Trancers

_Fun time-travel sci-fi thriller with a young Helen Hunt_ A no-nonsense detective in 2247 (Tim Thomerson) has to go back in time to stop a cult leader who has the power to mesmerize people into a zombie-like state. He enlists a likable blonde to assist him, an assistant for Santa at the local mall (Helen Hunt). "Trancers" (1984) has similarities to “The Terminator” mixed with a little “Blade Runner” and Humphrey Bogart, but that more popular James Cameron film is vastly superior because it had 14 times the budget; it also beat it to theaters. This one has a wink of amusement, like they weren’t taking it too seriously. Still, if you can roll with that, it’s entertaining enough and has some interesting ideas, like the unique method of time travel with people going back by injecting a drug that enables them to take over the body of an ancestor. It obviously influenced “Warlock,” which came out five years later, and was popular enough to produce six sequels between 1988-2002. I’m including the 20-minute 1988 short “Trancers: City of Lost Angels,” which wasn’t actually released until 2013 because it was originally set to appear on a shelved anthology called “Pulse Pounders.” The proper full-length sequel, “Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth,” debuted in 1991 with Thomerson, Hunt and Biff Manard returning from this one. Helen was 21 during shooting and never looked better. Exhibit A is her opening scene in a green leotard. The flick’s short ‘n’ sweet at 1 hour, 16 minutes. It was shot in Los Angeles, except for the beach scene in nearby Malibu. The mall sequence was filmed at Panorama Mall. GRADE: B-