Trancers: City of Lost Angels (1988) User Reviews

Jack Deth loving the 80's

[ghekster · 7/10 · 27 April 2014]

Watched it on DVD, quickie review....Trancers 1.5 City of Lost Angels....spoilers...

it had funny lines and not a trancer in sight...Leena (Helen Hunt) wants to break up with Jack Deth as he just sits around his detective agency and enjoys the 1980's (he is from the future)...an assassin has broken out of prison and has come "down the line" (of ancestors) to kill Jack..."dry hair is for squids!"...His boss Mcnaulty as a 13 years old girl was loads of fun... about thirty minutes of episode and more than that in extras...(trailers, message from "Jack", behind the scenes Trancers 2 (Jack, Leena, Megan Ward), comments from the 1.5 screening and history of the missing episode)

As of July 31, 2014, the new Trancers (1) Bluray includes "City of Lost Angels" as an extra.

Okay for a short

[jellopuke · 5/10 · 23 May 2021]

This was supposed to be a part of an anthology movie that never came out, but it works as a mini sequel to Trancers. It does not however, work as a stand alone story since it assumes you know and care about the characters already. It's essentially a one room story that tries to be noir but is just kind of there. Definitely worth it if you saw Trancers, but not worth seeking out on its own.

like the noir

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 13 May 2021]

In future Angel City, assassin prisoner Edlin Shock escapes while McNulty (Art LaFleur) is transferring her. She travels down the line to 1986 L. A. to kill Jack Deth. McNulty follows her down the line into a little girl to warn Deth (Tim Thomerson). Leena (Helen Hunt) leaves Deth after a fight. A damsel in distress seeks his help who could be Shock inside.

This is an unreleased sequel short to Trancers (1984), a B-movie that I really like. The franchise would go on with quite a few sequels but non of them are that good. So it's interesting to see if there is something here that I like above the rest. What I like about the original is the mishmash of every sci-fi trope thrown into a blender with a noir leading man. There is something fun with the mix. In this one, I really like the present day noir short story with the damsel in distress and all the rest. I can live without the future half. The production could never make it big enough and good looking enough. The plotting and the blocking is all crap. It makes no sense that Shock isn't tied down just in case she comes back up. All in all, this is a fun 15 minutes out of a 24 minutes short.

This is as good, and may be better, than the first film.

[kevin_robbins · 7/10 · 22 May 2021]

Trancers 1.5: City of Angels (1988) is a 24 minute short film with all the same charterers and cast from the first film. The storyline takes place between the first and second film and is available for free on Tubi. The storyline focuses on an assassin with a vendetta against Jack escaping a prison and heading back as a Trancer in time to kill him. We also see how Jack and Leena's relationship is progressing. This movie is directed by Charles Band (Puppet Master) and stars Tim Tomerson (Dollman), Helen Hunt (Twister), Art LaFluer (Cobra) and Alyson Croft (Mad Men). The storyline was really good and the writing was well done. Loved the continuity with the cast coming back which kept good chemistry and delivery. Really enjoyed the banter and process for uncovering the Trancer. This is as good, and may be better, than the first film. I'd score this a solid 7/10.

Pretty Good Unofficial/Lost Sequel

[gwnightscream · 6/10 · 9 January 2022]

This 1988 sci-fi film stars Tim Thomerson and Helen Hunt.

This short, unofficial/lost sequel features an escaped, female prisoner from the future heading back to 1988 L. A. to kill cop, Jack Deth (Thomerson) who has got used to the 20th century with girlfriend, Leena. (Hunt) This is pretty good, Thomerson is great as well as the score. If you enjoyed the original, check this out.