Verdict
Summary
Go out and start grabbing these Trancer films on Blu-ray. They’re worth adding to your collection.
Synopsis: It is Los Angeles, 1991. Jack Deth has become accustomed to life with his new wife, Lena, in the six years since they defeated Whistler. But life is about to become a little more difficult for Jack. Whistler’s brother, E.D. Wardo, has gone back in time and has started a Trancer farm; he is kidnapping homeless people and mental patients to become “tranced”. Somehow, Jack’ll find a way to fix everything. He always does.
Review: A handful of years after Charles Band scored a modest hit with the original Trancers, Band and his on-screen cohorts Tim Thomerson and Helen Hunt (and some other supporting players essential to the original film) returned for a pretty solid little sequel that does everything it can to be as true to form as possible, and it succeeds. Jack Deth (Thomerson), a hunter/cop from the post-apocalyptic future has settled quite nicely in the past in the body of his ancestor from the ’80s. He’s married Lena (Hunt), and they’ve made friends and are thinking about buying a house together. But everything gets thrown out of whack when Deth’s partner from the future comes back (in the body of his ancestor, a 15-year old girl, which is an ongoing gag that still works) to warn him that there are trancers (zombie slaves who look like regular people at first) walking around, controlled by a cult leader named Wardo (Richard Lynch), who happens to be the brother of Deth’s former nemesis. Wardo (who’s from the future) is harvesting some seeds he brought over from the apocalyptic future to create a deadly drug that he intends on selling on the streets of Los Angeles, circa 1991, to create an easily submissive population so that he can “trance” them. But wait: There’s more! Deth’s wife from the future (who was killed before the events of the first film) has somehow travelled back in time and is being hunted by Wardo and his Trancers, and so Deth and Lena have to save her, save the world, and all get along or it will be the end of everything.
You’ve got to hand it to Charles Band. For a while there he was a real filmmaker trying to make low budget films that would have long shelf lives. His two Trancer movies (there were six films altogether in the series, but he only directed the first two) are amongst his best work, and it’s a true shame his films got smaller and smaller, and dumber and dumber. Trancers II is a pretty cinematic genre film with the right amount of action, humor, and science fiction elements to garner a pretty devoted following, and he should be proud of his work here.
Full Moon’s foray into the HD market continues with the release of a number of catalogue titles, and so far the first three Trancer installments have been released onto Blu-ray. The transfer of Trancers II looks and sounds really good, with a great looking widescreen transfer (it’s the first time these movies have ever been released in the widescreen format). Some newly produced special features include a new audio commentary with Band, Thomerson, and co-star Megan Ward, who plays Deth’s wife from the future, and a funny blooper reel that had me laughing out loud. Go out and start grabbing these Trancer films on Blu-ray. They’re worth adding to your collection.
