The Wraith Movie Review

The Wraith (1986) 

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Written by: Mike Marvin
Directed by: Mike Marvin
Starring:  Charlie Sheen, Nick Cassavetes, Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid, Clint Howard
Rated: PG-13

My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!

Plot
A mysterious figure in a turbo super car suddenly appears and begins killing a gang of dangerous car racing thugs.

Verdict
This will never be mistaken for a good movie, but it's deficiencies have a certain charm. Much of this movie makes no sense, and trying to derive logic out of this renders it even more nonsensical. As an example of how crazy '80s movie could be, this is a great entry. This is a bad movie that's fun to watch.
It depends.

Review
In just the first scene this movie generates a lot of questions. Out of thin air a Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor materializes with an unidentified driver.

This driver is bent on revenge, taking an indirect approach so that we have a feature length movie. The wraith could have ended everything in a few minutes, but doesn't. It's not like he's terrorizing the street gang as a means of torture. If he exacted his revenge immediately the movie would be over.
This features plenty of races, of course set to an '80s soundtrack. The soundtrack is good.

What kind of movie is this supposed to be? Clint Howard's delivery is amazing in every scene, his speech like his style is a big exclamation point... and that hair. That is why his character is Rughead. The other members in the gang are Skank and Gutterboy to name a few. Somehow the jump to the conclusion that the unseen driver is a wraith. How they determine that, we'll never know.

We get hints about who the wraith is, though the characters in the movie seems to miss the most obvious clues. Even the cops that are investigating these mysterious deaths by car race are colossally clueless, declaring they've never seen someone die in such a manner. Then the cops shrug and go about their business despite how odd the deaths appear to be.

Each time the wraith kills someone an arm or leg brace disappears. I assume this is showing us how killing slowly makes him whole. It would have more meaning if the wraith, in his past life, had broken his arms or legs. Maybe those braces are the chains that tie him to this world. He has to address his unfinished business before he moves on. Who knows!

None of the characters behave like actual human beings. The cop, indifferent to the deaths the entire movie at the end states in reference to the wraith, "you can't stop what can't be stopped." At no point prior did he seem to think their was something supernatural occurring.
There are so many things I could mention that lack logic or sense, but treat yourself and watch this movie.