The Wraith (1986)

(In French, On Cable TV, November 2022) Now here’s something interesting—a 1980s hybrid of Science Fiction and car-racing action, featuring no less than a young Charlie Sheen. The action takes place in a small Arizona town, where hoodlums challenge others in dangerous races, only to be challenged, in turn, by a mysterious figure sporting gear that’s clearly not of this Earth. Explaining the plot quickly leads to a bunch of nonsense, but as far as teenage-focused fantasies go, this is not the worst film around. Some care has clearly gone into making the racing sequences, for instance, with quite a few good stunts and dangerous-feeling footage to go with it. (Alas, there was a price to be paid—a camera operator died while filming the action sequences and a crewmember was seriously injured.)  Sheen does have that youthful swagger going for him, and the supporting cast includes Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid, Clint Howard and Nick Cassavetes. But it’s the blend of subgenres that’s interesting in The Wraith—more than the execution, but less than the stunts.