A ‘cult classic’ is a film with a dedicated following, despite a movie’s unorthodox style and commercial failure. For example ‘Blade Runner‘ and ‘Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!‘ are weren’t appreciated until decades after release. Was the director of ‘The Wraith‘ trying to create something unique and unconventional, or did production just go off the rails because he had no clear vision of what movie he was making?
This 1986 film is a mash-up of genres; car crash flick, beach blanket movie, and sci-fi film. The solid cast included Charlie Sheen, Nick Cassavetes and Sherilyn Fenn, plus music by Mötley Crüe and Ozzy. Despite all this going for it, movie is a total disaster! It’s no cult classic.
On the surface, it’s a 1950’s hot rod flick about local thug Packard (Cassavetes) and his henchmen, Skank and Gutterboy, who menace a small Arizona town. They force local teenagers into drag racing for pinks, cheat to win, then chop-up and sell off the cars they’ve won. The gang have the fastest cars in town, including a customized 1977 Corvette with a wild Baldwin Motion body kit, a a 1966 Plymouth Barracuda with a Vietnam war-era aircraft paintjob, and a 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with a supercharger blower sticking out the hood.
The main antagonist Packard (Cassavetes) is a one-dimensional bad guy. He controls everyone around him through intimidation, including his gang, the kids at the local burger joint, and his girl Keri. Packard is the possesive, jealous type. Oh yeah, and he’s a murderer too! Yup. Killed a man for sleeping with Keri. Stabbed him to death while they were doing it. Why is Keri with Packard? Nobody said the movie made sense!
When a mysterious new cool-kid Jake (Sheen) rides into town on a motorcycle, everyone notices. Keri is smitten with him, and soon the beach party (and nude scenes) begin. The evil gang members smell a new alpha male in their territory, and know they’ll have to take Jake down. But wait! This mysterious Jake is secretly an alien from another planet! Hiding his identity behind a blacked out helmet and motorcycle leathers, the alien takes vengeance on the gang, killing them one by one using his indestructible, futuristic sports car.
See what I mean about the movie being totally confused? Half the scenes look like a music video, with bright sunlight, girls in colourful bikinis and big hairdo’s. Then there’s a wild swing into sci-fi with terrible 1980’s special effects and big explosions. Did the studio give up on the teen romance angle and decided to throw in some ‘Predator’ styled alien sci-fi? Who knows. No matter how dopey this plot sounds, just wait until you find out that Jake was the reincarnation of Keri’s murdered ex-boyfriend, whose spirit somehow ended up in the body a vengeful alien with road rage!
The hero car used by ‘The Wraith’ may look like a movie creation right out of ‘Robocop’ but it’s actually a 1981 Dodge M4S concept car built in partnership with PPG. The prototype, high-performance sports car was built to demonstration the high-technology Dodge was capable of. With only a 2.2L turbocharged, four-cylinder engine, the Dodge M4S was capable of hitting 200 MPH, had a 4.1 second 0-60 time, and was actually used as the pace car at the 1981 Indianapolis 500.
My best guess is that halfway through filming, the producers knew the teen romance, T&A movie was in big trouble and quickly threw is the coolest car of the era to save the day. In this movie, the car is the star.
also the star of your review. cool car. movie sounds like a dud
On Letterboxd, folks seem to call ‘The Wraith’ the most ’80s movie ever. The soundtrack is solid, but the movie is just a confused mess of celluloid.