Would you believe I never saw a TRANCERS movie before now? And I’ve still only seen one. But when Dreadguacamole recently mentioned in a comment that it “goes pretty full-in on its christmas cheer” I decided that would be a good one to watch right now. Thanks for the tip. It’s a good balance – not a movie about Christmas that would feel weird to watch in some other time of year, but enough decorations here and there to make it kind of cool to watch when it’s seasonal.
I was aware that TRANCERS (1984) was directed by Charles Band (PARASITE), and that it reunited him with METALSTORM: THE DESTRUCTION OF JARED-SYN’s Tim Thomerson (UNCOMMON VALOR), now playing a character called “Jack Deth.” And that’s really all I knew. I’m filling in some blindspots here. Trying to become more cultured.
Turns out it’s a time travel movie and a zombie movie and a couple other things. It starts in 23rd century Angel City (FKA Los Angeles) and it immediately reminded me of some weird ‘80s comic book, because it has that era’s fascination with futuristic worlds where men try to seem like they’re out of some old detective novel. Not like BLADE RUNNER – it knows it’s cheaper, pulpier, not all gloomy and shit. But you got trenchcoats, a mix of futuristic and retro cars, a neon-ed out ‘50s style diner called Mom’s No. 3., and Jack’s big ears and enormous shoulder pads make him look more caricature than man
Jack is no longer a “trooper,” but agrees to help the authorities go after his old enemy Martin Whistler (Michael Stefani). The premise is that there are people all over who are “Trancers,” unwitting sleeper agents living ordinary lives but at any moment Whistler could use his psychic powers to trigger them into kinda turning into zombies and attacking people for him. For example we see a waitress at a diner do that. Jack has a bracelet that can scan to tell if somebody is a Trancer, and when he kills them it’s called “singe-ing” a Trancer. Their bodies disappear like in a video game, which is at least one thing to make the job easier. No clean up.
But Whistler gets ahold of a time travel drug. His body stays here while his consciousness travels to 1985 and takes over the body of one of his ancestors, a cop. Against orders Jack zaps Whistler’s unconscious body, but his mind is still in 1985 killing off the ancestors of all the future city council members, BACK TO THE FUTURE-family-photo-ing them. So Jack takes the drug and wakes up in the body of 1985 journalist Phil Dethton, who just spent the night with Lena (Helen Hunt, ROLLERCOASTER), a young hipster who is surprisingly open-minded about Jack being from the future. She becomes his lover/sidekick, so together they fight a few Trancers and try to track down and protect Hap Ashby (Biff Manard, DESERT KICKBOXER, BLANKMAN), a washed-up MLB player whose bloodline will birth future council chairwoman Ashe (Anne Seymour, POLYANNA).
In they meantime they hide out at Lena’s friend’s place, which is located above a punk club and kind of looks like it could be a bar. I like that it has that minimalistic neon art most cool ‘80s movie lofts have, plus an electric guitar hung on the wall like a decorative sword.
She convinces him to come downstairs for a show and it’s mostly a positive portrayal of a punk scene (she’s one of them and has a blue streak in her hair). Jack has to punch out her ex-boyfriend and three other jerks, but he also dances and has fun.
This feels like a cousin to THE TERMINATOR, I COME IN PEACE (also set around Christmas) and the quirkier BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET – movies about good guys and bad guys from another time or planet secretly chasing each other in a city. (HIGHLANDER could also be a relative despite all the swords and stuff.) I don’t think it’s nearly as good as any of the movies I just listed, but it has a low key appeal to it between the premise and the two likable leads, including the novelty of seeing Hunt be so young and cute and cool. I didn’t know she ever had that phase. More importantly, it has that ’80s low budget urban sci-fi aesthetic that’s comforting for people around my age. There’s a goofy matte painting of the Los Angeles skyline poking out from the sea (Stanley Kubrick said A.I. took place in the same world as TRANCERS, citation needed), some flying ships, some laser guns, but mostly guys running around in trash-filled garages and dingy alleys. Cinematographer Mac Ahlberg had done CHAINED HEAT and would become Stuart Gordon’s guy; production designer Jeff Staggs’ only other credits in that role are SURF II and GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN.
It’s kind of funny that the premise is basically “how would an old fashioned hardboiled noir guy react to modern culture” even though he’s from the future, not the past. I guess things go in cycles (the way that Bobby Brown is just ampin like Michael). Band has said this is his version of a Humphrey Bogart movie. Guys back then really loved Humphrey Bogart, so this is a big compliment to Thomerson, like John Carpenter hiring Kurt Russell to be his Clint Eastwood. And Thomerson deserves it. He’s always good. This movie wouldn’t be much without him.
I like that although Jack is a fish-out-of-water he does know how to rendezvous at the Chinese Theater because he’s been to the futuristic wasteland ruins of it and is familiar with the geography. I like the James Bond touch that he’s given a device he can only use once that will make one second last for ten seconds, and he uses it to run down and catch Elena when she falls off a building. That may seem small for a climax, but sometimes it’s nice to see a small movie.
I just remembered that some people were offended by something having to do with a body being borrowed and used for sex in WONDER WOMAN 1984. I wish I had been TRANCERS-literate at the time so I could’ve had a more sophisticated grasp of the discourse. I suppose this is a little different because Lena was already giving Phil some lovin’ and is aware that this is now a different person in his body. The only issue would be if Phil considers that cheating when he comes back. Except he won’t because Jack decides to stay in 1985! Wait a minute, doesn’t that kill Phil? Does Lena not care? Does Phil have other friends who will notice? I’ll have to watch the sequels.
TRANCERS was the first screenplay by the writing team of Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo. Their last was DA 5 BLOODS! In between they also wrote ZONE TROOPERS, ARENA and THE ROCKETEER. I think any of us would be proud to contribute that much to the world. Good job boys.
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P.S.
Christmas stuff: Lena works as the photographer for a mall Santa, so she wears a Santa-themed outfit, Jack follows her to work and the Santa she works with turns out to be a Trancer, attacks Jack with a large candy cane prop, they fight on the fake snow and knock over some decorations before Jack shoots him in front of everybody. Sorry kids.
P.P.S.
Age stuff: If you read all my reviews you might be sick of me talking about how I got more self conscious about aging after I turned 50 this summer. So feel free to stop reading. TRANCERS is funny because Thomerson is playing a retired cop and he gets called an “old man” at some point, but fresh-faced (about 21 at the time) Helen Hunt is into him. There’s obviously a pretty big age gap there but I thought oh no, what if Thomerson isn’t as old as I think, what if he’s only like 55 or something. Then I’m about to be an old man too. So I looked it up. He was only 38! I don’t think I’ll ever look as old as he looked when he was 12 years younger than I am now. I guess that’s partly the rugged qualities that make guys like Thomerson (and Humphrey Bogart) appealing, and partly the changes in health that make some of us physically age slower than previous generations did. You know, you look up a 38 year old in WWI he’s gonna look ancient compared to Jack Deth. But still. It will always be weird to me!
December 22nd, 2025 at 7:36 am
This is indeed one of those really fun b-movies that feel like a 12 year old watched TERMINATOR and a bunch of other classics for the first time and then wrote his own script based on his fresh memory. I would totally pogo with Helen Hunt!