Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Great Unwatched: Trancers (1985)

Part of: The Full Moon Archive Collection

Director: Charles Band

Runtime: 76 minutes

After Dollman, my girlfriend won't watch any more Full Moon action movies with me. I don't really blame her, all things told, since it was a pretty rotten film. Trancers, made some six years before, has the same concept (cop from a futuristic society comes to present-day Los Angeles to defeat sworn nemesis) and even the same star (Tim Thomerson). However, it's a vastly better movie. Why? There's almost no padding. It's just 76 minutes of action with some humor tossed in the mix for good measure. Plus, there's zombies. You really can't go wrong with zombies. Especially Santa Claus zombies. Thomerson is in his element here -- playing the tough guy for laughs, much as he did nine years earlier on the short-lived sci-fi comedy series Quark. It's weird seeing future Oscar-winner Helen Hunt as an 1980s rocker girl facing down low-budget sci-fi menaces. Mind you, this isn't remotely a good film. It's just a pretty decent way to kill 76 minutes without a lot of thought.

One note about the presentation on the DVD. Shamefully, Full Moon has chosen to present Trancers in the worst way possible. It's clearly transfered from a video master instead of the original film elements. Shame shame.

Worth the Purchase: It'd be worth more if this received a proper transfer.

Stats: 17/401 movies watched in fourteen days.
Currently Projected Completion Date: January 20, 2010
Completion Date Goal: February 25, 2010

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