THE STORY: A long time ago I saw a movie called Massacre at Central High on late night. I can't remember much about that movie except that I kept wondering where the parents were. All of the characters were high school students but no parents were ever seen in that movie. That's one thing that MaCH has in common with The Wraith. No parents. That and the "kids" in this movie are at least in their mid to late twenties. (I have no idea how old Charlie Sheen was during the filming, but I'll be suprised to learn if he was younger than 21.)

Packard, a punk with a pretty cool corvette and his flunkies have a little scheme going. They waylay suckers on the backrooms of wherever-the-[unwrite] Arizona and race them for their cars. Packard cheats by practically running his opponents off of the road so he invariably wins. When he wins he takes the title of the loser's car and has his buddies Rughead, Gutterboy and Skank strip them.

Packard's also a psycho. He believes that teen beauty, Keri, is his. Keri works at Big Kay Burger's with Billy. He pretty much intimidates anyone else who dares talk to her...he beats people up who do. Keri doesn't love Packard...she doesn't even like him, but she's scared. Sheriff Loomis kind of knows about Packard's illegal activities but can't nail him. Unbeknownst to both Keri and the sheriff, Packard and his gang of idiots killed a boy named Jamie because he was dating (read: SCREWING Keri) Its a mystery how Keri isn't fully aware that Packard was behind Jamie's death since she was there when the goons dragged him away. Oh, ...Jamie was Billy's brother.

A mysterious stranger, Jake, comes to town and woos the sweet Keri. This drives Packard to madness. Also a masked figure with a super-de-duper car arrives. The stranger, who is the title character, the Wraith races Packard's hapless gang member and kills them. Basically the Wraith just races them, lets them ram his car and kills them in the explosion. Afterwards the Wraith reforms himself and his car and rides away. Pretty soon, the only person in the gang left is Packard. The Wraith disposes of him and.   then reveals to Keri that he is Jake...and Jake is actually the ghost of Jamie. How the ghost of Jamie has a TOTALLY different face than Jake is a matter for the netherworld. Jake and Keri decide to get together and ride away on Jake's bike into the sunset. (Or moonset, since its night when they do this). Jake has one last task before he goes...he gives Billy his magic car.

When I first saw this movie a long time ago I thought it was kick-ass! Now watching it I can't say that. It was entertaining, but not kick-ass. You can tell its the 80's because one of Packard's punks has a mohawk. Jake and the Wraith were acted by Charlie Sheen. Packard's main mechanic, Rughead was played by a rather young looking Clint Howard, who was the star of the insane movie the Ice Cream Man. Sheriff Loomis was played by Randy Quaid. Keri was played by Sherilyn Fenn. I have no recollection of Fenn specifically, but I know I've seen her before.

Best Lines: "I dreamed that the man in the moon was laughing at me!"- Keri explains her crazy dreams to Jake.

"Roadblocks won't stop something that can't  be stopped!"- Sheriff Loomis to a deputy that wants to catch the Wraith.

1.) Okay...within 60 seconds we can tell that Packard is a psycho...and Keri is basically under his control. But why? The Sheriff, Loomis, obviously is itching for an excuse to fry Packard. So its a big question mark on why Keri doesn't ask Loomis for help against her possessive psycho stalker boyfriend! At one point Packard pulls a knife on Keri! He threatens to kill her once! Is she submissive or what?

2.) The Wraith and one of the gang are in a race...but the cops are there. Now I can understand why the wraith keeps going...it ain't like the police are gonna catch him! But why does the punk keep on going? He's not going to get away from the cops. What's he plan on doing? He should have just pulled over and took the speeding rap...that's a helluva lot better than being toasted by the Wraith.

3.) Its kind of strange...Keri tells Jake that he has a knack for turning up at the right time...but at this point in the film the only time we've seen Jake is the 120 second introduction scene.

4.) Gutterboy's pre-Adam Sandler impression is grueling. Really grueling. somewhat akin to listening to nails (real nails, not fingernails) being scraped on a blackboard.

5.) Packard basically kidnaps Keri in front of about fifty witnesses. He also beats up Billy in the process. No one called the cops or tried to help. Well, Keri, herself isn't too bright. She could have made a break for it while Packard was busy beating Billy up.

NUDITY AND SEX: Packard is in bed with a gal. you don't see anything though.

HUH?: Where are the parents? We see Keri comin' out of a nice little house, so I know she ain't payin' for it as a part time waitress. None of the others seem to have parents either.  Guess in a way it makes sense. No one ever said that the characters were in High School or college. But if not, unemployment must be high in Arizona.

Exactly how did Jake become the Wraith? He was killed, as Jamie, by Packard's gang...but it doesn't explain how he gets to come back as a super turbo charged ghost with a bad ass car. I mean, if I get killed by a car fanatic can I come back as a superhero with a car that would make Michael Knight* envious?

I find it hard to believe that no one has come up with any evidence that can get rid of Packard. Lets say Packard has the same lawyers as OJ Simpson...meaning he gets away with murder...he still has these races and basically treats Keri like property...going as far to beat Billy up in front of witnesses. Yet the cops can't catch him doing any of this. (The Keri part is all Keri's fault! all she has to do is ask Loomis for help! Loomis wants Packard's head!)

Um...isn't giving Billy the car stupid? Now everyone will think he was the killer!

THE TALLY:

Sporting a pretty cool soundtrack, The Wraith is a good contender for a cheesy 80's movie contest. There's not really much logic in it, but it'll keep you happy in small does. Good joke crackin' material too.

*Michael Knight played by Baywatch's David Hasselhoff was the star of the 80's show Knight Rider.knight Rider had a super car called KITT (The Knight Industries Two Thousand) that could talk and do just about anything. Actually, if you think about it, KITT was the real star of the show.