The Wraith (1986) Review

From American Graffiti and Two Lane Blacktop in the 70’s through The Cannonball Run and Initial D all the way to the first few Fast and Furious movies (whose huge success spawned not only one of the biggest franchises in recent years but a series of rip offs such as Redline and Tourque) the street racing film genre has always involved cool cars, bad dudes and dangerous races.

As much as I enjoy these joy rides injected with nitro and testosterone they can become slightly repetitive. There is always a good guy who is great at driving, an evil gang who want to win by whatever means necessary, a girl who has no role other than being a girl, some races of course and tons and tons and tons of cars.

What these stories need is something more, something weird, some murders, some Sci-Fi, an indestructible alien ghost car perhaps and luckily you can find all of these in The Wraith.

Written and directed by Mike Marvin the insane film open in the Arizona desert as four glowing orbs descend from the skies crashing down to earth and creating a beautiful and badass magical Dodge Turbo Interceptor and the strange helmeted figure who pilots this vehicle of vengeance,

Why both man and machine have arrived is linked to the dirty no good gang of road pirates led by Packard Walsh (Face/Off and Prisoners of the Ghostland star Nick Cassavetes) that include colourful chemically dependent characters like Gutterboy, Skank, Minty and Rughead (Clint Howard, actor and brother to Ron). These deadly delinquents plague the small town abusing women, causing trouble and forcing anyone with a car to race them for it.

Fearing Packard, who is a stone cold psycho, the citizens of Brooks let him and his flunkies get away with any and everything especially Keri (Sherilyn Fenn from Twin Peaks) who reluctantly and unwittingly has become the foul gang leaders girlfriend. Treating her like his property he controls her every move and is insanely angry and jealous when the newly arrived Jake (Charlie Sheen) starts paying attention to her.

The dirt bike riding dude seems unfazed by Packard pursuing Keri and trying to get her to break away from the abusive relationship. Meanwhile the desirable Dodge Turbo starts appearing outside of town tempting the street racing scumbags to challenge it. Unfortunately for them not only is this mean machine impervious to damage but its driver seems to be obsessed with taking the villains out one by one with every race it enters ending in one of their deaths.

What did Packard and his men do to deserve the arrival of this avenging entity? Can the cops solve the crime before they are all slain? Is Jake involved? Why does The Wraith have a Sci-Fi shotgun? Some of these questions will be answered by the end of the hugely entertaining movie.

Competently shot with some excellent race sequences on a more serious note The Wraith is actually dedicated to the memory of Bruce Ingram, a camera operator who died during the filming of one of the car chases. This is a reminder of how dangerous making any movies can be and sadly still is, a fact flagged up both by Paul Walker’s death on the set of Furious 7 and the recent tragic accident very recently that led to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins being killed by Alec Baldwin on his latest film.

The brilliance of The Wraith is in blending a very traditional street racing plot line with a couple of completely crazed elements ripped right out of a fantasy horror. The Interceptor and its mysterious driver whose jump suit is fitted with wires and metal brackets is dubbed The Wraith by Rughead however the exact origin of their powers, which seem to be a blend of alien future science and otherworldly supernatural elements, is never ever explained.

This matters not when you have some many distractions including plenty of races, explosions, fist fights, an unsolved murder reemerging and Fenn and Sheen’s blossoming romance going on. Yes its dumb but its far more fun to watch than you may think especially when you have the unlikable teen terrors ending each race by smashing into the jet black death machine causing a burning blaze with the anti-hero’s ride reappearing in a flash of terrible effects and their bodies turning up stone cold dead missing their eyes.

The cast of future stars which includes Independence Day and Kingpin’s Randy Quaid as the Sheriff trying to prevent the wraith’s unstoppable path of punishment, are excellent given the flimsy and frankly unbelievable script. As in any street racing movie but more so here the cars also become characters best of all being the Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor a brilliantly designed iconic machine which rightfully takes its place alongside Christine and The Car as one of the great horror movie vehicles.

With its banging 80’s soundtrack The Wraith is silly and trashy but it’s also well paced and extremely watchable making it a perfect genre movie and the ideal choice for anyone who loves fast cars and freaky concepts.

The Wraith is on Blu-ray 15 November from Lionsgate UK

Movie Rating:

Trailer: