Trancers

Representative movie of the 80's era, low budge and a primitive special effects but delightful and entertainment picture, a mature man played by fine Tim Thomerson and the young beauty Helen Hunt in great performance together with a clever plot made this trash Sci-fi one those memorable movies from the eighties!!! Resume: First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

I suffered through over an hour of this drivel and I still don't have a clue what a Trancer is. All I know is that a guy with a permanent 5 o'clock shadow and a ridiculous name (Jack Deth) was tasked with going to the past to bring back a guy named Whistler. Whistler, somehow, makes Trancers. How he makes them, I don't know. This was a bad attempt at a sci-fi. They left too much unexplained, and if you're going to be low budget you better at least have a good plot and some plausible science in your science fiction.

It's a derivative story but done with a real pulp edge, no fat or wasted scenes, just action and constant moving forward. Nothing spectacular, but done with economy and just enough style to work despite the low budget. A solid good time!

Jack Deth is a Trancer hunter from the future, chasing arch-enemy and trancer guru cult leader Martin Whistler through time, but not in your ordinary time machine. Time travel(in the original film) is only possible by sending a person's consciousness into a D.N.A. relative/ancestor. Deth hooks up with Leena (the lovely Helen Hunt in an early, hair-dyed-blue role), and together they hunt for the ancestors of two future council members, who if killed by Whistler, will destroy the future. I love this movie. This is one of those cult classics which I would say is representative of the b-movie/low budget style of some of the best stuff in sci-fi/horror/fantasy th 80's had to offer. It's got a cool, far-fetched storyline and despite it's lower budget, it does wonders with its effects. Truly good stuff from director Charles Band, who not too much later formed his Full Moon Entertainment, which released the entertaining Trancers sequels.

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.

Trancers (1984) is a movie that recently grabbed my attention when I saw it was falling off Tubi this month. The storyline focuses on a bounty hunter from the future sent back to Los Angeles to stop a man who can take over peoples bodies and do whatever he wants. The bounty hunter also is in a host body and will need to try and be inconspicuous for his plan to work. This movie is directed by Charles Band (Puppetmaster) and stars Tim Tomerson (Dollman), Helen Hunt (Twister), Richard Herd (Get Out) and Art LaFluer (The Blob). The storyline and overall movie starts hot and losses some steam. The opening diner scene and battle with Santa Claus is awesome...then there's not much else in terms of action and cool effects after that. I did like the way they had LA in the ocean and thought the "squid" references were funny; but overall, this is just a slightly above average addition to the genre that is worth seeing once but is not a classic. I'd score this a 6/10.

I remember renting this superb Sci-Fi movie back in the late 80s. I'd only had a VCR for about a year and this renting video titles lark was still very exciting for me. Trancers was one of my favorites at the time and still is to this day. It stood the test of time. Speaking of time, that's what this movie is all about. Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson in great form) travels back in time to stop Whistler who created the kill-crazy 'Trancers.' A terrific sci-fi action movie that, despite being low-budget, never fails to thrill. I haven't been able to find it on DVD as yet but I'm ever alert. I hope to get it and its 5 sequels in a box-set. If not I'd happily settle for 'Trancers' on its own...