using The Long Second to get the upper hand on Whistler. But Deth can only use that moment to save Lena, who Whistler threw from the building.
Instead, it’s Hap, the former professional baseballer, who saves the day. From a dumpster, the resourceful vagrant gathers some glass bottles and chucks them at Whistler, knocking the arch-villain from the roof.
Groan. Baseball has irritated me many times in life, but I didn’t see this one coming.
You can understand the writers not wanting things to get anti-climactic, Deth using The Last Second and just ending Whistler. But a minor character winning the day with his pitching talent and street-prowling nous? Even for a comedy, it’s weak.
And to keep the irritations going, the last shot shows McNulty in his young ancestor’s body, seemingly overjoyed that Deth is staying behind to live with Lena. It’s completely out of character.
The film gets away with so much, but you can’t ignore this shoddy climax.
Wait, Guy – That’s Your Grandma! – 0 Points
**More Spoilers Here**
Time-traveling characters seem to run into trouble with incest (Back to the Future).
Whistler reveals that Lena marries Deth’s ancestor, Phil, whom he has been inhabiting. That means Deth is happily doing it with his great-to-the-power-of-six-or-eight grandma.
Incest is the type of crime you’d remove all points for in a review, but because this is Trancers, and nothing matters, I’ll settle for grossed out without consequences.
Toned to Death, -5 Points.
Trancers is dumb and probably by design. That can work (Dumb and Dumber, Zoolander), but it only flies so high here.
There aren’t jokes that truly had me bursting with laughter or wanting to see again, set pieces that were unbelievable for better or worse. After a while, the novelty of Deth and his universe begins to wear off.
One culprit is Whistler, who barely matters in the film. It gives Jack nobody vile to play off for dramatic or comedic effect.
A few trancers come along, but they are quickly dealt with and not playing up any personality.
Jack’s mild sauce adventure, even if enjoyably odd, never reaches a boil.
Should I Watch Trancers?
Total Arbitrary Points Score: 4 Points
I waffle on Trancers.
It’s a sci-fi pastiche of odd choices that pan out beautifully, and I can understand how this made it into a franchise (Thomerson returning until things devolved into Deth gloriously on horseback for entry 5 and Hunt bugging out at part 3).
Yet it’s only a broadly amusing affair without the sharp execution of a true standout comedy or sci-fi, one capable of unforgettable scenes.
Still, this unique film survives almost purely on tone and acting performances, breezing into its next charm attack before you realize its plot crimes.
I’m glad I saw Trancers, but I recommend it only to retro science fiction and/or B movie fans.
Trancers is rated PG-13 and was directed by Charles Band.
You can stream it on Peacock or watch it for free with ads on YouTube or TubiTV.
You can watch the trailer here (note – that’s a fan trailer because the official shows the whole movie).
Disclaimer:
This review’s factual information was gathered through online sources like Wikipedia, IMDB, or interviews. Misrepresentations and errors are possible but unintentional.
Making art is hard. This is a fan’s blog. Any criticisms are meant to be constructive.
Be First to Comment