In which we skip right to the second helping of Jack Deth's time travel adventures...
It’s sequel time once more on Weirdhouse Cinema! Join Rob and Joe as they jump right into Charles Band’s 1991 sequel to Trancers, starring Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt and the always villainous Richard Lynch. Jack Deth contends with psychic zombies, various wives and the not-so-rigorous rules of time travel.
Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed Trancers I and Trancers III was also a lot of fun -- but Trancers II really hits the sweet spot with a perfect array of low-budget acting, earnest acting, weird dialogue and overly complex, paradox-free time travel.
Again, this one is from the earlier phase of Full Moon Entertainment features. Things hadn't gone full-Evil Bong just yet, so Trancers II is fun and funny without being overly self-aware or self-indulgent. And while there's at least one low-energy performance in the picture, most of the actors really bring something alive in their performances --- be it Helen Hunt's believably, Richard Lynch's intensity or Sonny Carl Davis' zaniness. Let's hit the trailer and the podcast episode itself before moving on to some other media:
Alright, so that trailer actually summarizes most of the movie -- but I have a few other bits of media I want to call out in particular. First of all, here's an example of Thomerson's 70s standup:
Next, let's relish in the character Rabbit, played by Sonny Carl Davis -- and it also features some of Richard Lynch's excellent, creepy "You belong in a green world..." VHS indoctrination, which I'm convinced belongs in a DJ mix:
Speaking of Lynch, we mention the incident that scarred him. The incident is mentioned in his NYT obituary, as well as this news article from 1971. Here's the interview segment we discussed from the 1968 anti-drug documentary LSD: Trip to Where?
By the way, if you want to see an older Lynch discussing the craft of acting, here's an interesting interview from 1992 that's pretty interesting:
Hopefully, we'll cover some more Richard Lynch movies on Weirdhouse Cinema in the future. In the meantime, next week we'll cover our first Thai film: Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman from 1974.
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