Continuing the theme of entertaining absurdity , next up is a sci-fi/action/detective B-movie mashup from 1984 that also happens to be pretty heavy on the festive cheer. Knowingly silly and low-budget, Trancers is a lot of fun and features future Oscar-winner Helen Hunt. Tim Thomerson plays Jack Deth, a Philip Marlowe-esque hardboiled detective from a future where baddies control people’s minds to get them to commit crimes, turning them into ‘Trancers.’ There’s also a pretty groovy concept of time travel where people inject a special drug that zaps them back into the body of an ancestor. Jack, on the trail of arch-nemesis Whistler (Michael Stefani) who killed his wife, travels back to Christmas 1984 where he wakes up with beautiful Leena (Hunt) next to him in bed. Not bad!
Director Charles Band’s film plays everything poker-face straight but with its tongue firmly in cheek, a micro-budget Bladerunner / Terminator B-movie homage with a silly tone all of its own. Leena’s first encounter with a Trancer is when the Santa at the mall where she works as an ‘elf’ turns into a zombie psycho killer, treating to the sight of Jack battering the bejeesus out of Santa while a bunch of horrified kids look on - it’s hilarious.
They squeeze in a fair amount of low-budget action into the film’s 76 minute runtime, including bar punch ups and a high speed moped chase. A really goofy bit sees Jack trapped in a tanning booth that’s somehow so hot smoke comes off him but doesn’t seem to make him sweat. Who is this guy - Prince Andrew?
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Enjoyably, Trancers doesn’t skimp on the Christmas stuff either, with a whole scene set in a rock club, the crowd moshing to a thrashing punk version of ‘Jingle Bells’. Leena also crashes her scooter right through an old guy’s window on Christmas Eve, wrecking the place, but doesn’t forget to wish him a hearty “Merry Christmas” before speeding off. Our heroes later cross paths with three ‘wise’ old hobos who help them on their mission.
It’s all knowingly naff fun that heartily embraces the cheesy style and tone of ‘50s B-movies, while managing to look and sound pretty cool on its wee budget with passable effects and an atmospheric synth score. There’s lots of neon, noir-ish shadows as well as the occasional spaceship and even an exciting lazer battle. It’s not necessarily a ‘good’ movie but it sure is a lot of fun, with Hunt stealing the show, demonstrating she was simply too good to be contained by good-natured low budget schlock like this.
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