3 min to read
The Wraith
Hes Not From Around Here.
Info
1986 - PG-13 - 1h 33m
The Wraith is a 1986 independently made American action-fantasy film, produced by John Kemeny, written and directed by Mike Marvin, and starring Charlie Sheen, Sherilyn Fenn, Nick Cassavetes, and Randy Quaid. The film was theatrically released November 21, 1986 on just 88 screens in the United States by New Century Vista Film Company (later New Century Entertainment Corporation).
The Wraith tells the story of an Arizona teen who mysteriously returns from the dead as a supernatural, or possibly alien-created, street-racer driving an invulnerable supercar. His intent is to take revenge on the gang who murdered him.
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PLOT
Four spheres of light descend from the night sky and collide at an isolated desert crossroads. Their collision reveals, in a bright flash, a sleek, all-black Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor, driven by a helmeted, all black-clad figure.
In the town of Brooks, Arizona, Packard Walsh, the leader of a gang of car thieves, coerces people with sporty cars into racing for pink slips. He controls everyone through intimidation, including Keri Johnson, whom he views as his property. Keri’s boyfriend James “Jamie” Hankins was mysteriously murdered, leaving no trace; Keri, who was with him, was hospitalized with no memory of the traumatic event.
Jacob “Jake” Kesey arrives in Brooks riding a dirt bike. He befriends both Keri and Jamie’s brother William “Billy” Hankins, who both work at Big Kay’s, the local burger drive-in; they later meet up at a sun-and-swim gathering on a local river, where Jake is seen to have knife scars on his neck and back.
Packard’s control of the illegal races comes to a sudden end when the Turbo Interceptor appears, seemingly from nowhere. The mysterious driver of this supercar is covered head-to-toe in black body armor and a black race helmet. The armor is adorned with metal braces resembling those worn by victims recovering from severe physical trauma. The driver wordlessly challenges Packard’s gang to race, explosively killing Oggie Fisher and later Minty in high-speed, fiery crashes which leave their bodies untouched except for burned-out eye sockets; the Turbo Interceptor then mysteriously reconstructs itself. Sheriff Loomis and his lawmen are always in hot pursuit, but the Turbo vanishes in a cloud of glowing light.
Two more gang members, Skank and Gutterboy, always high on drugs, are later obliterated when the Wraith races the Turbo through the gang’s isolated warehouse garage, causing a huge explosion. With Packard’s gang now destroyed, Rughead, the gang’s tech-geek, who alone among them had not participated in Jamie’s murder, realizes, too late, why the gang had been targeted. When Loomis arrives at the scene of the destruction, Rughead tells him everything.
After Packard witnesses Keri kissing Jake, he kidnaps her from Big Kay’s, beating up Billy when he tries to intervene. When Packard tries to drive Keri to California, she stands up to him and says she will never love him. Just as he gets out of the car and draws his knife on her, the Turbo arrives ready to challenge Packard to a race; a challenge he readily takes up. However, Packard is killed in an explosive head-on collision with the Turbo similar to the rest of his gang. Loomis calls off the hunt for the mysterious driver, observing the futility of such hunt and reasoning that Packard’s gang are all dead.
As Keri arrives home that night, the Turbo pulls up, and the armored driver emerges, revealing himself as Jake. Keri then realizes that Jake is actually a revived form of her dead boyfriend Jamie, who had returned for a chance to rekindle their past relationship. He then asks her to wait for him because he has one last thing to do.
Jake startles Billy by driving the supercar to Big Kay’s and handing him the Turbo’s keys while extolling its special features, saying that his work is finished, but then Billy asks who he is. Jake says that Billy already knows and as he rides off on his dirt bike, Billy realizes he is actually Jamie. Jake picks up Keri, whom Loomis is watching from a distance. Together they ride off along the desert highway into the moonlight.
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