The Wraith (1986, USA)

Directed by: Mike Marvin
Produced by: John Kemeny
Written by: Mike Marvin
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Sherilyn Fenn, Nick Cassavetes, Randy Quaid
Music by: Michael Hoenig, J. Peter Robinson
Cinematography: Reed Smoot
Editing by: Scott Conrad, Gary Rocklen
Distributed by: New Century, Alliance Entertainment
Release dates: November 21, 1986
Running time: 93 min
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: $2.7 million
Box office: $3.5 million ($1,402,535 US)
Plot: After a young man is murdered by a road-racing gang of motor-heads, a mysterious fast-driving spirit descends from the sky to take revenge.
Info: The Wraith is a 1986 American independent action horror film produced by John Kemeny, written and directed by Mike Marvin, and starring Charlie Sheen, Sherilyn Fenn, Nick Cassavetes, and Randy Quaid. The film was released theatrically on 288 screens in the U.S. by New Century Vista Film Company (later New Century Entertainment Corporation). The Wraith tells the story of an Arizona teen who mysteriously returns from the dead as a supernatural street-racer intent on taking revenge on the gang who murdered him.

Production: While filming a chase sequence shot on a mountainside outside of Tuscon, a crew member was killed and another was critically injured. According to supplementary material on the DVD a camera car was overloaded and overturned. This was the only serious accident during the filming. The Wraith was shot entirely in and around Tucson, Arizona; shots of the hilly road leading into the fictional "Brooks, AZ" were filmed on Freeman Road on the city's south side. Keri's (Sherilyn Fenn) home is located at 2128 East 5th Street; "Big Kay's Burgers" was a set built especially for the film at 2755 East Benson Highway and no longer exists.


The Wraith original 1986 trailer.

Film Facts: The black car featured in the movie was a real-life technological wonder, the Dodge M4S. A joint effort of the Dodge Division of Chrysler Motors and PPG Industries, one of the highly sophisticated PPG Pace Cars for the PPG-CART Indy Car World Series. The M4S was designed and constructed at an estimated cost of $1.1 million, and featured performance and technology to match that lofty figure. The innovative body design was developed in the Chrysler studios, while PPG developed the finish - a special bronze pearl paint job formulated just for this car. The M4S was powered by a Chrysler 2.2 liter four-cylinder one-of-a-kind engine that exceeded 194 mph. According to Gary Hellerstein, transportation coordinator for this film, a total of seven versions of the M4S were needed for filming. The original, on loan from Dodge, was used for close-ups and details. Two more "drivers", consisting of perfectly detailed bodies on dune buggy chassis, were used for stunt driving chores. There were four "shells", empty bodies on bare, towable frames, that were sacrificed in various crash scenes.

The "futuristic" weapon wielded by The Wraith is a Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun, with a folding stock. It was a 12-gauge tactical shotgun made in Italy, and has the unusual property of functioning in both pump and semi-automatic modes. The odd hook on the weapon is for firing the weapon one-handed with the stock extended, as it wraps around the forearm.

Packard Walsh drove a late-1970s Chevrolet Corvette with a custom paint job and nose clip, with the tail of an 84 Vette; Oggie drove a 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z; Minty drove a 1977 Pontiac Firebird with a highly-visible (but apparently non-functional) supercharger; Skank and Gutterboy drove a beat-up 1966 Plymouth Barracuda; Rughead was driving a late-70's GMC pickup. The couple who are cheated out of their car in the first race were driving a similar Daytona Turbo Z. The police drove a variety of mid-1980's Plymouth Caravelles and Gran Furys, as well as early-1980's Chevrolet Malibus; Sheriff Loomis drove a "civilian" Plymouth Caravelle.

Although listed as Plymouth Caravelles in other notes. The cop cars and Loomis's car are Dodge 600s as Caravelles have a plain grille and 600s have the cross-hair grille. Rugheads truck is not a Chevrolet, as noted before, but a GMC as can be seen by the GMC emblem on the grille.

The dual-sport motorcycle is a Honda XL600R. It features the renowned 600cc RFVC engine with four valves in a radial configuration. It also has an unusual setup with dual carburators, which some say is the reason why the bike is a pig to start lukewarm. The motorcycle in the film has its characteristic single-cylinder thumper note dubbed with an electronic high-revving warble.

Dedicated to the memory of Bruce Ingram, who worked on the film as an assistant cameraman. He was the single person killed when the camera car overturned.

Johnny Depp, who was then dating Sherilyn Fenn, was present during filming and was living in the film crew's hotel with Fenn. Johnny Depp was considered for the roles of Jake Kesey and Oggie.

Bears a lot of similarity in plot to a TV movie Charlie's father made in 1974 The California Kid. Sherilyn Fenn, Charlie Sheen and his future ex-wife Denise Richards all went on to play in different episodes of Friends (1994). A 16 year old Brooke Burke Charvet has a small part in the film as a waitress.

The beginning of the chase scene where Skank & Gutterboy chase Keri Johnson & Jake on Jake's motorcycle was 500 feet (150 meters) south of a Lindy's burgers which was showcased in Man v. Food: Tucson, AZ (2009).

Shot in 27 days. The movie was filmed during the American winter of January 1986. When police are chasing Packard Walsh and The Wraith at the end of the movie, at background can be seen a rainbow. It was purely incidental.

The place where The Wraith arrives to Earth is a desert crossroad. In several beliefs and superstitions a desert crossroad is considered a place to meet supernatural beings, in addition to deal treats with The Devil.

In 1987 the film was released to VHS video by Lightning Video, then on LaserDisc by Image Entertainment; it was then released in 2003 on DVD by Platinum Disc Corporation (now Echo Bridge Home Entertainment). In spite of having no special features and only being available in the pan-and-scan format, there is missing footage on the original VHS and LaserDisc releases. LionsGate released a widescreen Special Edition DVD on March 2, 2010, which included this previously missing footage.