The Wraith

Before Charlie Sheen was winning, he was winning, in a race of course.  The Wraith is one of those movies that many people have not really heard of, but when they find out they think "Why the fuck don't more people watch this?" Mainly because it has a great plot, an all star cast, a kick ass soundtrack and a lot of cool classic cars.  I mentioned this as one of my guilty pleasures at number 8 and I stick by my choice at the lowest, because it's not bad enough of a movie to be considered a guilty pleasure.  Unlike much of the stuff I analyzed this had nothing else to show for it, no games, no cards, just a movie and hint of a sequel, but that's not going anywhere anytime soon.  Fair warning there will be spoilers.

The story goes like so,  Packard Walsh (Played by Notebook Director Nick Cassavettes) is a Road Pirate who leads a gang of misfits to challenge people to drag races.  Said racers lose their cars as collateral.  Said gang is comprised of:

Skank: A mohawk sporting mechanic that has an addiction to car related chemicals.
Gutterboy: Skank's friend, who is rather simple minded and easily scared.
Rughead: A nerdy mechanical genius who makes gadgets and improvements to the gang's cars.
Oggie: A hot headed underling.
Minty: A letterman sporting underling.

Packard is also very controlling of his self proclaimed girlfriend Keri Johnson (Played by Twin Peaks fame Sherilyn Fenn) a nice girl who works as a rollerskate waitress at a local burger shack.

One afternoon after Packard's latest race, a stranger rides into town on a motorcycle.  His name is Jake Kesey (Played by Charlie Sheen.)  He decides to spend his screen time courting Keri despite her reluctance due to Packard's obsessive need to control her.  As well as the fact that she lost a boyfriend to murder, Jamie Henkins, brother of her boss Billy Henkins.  No one knows who did it, but the town is too griped in fear of Packard's gang to find out.  To make matters more strange, a mysterious car appears out of nowhere challenging Packard's gang to a race.  One by one each member is dispatched by the driver.  The Sheriff Loomis (Played by Randy Quaid.) demands answers, but could really care less as it's only Packard's gang this figure is after.  As more bodies turn up, the link between Packard and this killer uncovers more as he tries to find out who it is before he is next. 

Now for the fun part.  Could It Exist In Real Life?

Now first let's talk about the car.  In my guilty pleasures article, I already hinted what the car was. But after a few days I shall tell you not only does it exist, but it goes by the same name as the movie.  The car is called th Dodge M4S or as the movie refers to: The Turbo Interceptor.  It was a pace car developed by Dodge and PPG industries and could go up to 195 MPH at top speed.  However, because Dodge never planned it to be a serial car there are only 4 out there in existence.

Lastly let's talk about The Wraith itself.  In the movie, The Wraith is the name of the driver of the car, clad in black, armed with a laser shotgun and can never die even though his car gets destroyed constantly.  While those that have watched the movie know who he is and why he's after Packard's gang. What he is has been discussed too many times.  Some say he is a ghost with super advanced tech.  Kinda like Spawn.  Others say he was raised from death by aliens.  I say otherwise.  I been looking up various different myths on vengeful spirits and only one came to mind. The one in particular is called an Onryo.  Which is a spirit that has been killed violently and is able to cross into the physical world, never resting until it's business is finished.  Much like NIMH's magic being an advanced science as I implied, I imply the reverse in this case as this spirit's car and tech is a form of Technomancing or machine magic in layman's terms.

As usual, debate, argue and let me know what I missed. Stay Tuned For More.   Oh and if you see a turbo passing your way do not be afraid.  If you done nothing wrong, you got nothing to fear.