TRANCERS 4: JACK OF SWORDS (1994)
& TRANCERS 5: SUDDEN DEATH (1994)
Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 75 Minutes (Trancers 4) / 73 Minutes (Trancers 5)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: David Nutter
Cast: Tim Thomerson, Stacie Randall, Ty Miller, Terri Ivens, Mark Arnold, Clabe Hartley, Alan Oppenheimer, Lochlyn Munro, Jeff Moldovan, Stephen Macht
Trancers 4 and Trancers 5 were shot back to back, filmed in Romania when Full Moon bought a studio and a castle over there. Looking to cash-in on the medieval charm of the castle the story is the continuing adventure of time-travelling future cop Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson, Trancers) as he attempts to rid the world of Trancers, but this time throwing him back in time to an alternate dimension, and changing things up a bit. Deth's boss Harris (Stephen Macht, The Monster Squad) sends him on a new mission, which he is only to happy to do after finding out his wife is dead. He is armed with new gadgets by the Q-like Lyra (Stacie Randall, Puppet Master 4) before going, but the mission goes screwy from the start when an alien called a Solonoid hitches a ride in the time chamber, causing Deth to be marooned in an alternate dimension which is very much a medieval kingdom where Trancers rule over the peasants, calling themselves Nobles, lead by evil Lord Caliban (Clabe Hartley, TV's M.A.N.T.I.S.). Deth figures out what's happening in short order and joins a local group of freedom fighters called Tunnel Rats in an effort to thwart the Trancers, with the help of rebel ass-kicker Shaleen (Terri Ivens, Piranhaconda) and the evil Caliban's good-hearted son Prospero (Ty Miller, Slaughterhouse Rock).
In this alternate dimension the Trancers are much vampiric in nature, much less the brain-dead zombies as seen in previous entries, and coming across as aristocrats with wizarding powers, which is a weird change, but I guess it's an alternate dimension so anything's possible and chnage can be good. A nice touch is that the physics of the alternate dimension have the effect of nullifying Deth's gadgets, his long-second watch actually slows him down instead of those around him, which gives us a corny but fun scene of Thomerson miming slow-motion movement during a battle while those around him try to figure out what he's up to. for most of the film Deth does not have his gadgets to play with and has so do some swashbuckling swordplay and fisticuffs.
Both films are directed by comic book writer turned prolific TV director David Nutter (Disturbing Behavior) and certainly look cash-strapped but have fairly solid production values for a Full Moon production of this era. Shot on location in Romania we get the castle and rural location that feel authentic enough to sell the alternate dimension medieval period setting, and the costuming is pretty decent as well. One thing that hangs over the films are the heavy influence of Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness, it definitely feels like Full Moon had access to a castle and pretty much said let's do AoD but as a Trancers film with Thomerson's Jack Death as a stand-in for Campbell's big-chinned Ash. The good news is that I love Thomerson, so I am down for it, but that it's a watered-down riff on Army of Darkness something you cannot dispute. We get Thomerson having a difficult romance with a medieval slave girl Lyra (Stacie Randall again), and even fighting an evil doppelganger at one point, but it's Thomerson so I loved it, even if it's a big step down from previous entries. Another not-so-great aspect of it is the acting, both Clabe Hartley and Ty Miller are pretty flat in their roles, but Thomerson is awesome and carries the film, but if it were not for him this would be a dud, and that this storyline is stretched over two films seems pretty unnecessary, but they're still a pair of fairly entertaining b-flick that's worth a watch.
Audio/Video: Both films arrives on Blu-ray from Full Moon Features in 1080p HD widescreen (1.78:1) and look quite good. Grain is present if a but uneven in spots, and colors are generally pleasing throughout, and by far looks the best it ever has on home video. Audio comes by way of lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 with no subtitle options, and it sounds fine if not exactly exemplary, the largely dubbed dialogue is delivered without issue and is well-balanced. Both films feature the Original Trancers Video Zone featurettes plus a selection of Full Moon Features Trailers, but sadly no Band/Thomerson commentary tracks, which would have been cool.
