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We Wish You A “TRANCERS” Christmas In THE REWIND ZONE

Tuesday, December 17, 2024 | Rewind Zone

By YASMINA KETITA

The holiday season is upon us once again, the time of year when we cinephiles take part in our annual tradition of watching Christmas films – movies such as the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise, Die Hard, Elves, Christmas Evil, the list goes on… Yes, it’s time to enjoy such yuletide sights and sounds as seeing a man yelling “Garbage Day!” before going on a shooting spree, Hans Gruber falling to his doom in slow motion, Dan “Grizzly Adams” Hagerty fighting a demonic nazi elf, Santa Claus giving a mom oral pleasure (for further pleasure watch my review of Christmas Evil on RUE MORGUE TV).

However, I’d like to bring your attention to another holiday classic that should be added to your watchlist – one that’s rarely brought up in Christmas movie discussions. That film is Charles Band’s 1984 sci-fi thriller TRANCERS, the first film in a series released by Empire Pictures and, subsequently, by Full Moon Features, starring the charming and masterful Tim Thomerson as the futuristic hero Jack Deth in five films (yes, I know there’s a Trancers 6, but it’s far removed from the rest) and co-starring a pre-tornado chasing Helen Hunt.

In the year 2247, trooper Jack Deth’s mission is to hunt down and kill all trancers, humans that have been turned into mindless ghouls who evaporate when shot by laser guns. Following a fight between Jack and a trancer in a diner, he’s told by his colleague, McNulty (Art LaFleur), that he’s in trouble with their captain for being too much of a rogue bounty hunter, going after stray trancers on his own against orders. Pride leads Jack to relinquish his badge to live by the ocean, where he spends his days swimming and searching for artifacts on the underwater streets of Los Angeles (renamed Angel City in the 23rd century), which sunk after the “great quake.” Soon, Jack is summoned back to the force to complete one more mission. He must travel back to 1985 to find the evil criminal Martin Whistler (Michael Stefani) and stop him from changing the course of history. Whistler’s objective is clear: seize power by killing the ancestors of the council members and Jack Deth.

In the Trancers universe, when someone travels to the past, their body remains in the present while their consciousness possesses the body of an ancestor. While the time traveler’s consciousness inhabits the ancestor’s body, their brain is “on hold.” The procedure that enables time travel involves a serum injected into the chrononaut’s neck. (Actually, it’s two serums, one for the trip to the past and one for returning to the future.) Unfortunately, Whistler has possessed the body of a police detective, dampening Jack’s odds of success. Further complicating matters, Whistler can turn weak-minded humans into trancers, morphing the police and whoever else he chooses into zombie slaves. Engineer Raines, played by Telma Hopkins (Family Matters’ Aunt Rachel), and Chairman Spencer (Richard Herd) provide Jack with photos of two ancestors and their locations, a gun and a single-use watch that can slow down time for a few seconds. After being administered the injection, Jack’s in 1985, inhabiting the body of a man named Phil. He finds himself in a bathroom after an apparent one-night stand with Leena. While Leena’s getting ready for work as the photographer for mall Santa Claus pics, Jack apathetically assumes Phil’s identity, and before they head out, he douses his hair with product and slicks it back. When questioned about his coif, we’re graced with his notorious line, “Dry hair’s for squids.”

One of the greatest scenes in the film occurs at the mall. After Jack drops Leena off for work, Santa Claus (played by Pete Schrum from Terminator 2: Judgement Day) recognizes Jack, which prompts him to suddenly become rabid, and his attack ensues, accompanied by monstrous sounds and dreadful skin. What makes this scene glorious is a trigger-happy Santa Claus who shoots people in front of children, surely traumatizing them for life. Detective Weisling (aka Whistler) is on the case – and Jack’s tail.

Now that Jack Deth has traveled to the same year as Whistler, his need to find the council’s ancestors is urgent. Leena helps Jack locate the first of the two ancestors to warn them that their life is in danger. Of course, it doesn’t go well, and before they know it, Whistler’s arrival results in Jack using his time-freezing watch to facilitate a narrow escape. On the run from Whistler and the police, Leena takes Jack to a secret hiding place in an apartment above a punk club in Chinatown, leading to another memorable scene: Jack dancing to a punk version of “Jingle Bells.” Then he gets in a bar fight… BLESS TIM THOMERSON!  (Now, I must confess that I love and adore Tim Thomerson. I could – and should – write a personal essay on him, but for the sake of the length of this column, I implore you to watch Season 7, Episode 5 of The Golden Girls, which features him in drag. I also recommend Dollman).

I may need to recreate the décor of their hideout for my apartment. The walls are adorned with neon lights, emanating that colorful ‘80s ambiance that draws me to any film from that decade. The opening diner scene is equally appealing. However, an unfortunate flaw of ‘80s décor is the poor choice of using Confederate flags in clothing, which Leena sorts on the back of her denim jacket. I roll my eyes whenever I see this thoughtless and ignorant trend in ‘80s attire in film and television. Unfortunately, my reality lacks the possibility of time travel, but if I could, I’d tell producers, “Hey! You probably shouldn’t have your characters wear that.”

The second half of TRANCERS follows both protagonists and antagonists as they prowl the streets for the second ancestor, Hap Ashby (Biff Manard), a homeless former professional baseball player. Even though in the future, Angel City celebrates Christmas in July, TRANCERS mostly takes place in December 1985, and in my opinion, that (and a rabid Santa Claus) designates this as a Christmas movie. Only squids would disagree.

 

Yasmina Ketita
Columnist and host of The Rewind Zone. My love for horror and VHS was established while growing up in the '80s, my favourite decade, because it spawned a new generation of incredible practical effects, amazing VHS cover art and most importantly, provides nostalgia. Watching '80s horror movies comforts me in a sentimental way as if being back in those movie rental days.