Trancers is a 1985 science fiction thriller directed and produced by Charles Band.
The film stars Tim Thomerson as trancer hunter Jack Deth, who has become obsessed with chasing Martin Whistler - an evil criminal who uses powerful hypnotic powers to convert people into zombie-like creatures known as trancers. When Whistler manages to escape through time travel to 1985 Los Angeles, Deth is sent on his trail.
Plot[]
"Last January, I finally singed Martin Whistler out in one of the rim planets. Since then, I've been hunting down the last of his murdering cult. We call them trancers, slaves to Whistler's psychic power, not really alive, not dead enough. It's July now and I'm tired, real tired."―Jack Deth[src]
In July 2247, trancer hunter and Angel City Police Department trooper Jack Deth goes to Mom's No. 3 and orders a coffee just before he subjects a patron to a trancer suspect examination. It turns out negative, but the waitress turns out to be a trancer and attacks Jack. The patron runs and sets off a signal for the police while Jack manages to singe the waitress. Jack's supervisor, McNulty, soon arrives and reprimands Jack for focusing on trancer hunting and neglecting his assignments. Jack tosses his badge on the ground and leaves.
Jack explores the sunken ruins of Los Angeles, surfacing with a Sunset Boulevard street sign. McNulty and two guardsmen bring Jack a summons to the council. He initially refuses, but is urged to accept it when McNulty informs him that Martin Whistler is alive.
Jack goes to the council, welcomed by Chairmen Ashe and Spencer, who tell him that Whistler is planning to kill them both by murdering their ancestors in 1985, having already succeeded with Chairman Van Zandt. The Chairmen assign Jack to go down the line and inhabit the body of his ancestor, Philip Dethton, in order to stop Whistler, who possesses his ancestor, Weisling.
Jack is shown to Whistler's suspended body, recovered from being hidden in the desert, in order for Whistler to eventually stand trial. However, Jack singes Whistler's body. Engineer Ruth Raines gives Jack his equipment: a .38 police special (with to serum injections hidden in the grip, which are to be used to send Jack and Whistler's consciousnesses back up the line) and a watch that allows its user to have "long seconds," that is, seconds multiplied by ten.
Jack's consciousness is sent to December 1985, arriving in the body of Phil Dethton, the morning after a tryst with a young woman named Leena. His equipment arrives moments later in a black box.
They drive to Leena's mall job, where she works as a photographer for a mall Santa. Murray, the mall Santa, turns out to be a trancer and attacks Jack, who eventually manages to singe him. Jack leaves with Leena before Whistler investigates the scene.
Leena reluctantly agrees to be Jack's guide to 1985 Los Angeles, stopping first at a tanning salon to find Chris Lavery, the ancestor of Chairman Spencer. Chris turns out to be a trancer and traps Jack in a tanning booth. Leena eventually enters the tanning salon to find Chris dead and his body disappearing. She then frees Jack from the tanning booth. Police led by Whistler arrive at the salon and prepare to kill him, but Jack manages to escape with Leena by making use of his watch.
The pair hide out at Leena's friend's apartment in Chinatown and attend a punk rock concert, where they run into Leena's ex, Jerry, an encounter that ends in Jerry spitting in Jack's face and Jack punching the punk in the face. A few more punks come, but Jack easily deals with them.
As a Christmas gift, Leena gives Jack a toy robot. The two share an intimate moment, but are interrupted by McNulty, whose consciousness is in the body of his ancestor, a nine-year-old girl. McNulty tells Jack that Ashe has requested a meeting with Jack back in 2247. Jack carried McNulty out of the room and resumes his activities with Leena, only to have McNulty sneak back in and reject him with the serum to send him back up the line.
Back in 2247, Ashe tells Jack that he is to be replaced, due to his failure to save Spencer. However, Ashe relents when Jack insists that Leena will lead him directly to Ashe's ancestor, Hap Ashby.
Returning to 1985, Jack watches a broadcast featuring Whistler, who intends to deal with the homeless community, implying to Jack that Hap is among them. He and Leena to a group of homeless men and bribe them to help them find Hap.
Jack goes alone to the paper mill where Hap stays, with policemen also arriving at the location. A trancer policeman corners Jack and prepares to kill him, but Leena arrives and manages to singe the trancer. They explore further, falling through a floor and finding the drunken Hap and other homeless men playing a baseball game.
Whistler arrives with his men, prompting Jack and Leena to flee with Hap, being chased by Whistler and the police. Jack and Hap split from Leena in order to evade their pursuers.
Jack takes Hap to the apartment in Chinatown, where Leena waits, having suffered from a gunshot wound. They force Hap to take a bath and Jack calls Whistler, giving a faux arrangement for Jack to hand over Hap in exchange for his own and Leena's lives.
Later, Whistler arrives and holds Leena at gunpoint on a rooftop and fires upon Hap dressed in Jack's clothes. Hap seeks refuge in a dumpster as Jack goes to Whistler and Leena. Whistler throws Leena from the roof, but manages to rescue her through the use of his watch. Hap throws garbage and a bottle at Whistler, causing him to fall from the roof. Jack learns that one of his syringes is broken and that Weisling is a father of six, so he injects Whistler, forcing his consciousness out of Weisling's body and causing himself to remain in 1985.
A startled Weisling asks where he is and who Jack is. Hap muses that Jack is a "fortune-teller." Jack and Leena share a kiss as McNulty observes them, smiling.
Cast[]
- Tim Thomerson as Jack Deth
- Helen Hunt as Leena
- Michael Stefani as Whistler
- Art La Fleur as McNulty
- Telma Hopkins as Engineer Raines
- Richard Herd as Chairman Spencer
- Anne Seymour as Chairman Ashe
- Miguel Fernandez as Officer Lopez
- Biff Manard as Hap Ashby
- Pete Schrum as Santa Claus
- Barbara Perry as Mrs. Santa Claus
- Brad Logan as Bull
- Minnie Lindsay as "Mom"
- Richard Erdman as Drunken Wise Man
- Wiley Harker as Dapper Old Man
- Alyson Croft as Baby McNulty
- Michael McGrady as Chris Lavery
- Edward McClarty as Jerry the Punk
- Don Ross as Security Guard
- Michael Heldebrant as Boy With Santa
- Kim Sheppard as Newswoman
- Steve "O" Jensen, Nickey Beat, Tony Malone, and Lantza Krantz as The Buttheads
Goofs[]
Revealing mistakes: Just after the opening credits finish, the mist disappears on the left half of the screen for about a second, showing that it was a filter or special effect.
Continuity: The "long second" device is supposed to stretch out 1 second of time to appear as 10 seconds. The first time, it lasts for some 90 seconds, and we see a bullet moving at well under 1 mph, indicating a reduction factor of much more than 10. The second time, the effect lasts for about 45 seconds.
Boom mic visible: During the scooter chase.
Continuity: Items in the kitchen when the first Trancer is scorched.
Factual errors: 'Art LaFleur' 's surname is misspelled in the opening credits as Le Fleur, though it does appear as La Fleur in the closing credits.
Audio/visual unsynchronized: After Jack shoots Santa Claus, he is grabbed by Santa who says 'welcome to the 21st century Jack Deth' but you can clearly see Santa's mouth not talking.
Revealing mistakes: When Jack and Lena are travelling along Caheunga Blvd in the T-Bird after the shopping mall incident, it is obvious the car is on a trailer as they appear to be higher up than the passing traffic, including vans! Also, if you observe Jack's steering wheel actions which appear to be quite erratic at times, the car does not appear to copy his movements.
Revealing mistakes: Near the start of the movie when Jack is shown a baseball card with Hap Ashby on he says '1963 Angels, what the hell is this?' if you look closely at the card there is no mention of the year 1963 so how would he have known the year?