Flipping through video store magazines as a kid, I’d come across the occasional straight-to-video sequel advertised in its pages and wonder, “What is this film? There must be fans if they’ve made four or five of these!” It’s like another universe. Trancers (1984), like many a Full Moon production (an outfit I’m not that knowledgable about), has a fair number of sequels. As a low-budget sci-fi movie, it’s basically Blade Runner crossed with The Terminator. A grizzled bounter hunter in 2247, Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson), hunts down “trancers”, which are kind of zombies psychically controlled by a villain, Whistler (Michael Stefani). It’s a bit vague, but this movie clocks in at 77 minutes, so I’m all good with several scenes of exposition being left on the cutting room floor. Deth is tasked with having his consciousness sent back into the body of an ancestor in 1984 to stop Whistler from doing the Back To The Future photograph erasure of the Future Council’s family tree. With the help of a punker department store elf, Leena (Helen Hunt), Deth charges through LA to stop Whistler who is in the body of a plainclothes cop. To many, this might be an average low-budget knock-off sci-fi flick, but I was into its aesthetics, particularly early scenes that feel like recreations of cyberpunk paperback cover art, Deth stalking around in a trench-coat and lighting up a cigarette in the glare of neo-noir neon. In the “present day”, which is where the majority of the film takes place (hey, creating a 2247 futurescape ain’t cheap!), Thomerson and Hunt are both charismatic; Thomerson is tough but also a goofball in his own way, and Hunt is charming enough to make you forget why this person suddenly goes along with this far-fetched plot. They have a good amount of banter, and there’s enough touches of weirdness like a watch that stretches out one second of time to the wearer while everyone’s standing there frozen. Bodies disappear into red zaps of lightning, a Santa Claus becomes an angry zombie, and a sauna turns into a slow death trap. Trancers keeps it moving and I was loving its lo-fi approximation of high scale sci-fi. I don’t know if I’ll catch up with the five or six sequels, but this one is an entertaining rip-off with winning performances. Also, features suitable synth atmospherics by Phil Davies and Mark Ryder. Directed by Charles Band. Available to stream on Tubi. Recommended.
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