Essentially a revved-up sci-fi version of High Plains Drifter with 80s teens and the cute young spirit of vengeance driving the Mad Max Interceptor instead of riding into town on a horse, The Wraith is one I've remembered fondly since first seeing it on Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs in the 90s.

The story is, as other reviewers have noted, pretty hopelessly stupid, with dialogue alternating between bland and quotably goofy. Sheen, though top-billed, has little to do and isn't particularly charismatic when he's on screen. Consequently, the Wraith experience is all about the superficial elements: slick car action, hot 80s pop, eye-pleasing girls, etc. Also noteworthy, however, is the colorful supporting cast, including Randy Quaid as the sheriff, and scene-stealing comic relief cretins Skank, Gutterboy, and Rughead (the eternally fascinating Clint Howard sporting an Eraserhead 'do).

It's amusing to see the wild array of user reactions to The Wraith, ranging from exaggeratedly laudatory ("Sheen's Post-Impressionist Masterpiece", whatever that means) to dismissive ("Really bad 80's cheese") to indignantly blunt ("crap!!"). It really depends on how you feel about the wacky decade that unleashed The Wraith, a disposable 80s trash flick par excellence. All you need to know is that this movie is 80s to the max. I might be disposed to dismiss The Wraith as time-wasting crap, myself, if it weren't for the fact that it's such utterly fun and nostalgically classic crap.