Trancers

• Fun Facts

Taglines

• 2247 collides with 1985 . . . when a 23rd century crime fighter heats it up in L.A., today
• Jack Deth is back... and he's never even been here before!
• His name is Deth. He hunts Trancers. Even in the 20th Century.
• Meet Jack Deth. He's a Cop From The Future Trapped in the Present, and he's chasing a 23rd century menace in 1985
• The Battle for the Future has begun.

Main Details

• Released in 1985
• Color
• Running Time:
• Production Co: Altar Productions | Empire Pictures | Lexyn Productions
• Distribution Co: Empire Pictures (1985) (USA) (theatrical) | Pan-Canadian Film Distributors (Canada) (theatrical) | Sinfonia Films (1985) (France) (theatrical)

Cast and Crew

• Directed by Charles Band
• Written by Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo
• Starring Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Michael Stefani, Art LaFleur, Telma Hopkins, Richard Herd, Anne Seymour, Miguel Fernandes
• Produced by Charles Band, Debra Dion
• Music by Phil Davies, Mark Ryder
• Cinematography by Mac Ahlberg
• Film Editing by Ted Nicolaou

Film Review

The 80's was the great era of cash-in movies. These kinds of movies are not only have their own charm, but most of them are really entertaining and respectful to original material. A really good example is Trancers, the 1985 Charles Band flick that was clearly cashing in on popular Hollywood movies like Blade Runner and The Terminator. Unfortunately, not many people have heard of this gem yet.

In the year 2247, Jack Deth, a hard boiled cop has to hunt down a criminal named Whistler, whose turned people into zombies by using his psychic powers. Since Whistler goes back in time to 1985, Jack has to stop our villain before lots of Angel City council members' ancestors get killed. Although the movie sounds like a combination between Blade Runner (because the zombies look like humans until it is notified by a machine, which is similar to the Replicants) and The Terminator (our hero goes back in time to protect an ancestor from getting killed), this film gives us a really great sci-fi atmosphere. It shows us a way to go back in time by using drugs. When someone take the drug, his body from the present will be hibernated and he'll take over one of his ancestor's bodys in the past. To be honest, I think this method is cooler than Emmett Brown's DeLorean from Back To The Future. Plus, we have awesome gadgets like a wristwatch that makes time slower like the bullet-time mode in the Max Payne video game. It's really awesome.

On the other hand, I'm afraid that modern audiences might find it cheesy and stupid. But there's one thing I have to remind you, it was made by Empire Pictures. Empire is a production company that specialized in making low budget movies and, as all of you know, their films are really entertaining. Although Trancers has some plot holes and bad acting (let's face it, Helen Hunt's performance in this film is pretty terrible), the film creates a really good "futuristic" atmosphere with good special effects and setting on a very limited budget. That should be a lesson to you that low-budget movies from the 80's sometimes aren't as bad as critics will tell you.

Another thing I'd like to mention is the DVD. It keeps bugging me for several reasons. First off, some releases have a current photo of Helen Hunt on the cover instead of 1985 photos. I told a similar story about this in the review of William Shatner's Impulse. Please stop this method. Anyway, we have bigger problem...the picture quality. The DVD release of this film isn't the remastered version. Plus, it doesn't try to hide the fact that it's a Laserdisc rip! Not only is it presented in full frame (instead of original widescreen format) and blurry picture quality, after the ending credits it shows a Vestron Video logo and the words "End of side 2". What the hell?! I mean, if you don't have enough money to restore your film, that's fine. Troma usually uses Betacam/VHS masters for DVD releasing and I have no problem with that. But could you please cut the Vestron logo, the ending text, and 2 seconds of blackout in the middle of the movie? Come on!

Overall, this film deserves to be remastered and presented in its original state. This is a really entertaining flick from the great era of 80s sci-fi/neo-noir films. Please DO NOT remake this film.

Reviewed by Nuttawut Permphithak - 4/24/14