On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.
For December 2024, we’re celebrating the end of the year with a stocking full of Strange Holiday TV Specials and Seasonal Midnight Movies.
First, read the BAIT: a weird and wonderful pick from any time in film. Then, try the BITE: a breakdown of the movie’s ending, impact, and any other spoilers you’d want.
The Bait: “Blade Runner” Meets “Die Hard” Meets Ancestry.com
Let’s stop asking if “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie — and start asking how many other holiday cult classics we’re missing out on with such narrow-minded nonsense. In “Trancers,” a hyper-stylish pursuit through a spunky sci-fi world sees Trooper Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) travel from the 23rd century to 1984 while hunting down his arch-nemesis, Martin Whistler (Michael Stefani).
Also known as “Future Cop,” this techno-thriller police chase hinges on the use of a strange biochemical advancement that allows people to go back in time by assuming the bodies of their ancestors. Hiding in plain sight along his bloodline, Whistler is now Detective Weisling. He’s also a power-hungry psychic killer who turns his weak-minded victims into zombies known as “trancers,” and he’s got a plan to assassinate future government officials by killing off their relatives in the past.
Never fear, Jack Deth — er, excuse me, journalist Phil Dethton — is here! In Reagan-era Los Angeles (he would’ve covered the summer Olympics, how cool!), the hunky reporter wakes up from a one-night stand not feeling entirely himself. It’s the Christmas season and soon Deth is following Phil’s 21-year-old love interest Lena (Helen Hunt) to her job as a family photographer for a mall Santa.
It’s not long before Deth’s mission and Lena’s place in time collide. A trancer has taken over the body of Ol’ Saint Nick and he’s attacking our hero with a giant candy cane! “Security, we’ve got trouble at the North Pole!” radios an employee dressed like Mrs. Claus (Barbara Perry). Fast-forward past the outlet shopping chaos, and Deth and Lena are dancing at an underground club to punk-rock covers of Christmas carols. Hell yeah, welcome to the 20th century, Jack Deth!
Aside from that… and one more bizarre scene involving three guys huddled around a trashcan fire reciting riddles and referring to themselves as the Three Kings… “Trancers” doesn’t acknowledge that it’s set at the holidays at all. But much like “Die Hard,” director Charles Band’s hidden gem time-travel action-adventure doesn’t need to declare itself a Christmas film to look, feel, and be watched like one.
Also the founder of distributor Empire Pictures (“Re-Animator,” “Ghoulies”) and later Full Moon Features, Band has made a major impact on genre film with a particularly strong reputation around low-budget horror comedies. This one is chockfull of great lines, from a brutal mispronunciation of “Cahuenga” to some all-time quintessential ‘80s sci-fi burns. (Remind me to incorporate “His brain’s not home!” into my next argument.)
Imperfect and yet more charming for it, “Trancers” can be a little touch-and-go in terms of pace and plot. Still, it delivers of a less self-serious “Blade Runner” vibe in just one hour and 17 minutes. That’s a seasonal cinematic deal that strengthens the “Die Hard” rule… and a great reminder to be nice to your relatives as we descend deeper into the emotional depths of 2024 winter vacation.
“Trancers” (1984) is now streaming free on Tubi.
The Bite: It’s a Wonderful Night for Cliffhngers — No “A”
Check back in a feature-length film or so. Are you watching “Trancers”?
IndieWire After Dark publishes midnight movie recommendations every Friday night. Read more of our deranged suggestions…