TRANCERS

Aside from Full Moon’s most successful and popular catalog title, Puppet Master, the low-budget film production company has another secret weapon in the slightly lesser-known (and better) franchise – Trancers.

The plot is highly original: a crass, chain-smoking cop from the future travels back to the year 1985 (not-so-ironically, the year the film was made) in order to apprehend a criminal that is using psychic powers to transform ordinary citizens into zombie-like monsters in order to carry out his devious plans.

Unlike the Puppet Master franchise which varies sharply from film to film, the Trancers movies have been Full Moon’s most consistent deliverer in terms of quality. A majority of the cast remains the same throughout the series’ run (including “A-list” actress Helen Hunt, who miraculously remains on board for the first three films). The underrated Tim Thomerson plays Jack Deth, the anti-hero who looks as if he’d rather be doing anything else than his job at hand (think Ash from The Evil Dead and you get the picture). A low budget, sci-fi/horror hybrid of Scanners and Blade Runner (which, by the way, is HIGHLY overrated), Trancers is miles away better than both of those films – yet, remains largely unseen. The story is extremely unique, the characters are both likeable and believable, the special effects are cheesy (in a good way) and the subsequent installments only serve to strengthen the original by continuing the storyline in a plausible, enjoyable manner. What’s even more impressive is that director Charles Band manages to create a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles that is eerie, poignant, and beautifully executed. While this scene is quite brief, it is a perfect example of the care and skill that the filmmakers have in handling what would easily be nothing more than a throwaway “cheesy B-movie” in less competent hands.

While the Trancers franchise may have stumbled slightly (still, not too bad) with its most recent installment, 2002’s Trancers 6 (in which star Tim Thomerson is painfully absent for the first time), it is a strong series that manages to weave a fascinating and highly-addictive storyline (Trancers III remains my personal favorite) that is a great deal more enjoyable than one may give it credit for. Ridiculously hard to find for many years, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND tracking down the entire series while it’s still available – you may very well get sucked into the Trancers universe.

My Score: 9 out of 10