Wow. I discovered this little gem of a movie when my dad bought a crap load of DVD's from one of his friends.
Before I begin with this review, I have to say that the soundtrack of this movie is really unbelievably great. If you want it, you might have to spend upwards of 80 dollars for it... it's been out of production for quite awhile now. In fact, I downloaded the two best tracks from it: "Where's the Fire?" by Tim Feehan, and "Hearts vs. Heads" by Stan Bush. You have to download them right now.
Anyways, on to the review.
The movie is about a weird guy in a funny looking suit who comes to town in a very snazzy futuristic car. His mission is to get revenge, and the person is seeking is a guy named Packard (Nick Cassavetes), a person so unflinchingly bad, he stretches the known laws of space. The opening is of him and his stupid idiot henchman taking a car from a couple by cheating in a race.
Just to get it out of the way right now, Packard is a sadistic son of a whore. You'll get a clear picture of just how ridiculously mean he is later on, but for now, let's continue with the story.
Anyways, around the same time this "wraith" comes to town (ahhhh, sheer brilliance, i must say), a young man named Jake (Charlie Sheen) comes to town on a weird sounding dirt bike. He tries to pick up a girl named Keri (Sherilynn Fenn), but Packard won't have it. See, through flashbacks of a certain night a long, long time ago, we see a guy who kinda looks like Jake having sex with Keri. The flashbacks become more and more clearer as the movie goes on, and from there we see that Packard killed the young man to get Keri all his own.
What a guy, I tell you.
Anyways, if you haven't already figured it out, Jake is the young man re-incarnated, and he's also the stranger with the car. He's here for one thing, and that's killing everyone who was involved with his death. How does he do this? Well, Packard's gang is very keen on racing people for their cars, so he does this to everyone is Packard's gang, and at the end of each race, he sits there and has their car run into his and explode.
Right...
So, this is all looking very weird, and the local sheriff, Loomis (Randy Quaid)is not really concerned, since it seems that it's only Packard's gang this killer is hitting. So that's his role: to talk to Packard, and go on vein attempts at nabbing the killer.
Wahoo.
So, while that is going on, Jake gets with Keri, meets his brother, Billy (Matthew Barry), etc.
The ending is probably what you expected: Jake and Packard duke it out with their cars, with Jake ultimately prevailing. It's at that time his identity is finally revealed, and he leaves his car to his brother and rides with Keri into the sunset.
Wahoo. But seriously speaking, I really, really enjoyed this movie. There are some decent performances, especially from Cassavetes, who apparently likes playing a prick. Charlie Sheen does what he can with what he's got, and he pulls it off well. Sherilynn Fenn does what she does best: shows her breasts (well, one of them anyway), and finally there's Clint Howard! Basically, it's dumb fun at it's finest, and I'm glad I have it in my collection. It shouldn't be too much money, so I suggest you buy it.