Benedito Dias Rodrigues Representative movie of the 80's era,low budge and a primitive special effects but delightful and entertainment picture,a mature man played by 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

ersinkdotcom In the early 1990s, my Friday and Saturday nights were spent at home watching movie after movie of whatever I could find in my local video store. I would first scour the shelves for the newest horror, sci-fi, or action flicks and then move on to older or lesser known titles. Thus, my love affair with Full Moon Features and straight-to-video fare began. I would literally scoop up anything with a Full Moon logo on it and spend hours in the dark of my living room devouring "Subspecies," "Puppet Master," "Demonic Toys," "Robot Jox," and anything else I could get my hands on. The "Trancers" movies were among those B-movie gems I would pick up.Let's face it. Without Charles Band and Full Moon Features, there wouldn't be the Asylum, SyFy Channel, Anchor Bay, or any other independent genre companies giving us "Sharknado," "Mega Piranha," and "Metal Shifters."Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) is an Angel City trooper sent back in time to the Los Angeles of 1985. He is assigned to inhabit the body of his ancestor in order to find his arch-enemy, Whistler (Michael Stefani), who turns people into zombies. Deth must stop him before is able to kill all the ancestors of the members of the future governing council. "Trancers" is a perfect example of everything Full Moon and Charles Band was creating in the early and mid-1980s. It's obvious they saw blockbuster films and wanted to make their own low-budget versions of them for genre fans to enjoy. After all, once you saw "Blade Runner," "The Terminator," and "Total Recall," where could you get more of those types of entertainment to enjoy? Band and his army of filmmakers filled that niche perfectly.You don't get any more 1980s than "Trancers." As the director and producer of the movie, Charles Band injected it with as much noir flavor as he could wring out of "Blade Runner" without being sued for plagiarism. You've got the long trench coats with the added flare of shoulder pads. Couple that with weird bolos, shirt collars, and ties and you have a futuristic beat cop ready to take down any zombie or android he comes up against in the past. Let's not forget Helen Hunt's crazy puffed-up hair and her fixation with punk rock. Just like Kyle Reese in James Cameron's "The Terminator," Jack Deth somehow makes his way into a nightclub to enjoy some tunes from a bygone era as he pursues his murderous target. Like they say, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery." "Trancers" is unrated, but would be worthy of a PG-13 if put before the MPAA. There are some adult situations with no nudity. The language and violence is what you would expect from any genre movie these days.All in all, enthusiasts of 1980s B-movies will love "Trancers" The film is filled with fun practical effects, film noir overtones, and plenty of action for everyone to enjoy. It's an essential item for any sci-fi devotee's home entertainment library.

logantoxic Trancers was a pretty decent go around for Charles Band, the director of the film. It has action, chemistry between the leads and a decent enough sci fi idea that could be seen as original. Our hero Jack Deth (played to perfection by Tim Thomerson) is a detective from the future who kills mindless trancers (zombies) and he has to go back in time to stop Whistler, the man who is turning people into trancers and is also trying to kill the high councils (the leaders from the future) long lost relatives so the high councils never would of existed at all. Sounds like a ripoff from the Terminator right? Right, but it is effective and highly entertaining. This marks the first movie staring Helen Hunt who plays the romantic lead opposite of Jack Deth. She plays a punkish girl who works as an elf for a mall Santa. The Science part of this fictional story is a little fuzzy but you overlook it because the acting is good and you believe in the characters and root for them to win. This movie produced 4 successful direct to video sequels with each one getting steadily worst. You can't compare this movie to Terminator or Blade Runner because it was filmed with a very low budget, but it did succeed in being highly entertaining for what it is, a low budget sci fi movie.

Woodyanders Made on a tight and modest budget, but thankfully blessed with a hip, sharp, and witty script by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, capable direction by B-flick maestro Charles Band, priceless and instantly quotable slangy dialogue (favorite line: "Dry hair's for squids"), a nonstop brisk pace, several rousing and well staged action set pieces, a terse 76 minute running time which ensures that there are never any dreary lulls, and, most importantly, lively and engaging acting from a rock-solid cast, "Trancers" might be derivative of such movies as "Rabid" and "The Terminator," but it's done with a winning surplus of verve, style, and sheer infectious go-for-it enthusiasm that it in turn makes this snappy little quickie a hugely entertaining ride straight down the line. Tim Thomerson hits it right out of the ballpark with his marvelously deadpan and sardonic portrayal of Jack Deth, a hard-boiled trooper from the future who travels back to 80's Los Angeles to prevent evil mastermind Whistler (a pleasingly slimy Michael Stefani) and his zombie-like minions called trancers from killing the ancestors of his enemies. An incredibly adorable pre-stardom Helen Hunt likewise shines as Leena, the spunky punkette babe who helps Jack out with his daunting mission. The rest of the cast is uniformly on the money, with stand-out work by Art LaFleur as Jack's gruff superior McNulty, Telma Hopkins as sassy engineer Ruth "Ruthie" Raines, Anne Seymour as the stern Chairman Ashe, Richard Herd as the equally no-nonsense Chairman Spencer, and Biff Manard as former pro baseball player turned boozy and broken-down skid-row bum Hap Ashby. Moreover, this picture has great fun with the Chrismastime setting, with an attack by a zombie Santa and a crude punk band singing a raunchy yuletide song in a rowdy club rating as extremely nifty and amusing touches. The wristwatch that can slow down time is another gnarly gimmick. Mac Ahlberg's polished cinematography gives the film a funky "Blade Runner"-ish futuristic glowing neon urban noir look. The pulsating score by Phil Davies and Mark Ryder hits the groovy spot. A total treat.