The Wraith

Plot

Bright lights descend from the night sky, revealing a sleek, all black Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor, driven by a helmeted, black-clad figure.

In the town of Brooks, Arizona, Packard Walsh is the leader of a gang of car thieves that coerces people with sporty cars into racing for pink slips. He controls everyone through intimidation, including Keri Johnson, whom he views as his property. Keri's boyfriend James "Jamie" Hankins has been mysteriously murdered, leaving no trace; Keri, who was with him, was hospitalized with no memory of the traumatic event.

Jacob "Jake" Kesey arrives in Brooks riding a Honda XL350R Enduro dirt bike. He befriends both Keri and Jamie's brother William "Billy" Hankins, who both work at Big Kay's, the local burger drive-in; they later meet up at a sun-and-swim gathering on a local river, where Jake is seen to have knife scars on his neck and back.

Packard's control of the illegal races is suddenly over when the Turbo Interceptor appears out of nowhere. The mysterious driver of this supercar is covered head-to-toe in black body armor and a black race helmet. The armor is adorned with metal braces resembling those worn by victims recovering from severe physical trauma. The driver challenges Packard's gang to race, explosively killing Oggie Fisher and later Minty in high-speed, fiery crashes which leave their bodies untouched except for burned-out eye sockets. Sheriff Loomis and his lawmen are always in hot pursuit, but the Turbo vanishes in a cloud of glowing light.

Two more gang members, Skank and Gutterboy, who are always too high on drugs to believe in the supernatural, are later obliterated when the Wraith races his supercar through the gang's isolated warehouse garage, causing a huge explosion. With Packard's gang destroyed, Rughead, the gang's tech-geek, who alone among them did not participate in Jamie's murder, realizes too why the gang had been targeted and talks it over with Sheriff Loomis.

After Packard witnesses Keri kissing Jake, he kidnaps her from the burger joint and beats and kicks Billy when he tries to intervene. When Packard tells her they are going to California, Keri stands up to him and says she will never love him. Just as he gets out of the car and draws his flick knife, the Turbo arrives and Packard takes up the challenge, only to be killed too. Sheriff Loomis calls off the hunt for the mysterious driver, observing, "You can't stop something that can't be stopped”.

As Keri arrives home that night, the Turbo pulls up, and the armored driver emerges, transforming into Jake. Keri realizes that Jake is actually a returned version of her dead boyfriend Jamie, who admits "This is as close as I could come to who I once was". He then asks her to wait for him because he has one last thing to do.

Jake startles Billy by driving the Turbo to Big Kay's and handing him the keys. He then tells Billy that his work is finished and when Billy asks, "Who are you, bro?” Jake wryly replies, "You said it, Billy”. As Jake rides off on his dirt bike, Billy calls after him “Jake,” and then, realizing at last, “Jamie!”

Jake picks up Keri, who is now being watched from a distance by Sheriff Loomis, and together they ride off along the desert highway under a huge moon, leaving the past behind.

Production

The Wraith is dedicated to the memory of Bruce Ingram, a camera operator who died during the filming of one of the car chases; another crew member was seriously injured. According to supplementary material on the DVD; the camera car was overloaded and overturned while traveling at high speed.

Shooting locations

The Wraith was shot entirely in and around Tucson, Arizona; shots of the hilly road leading into the fictional "Brooks, AZ" were filmed on Freeman Road on the city's south side. Keri's (Sherilyn Fenn) home is located at 2128 East 5th Street; "Big Kay's Burgers" was a set built especially for the film at 2755 East Benson Highway and no longer exists.

Sheriff Loomis (Randy Quaid) goes to talk to Skank (David Sherrill) and Gutterboy (Jamie Bozian) at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The film's swimming hole is located in Sabino Canyon, off North Upper Sabino Canyon Road. The curvy mountain road where Packard (Nick Cassavetes) and his gang challenge other cars to deadly races is the General Hitchcock/Catalina/Mount Lemmon Highway that winds through natural stone monoliths north of the city. Skank and Gutterboy chase after Jamie and Keri down North 4th Avenue at East 7th Street. The portion of the chase that leads into a tunnel is the since-redone tunnel on North 4th Avenue, where it crosses under railroad tracks; Jake and Keri are seen riding down the road through Sabino Canyon Recreation Area (near Sabino Lake Dam) northeast of Tucson.

Turbo Interceptor

The Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor seen in the film was a pace car built by Chrysler Corporation and PPG Industries. Six copies were made for use in the film: two stunt cars made from molds of the original car and four non-drivable "dummies" that were destroyed during filming. During production, the real Dodge Turbo Interceptor was used in close-ups. That original is located at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, MI.

Other cars used

Packard Walsh drives a late-1970s Chevrolet Corvette with a custom paint job and nose clip; Oggie drives a 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z; Minty drives a 1977 Pontiac Firebird with a highly-visible (but apparently non-functional) supercharger; Skank and Gutterboy drive a beat-up 1966 Plymouth Barracuda; Rughead drives a late-1970s GMC pickup truck. Billy Hankins drives a Triumph Spitfire 1500. (Actors Steven Eckholdt (George), Elizabeth Cox AKA Liz Kern) who are cheated out of their car at the beginning of the film, drive a 1987 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z (distinguished by its pop-up headlights, unlike the exposed headlights of Oggie's 1986 model). The police drive a variety of mid-1980s Plymouth Caravelles and Plymouth Gran Furys, as well as early-1980s Chevrolet Malibus. Sheriff Loomis drives a "civilian" Plymouth Caravelle.

Soundtrack

The score was composed and performed by Michael Hoenig and J. Peter Robinson, two famous synth composers of movie and TV series Soundtracks. The soundtrack was recorded by Rick Hart and entirely played on a NED Synclavier II.

Many famous 1980s rock music hits are included on the film's soundtrack:

Reception

While The Wraith received a positive reception from audiences, critical reception towards the film was negative and currently holds a 27% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 11 reviews. Film historian and critic Leonard Maltin dismissed the film, as, "... for those who favor fast cars and lots of noise." In the Time Out review, editor John Pym saw The Wraith having "comic-strip killer car thieves" with "... the best joke having one of the thugs knowing the word 'wraith'."

Following its theatrical run, the film was featured on television in an episode of Cinema Insomnia.

Video releases

In 1987 the film was released to VHS video by Lightning Video, then on LaserDisc by Image Entertainment; it was then released in 2003 on DVD by Platinum Disc Corporation (now Echo Bridge Home Entertainment). In spite of having no special features and only being available in the pan-and-scan format, there is missing footage on the original VHS and LaserDisc releases. LionsGate released a widescreen Special Edition DVD on March 2, 2010, which included this previously missing footage.