TRANCERS (1984)
2-Disc Collector's Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG-13
Duration: 76 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround (No Subtitles)
Video: 2160p HD Widescreen (1.78:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Charles Band
Cast: Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Michael Stefani, Art La Fleur, Telma Hopkins
Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson, Dollman) is a grizzled, chain-smoking Trooper from the year 2247. Troopers are a specialized police task force charged with tracking down Trancers - weak-willed people that have been "tranced" by master-criminal Martin Whistler (Michael Stefani) into zombie-like slaves who are more dead than alive. It is assumed at the start of the film that Whistler died during a previous encounter with Deth, but his zombie disciples still plague the citizens of the future. These "trancers" appear normal until they are triggered and become violent killers, and at the start of the film Deth encounters a one of them at a diner and violently dispatches it, but his loose cannon tactics have angered his superior McNulty (Art LaFleur, Cobra). He quits the force only to be summonsed back into service after it is discovered that Whistler has traveled through time to the year 1985 with plans to wipe out the ancestors of the current ruling Council.
I do love how time travel is achieved in the film - a serum is ingested that allows the conscious mind to travel back through one's own bloodline and inhabit the body of an ancestor. That's such a cool concept and I am surprised it hasn't been used elsewhere. In Whistler's case he has traveled "down the line" as they call it into the body of his ancestor Lt. Weisling in the year 1985. Whistler plans to systematically eliminate all the blood relatives of the 2247 City Council members (including Richard Herd of 80's sci-fi TV show V) and he seems to be succeeding as only one Council member survives in the future. Deth is given a baseball card to assist in identifying the surviving councilman's ancestor in 1985, a down on his luck baseball player named Hap Ashby (Biff Manard, the 90's The Flash TV show). Deth arrives in the past inhabiting the body of his ancestor Phil Denton, a journalist who loves the ladies, whose latest conquest is Lena (Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets). I've never thought of Hunt as a very sexpot but she's not without her charms here, though a bit miscast as a punk rocker, but she has a great rapport with Thomerson, they're coupling pretty much makes the film. While Jack searches for Whistler he is attacked by a mall Santa (Peter Schrum, Eliminators) - that's right, this is a Christmas movie! - who turns out to be a trancer, which he guns down in front of a crowd of kids and alarmed parents, with Whistler as Lt. Weisler arriving on the scene and sending out an APB on Jack for the murder of the store Santa. It's definitely a film that will forevermore be on my Christmas to-watch list, this was fun stuff with some supercool quotes like when Mrs. Santa Clause says "Security, we've got trouble at the North Pole".
Trancers is low-budget for sure but I admired the futuristic elements and creativity that Charles Band and the team brought to it, with handsome lensing by Marc Ahlberg (From Beyond), a cool synth score by Phil Davies and Mark Ryder (Nightwish, The Dark Side of the Moon), and special effects and make-up FX team that included John Carl Buechler,
David Allen, Howard Burger and Jay Burkhardt. The set design is well-done, it has some cool neon-noir set pieces and miniature sets that do good work creating the dystopian future. Clearly made in the aftermath of Blade Runner with both visual and theme elements and Thomerson channeling his inner Decker as a noir styled hard-boiled gumshoe, with the Trancers standing in for Replicants. Deth also has a small assortment of 007-ish gadgets in his arsenal, these include the "long second watch" which enables him to slow down time for a very brief period that it used is several key scenes. Let me just say the scenes of slow-motion are not quite on par with bullet-time from the The Matrix but they worked it. Trancers is a fun noir-styled science fiction actioner with a lot of spunk and a fun cast that is lead by the awesome Tim Thomerson, who has a charm not dissimilar to that of someone like Tom Atkins, an acerbic detective with some memorable line deliveries ("Dry hair's for squids!) who not only kicks some major ass but looks cool as Hell while doing it.
Audio/Video: Trancers (1985) arrives on region-free 4K Ultra HD from Full Moon Features, presented in 2160p Ultra HD widescreen (1.78:) and is advertised as being "for the first time in glorious 4K, a sumptuous scan from the original camera negative!". This is Full Moon's first foray into the UHD format and they chose a great title to kick it off with, but how's the transfer? Well, the good news is that the 1.78:1 framed presentation shows more information on all four sides of the frame, the image is sharper and cleaner than previous editions, and textures and fine detail are much improved. On the other end, while this does look to be sourced from an original element the grain looks does not appear filmic, like it's been tinkered with digitally, but not DNR scrubbed because up-close facial features, beard stubble, skin pores and fabric textures are resolved nicely, but there's something decidedly digital happening here. The new UHD color-grading is also quite nice, the primaries are plumped, blacks are deeper, and contrast and clarity are pleasing, but there's ample room for improvement.
The screenshots at the bottom of the review are from the accompanying Blu-ray, which is not a recycle of the 2014 release, but the Blu-ray by comparison to the UHD (and to the previous Blu-ray from 2014) is a hot-mess. The image is softer, colors are anemic, blacks are milky, and contrast, depth, and clarity are displeasing, and it looks overly compressed, it's a shit-show to be honest. Packaging indicates that we get uncompressed DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround mixes, but all both my 4K players read this as lossy Dolby Digital, which is thoroughly disappointing. Full Moon Blu-rays typically have lossy Dolby Digital so I had hoped that their first foray into UHD would at least upgrade to DTS-HD (which is what is advertised), but on the wrap and slipcover.
All the extras from the 2014 Ultimate Edition Blu-ray are ported over, we get the archival Audio Commentary by Tim Thomerson and Charles Band, which is a breezy and fun archival track. Also carried-over is the 14-min Daniel Griffith's Trancers Featurette: Cybercrime: The Making of Trancers featurette, 2-min of Rare Interviews with Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, and Megan Ward, the 24-min Trancers: City of Lost Angels Segment from the Pulse Pounders Trilogy, a 2-min Stills Gallery, and the 2-min Theatrical Trailer. There is one new extras, the 20-min Gone Down the Line: A Video Essay on Trancers written by Chris O'Neil and narrated by Claire Joy. The 2-disc UHD/BD release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring vintage artwork, which is also featured on the slipcover, which might be a Full Moon first.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Tim Thomerson and Charles Band
- Daniel Griffith's Trancers Featurette: Cybercrime: The Making of Trancers (14 min)
- Rare Interviews with Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, and Megan Ward (2 min)
- Stills Gallery (2 min)
- NEW! Gone Down the Line: A Video Essay on Trancers written by Chris O'Neil and narrated by Claire Joy (20 min)
- Short Film: Trancers: City of Lost Angels (25 min)
- Official Trailer (3 min)
The Trancers (1984) 2-Disc Collector's Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray set from Full Moon Features is a mixed-bag, the UHD does offer an appreciable upgrade of the film, in my opinion it's the best it's looked yet on home video, but there's ample room for improvement, and it does not deliver the advertised uncompressed DTS-HD audio. The accompanying Blu-ray, which is not a receptacle of the previous release, is a problematic hot-mess, and the lone new extras is appreciated, but non-essential.
Screenshot Comparison:
Top: Full Moon The Ultimate Edition Blu-ray (2014)
Bottom: Full Moon Collector's Edition (2022)
More Screenshots from the
Full Moon Collector's Edition Blu-ray (2022)
Extras:
