Trancers (1984)

Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) a future cop from the 21st century returns to 1985 to stop a killer from destroying the government head official's ancestors, not knowing the area (as he only knows L.A because he scuba dives there, and L.A is underwater) Deth is aided by punk rocker Lena (Helen Hunt) meanwhile Deth has his work cut out for him when said killer has taken the form of the chief of police in modern times L.A. Trancers is one of the best B.movies of the 80s, in that it is certainly a rip off of The Terminator and Blade Runner, but it also has a zany sense of humor and more importantly an ambitious script and a few good ideas of it's own. The movie never lets up and much of the action is well staged and suspenseful. The comedy works and Thomerson and Hunt make a fun hero and sidekick and the movie is low budget but always interesting to look at. Trancers then is a sci-fi gem that thankfully found an audience.

* * *1/2 out of 4-(Very Good)

Fmovies: His Empire May Have Crumbled And the Full Moon might have slightly dipped behind the shadows, but Charles's Band's Legacy of Classics will always begin and end with this vision of Jack Deth, a rogue cop fighting for his right to live and breath in the city of angels in the year 2247.

My first introduction to the cinema of Charles Band began with the Low Budget riff on Gremlins in the shape of Ghoulies, nothing that great, just a slight distraction for eighty odd minutes, now this being the 1980's the video shops were littered with all sorts of mindless dreck cluttering up the shelves, and being of an age, with an enquiring mind, in short and even still to this day, a sucker for a good looking cover i stumbled upon Trancers, not really knowing that it was made by the same producer.

Now Comparisons have been made down through the years, that Band was lurking in the shadows of Roger Corman as the pretender to the thrown as King of the B Picture, Alas my own take on that notion, is that Corman was from another time and age, that while he still maintains a presence in the Low Budget Genre Market with all the Various Dinosaurs, Carnosaurs and bubble headed Muscleman pictures, Charles Band was the man with plan and so it was, and so it began with Trancers.

Now everyone seems to think that this movie should be compared to the likes of The Terminator, However remember this being the 80's what film didn't compare just a little like something they had just watched. This Movie written by the combo partnership of Bilson & DeMeo [the writers behind the just as brilliant Zone Troopers] had concocted a hard boiled vision of the future whereby Tim Thomerson essays the spirit of a down at heel gumshoe caught between a rock and hard place and hell hath no fury if you come between him and the answers that he seeks in his quest to save the future.

At a mere running time of 82 minutes, the standard running time for the majority of all Empire and Future Full Moon Movies, the movie benefits from a crackerjack script, bubbling over with witty one liners[Spoken by the Tim Man Himself]ably assisted on his travels by the elf like Lena, the sexy santa helper from the north pole shopping mall. I never thought about it back then, but as this arena of film-making has become Tim Thomerson's bread and Butter, does Helen Hunt still care to remember her early hike up the Hollywood Ladder by appearing in such a low budgeted but very high spirited movie.

Back then ofcourse, who knew? Then Again who was i to say that, when i was just a teenager, i would find myself hooked on low budget B movies or to be more precise, the low budget B Movie that rolled of the Charles Band Conveyor belt all those years ago and even still to this day, and it all began with the first adventure of a future cop called Jack Deth, he who said that dry hair was for squids.

The many sequels that followed down through the years may not have surpassed the class and feel of the original, but they still had Jack Deth as the main protagonist, in his world rules were for jokers, he lived by his own rules. My all time favourite from the Charles Band.

This Jack is the reel deal.If you haven't already seen it, which i seriously doubt, do yourself a favour and give it another watch, you'll see what i mean.

For as long as i can remember, this movie like so many made by Charles Band, be they made under the banner of Empire Pictures, Full Moon Pictures or even his latest venture Shadow Entertainment, the majority of his output has mostly been looked down upon as poor low brow fare, why even from those persons unknown, masquerading as fans.

For me my first introduction to the work of Charles Band was infact "Ghoulies" directed by sometime actor, sometime director Luca Bercovici, being of that teen-age, the memories of that movie, like that of their sequels still lingers. Anyhow Trancers was the movie that kick started my love and my entire collection of Fantasy or Horror Fantasy movies, the majority of my collection it must be said is that of every Charles Band Movie he's ever made.

Pardon me for deviating from my take on this movie, everyone has their view, but hey, it has the coolest tag line, you know it, so i don't have to say it. A really snappy script, written by the writing partners of Bilson/De Meo, who would later excell themselves more so with the likes of "Eliminators" and the really fun "Zone Troopers.

The Movie itself also brought Tim Thomerson out of the shadows of character acting, allowing him to bring to life the hard boiled character of Jack Deth, Presented much better here than in any of the other sequels, of which, I must give mention to part three, which was the better of all the sequels.

As for the man behind the movie, Charles Band, i think perhaps, he cuts it better as a producer rather than a director, but hey if he runs the company then he's entitled to pick up that megaphone.

Perhaps the Glory Days might be gone, time rolls on, that shining light that once shone so bright for Charles Band will shine again, of that i have no doubt, he has left a legacy and for me my maiden voyage truly began with a man named Deth, how many film fans can say that and live to tell the tale.

Trancers fmovies. In the Twentieth-Third Century, in Angel City, the trooper Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) hunts down the criminal Martin Whistler (Michael Stefani) that killed his wife and turns weak-minded people into Trancers to follow his command. Jack is assigned by the government to travel to 1985 to chase Whistler that has fled to the past to kill their ancestors and assume the government. The way to travel in time is injecting a drug that makes the consciousness of the user traveling through ancestors. Jack learns that Whistler left his body in the Twentieth-Third Century and took over his ancestor, L.A. Police Detective Weisling. Before traveling to the past, Jack destroys Whistler's body to trap him in the past. Jack awakes in the body of the journalist Phil Dethton that had one night stand with the sexy photographer Leena (Helen Hunt). Jack teams up with Leena to look for the the ancestors of the member of the government, but Whistler has the power of the police. Will they succeed?

"Trancers" is a cult sci-fi film directed by Charles Band in a film- noir style. The idea of traveling in time through ancestors is unique and the story has action and humor in right doses. Helen Hunt is very cute and shows great chemistry with Tim Thomerson). My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Trancers – O Exterminador do Século XXIII" ("Trancers – The Terminator from the Twentieth-Third Century")

This underrated movie opens to a Los Angeles of the future with Tomerson playing the role of a bounty hunter/cop who is facing the likes of which would probably make any real officer quit and take a safer job. The time period is somewhere in the 1980's. The antagonist is an ultra futuristic criminal who has the ability to control the minds of weak people and get them to do his bidding. This is the classic B movie dramatizing the never ending battle between good and evil; good being Jack Deth (Thomerson) attempting to stop the antagonistic subtle evil criminal who is even able to travel through time. His job is made more difficult when he discovers his nemesis is a high ranking police official which gives him a powerful position from which to do his evil deeds. This one is a true work of art and Thomerson did a GREAT job in the role! See it!!!!

Trancers is a breathtaking film. Made on a minute budget, the sets clearly suffer from costings yet despite this the film is consistently humorous and riveting. Tim Thomerson blasts his way through many bad Trancers dude in his sarcastic and wry style - the scene where he tells a well toned body-builder (Michael McGrady) that his tan suits Christmas well is brilliant as are many of the daft remarks. Featuring a pre-fame Helen Hunt as Leena and a great range of supporting actors we also have to be grateful to the writers, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo (later to concentrate on computer games understandably) who tone the film in ways that Charles Band (as director) could never have done alone.