For the inaugural meeting of the Cult Film Club, Paxton, Jaime, and Shawn convene to watch and discuss the 1986 sci-fi, western, carsploitation flick, The Wraith.
Directed by Mike Marvin, The Wraith stars Charlie Sheen, Randy Quaid, Clint Howard, Sherilyn Fenn, Nick Cassevetes, Matthew Barry, and more importantly, the $1.5m Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor.
Plot in 60 Seconds: A young gang of road pirates are on a rampage terrorizing a desolate south western town until a lone hero mystically emerges from the netherworld. Equipped with a sleek futuristic car, this techno-wraith begins stalking the gang, seeking vengeance with automotive carnage at every precarious turn.
In this episode, we discuss all aspects of the film including our favorite scenes, the Hollywood legacies associated with the actors, the various film influences and homages, the pitch-perfect hair metal soundtrack, as well as the director’s outline for the sequel that never materialized. Listen to find out how Johnny Depp is tied to the film, how we almost got a scene with a desert witch, and whether or not Charlie Sheen had a terrible case of turtledick during filming!
Listen now!
(Or right-click and save this file to download -> Cult Film Club, Episode #1: The Wraith)
If you like what you hear you can subscribe to the Cult Film Club on iTunes.
You can also join our not-so-exclusive but totally rad club so you can know which movie(s) we’ll be discussing next and watch along with us.
Films aside from the Wraith mentioned in this episode include: High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Exorcist, American Graffiti, Tron, Tron: Legacy, and The Crow.
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Great Movie for the launch! The car is for sale too:
http://www.theultimatecarcollection.com/DealerFiles/ListingView.asp?ListingID=3058
Thank you kindly sir! Now, where did I leave that spare half-million dollars… 😉
Great show! I listened to it yesterday as it was already posted in iTunes =) But I made sure to watch it before listening because I’d never seen it! I was thinking it was like a sci-fi, non-emo version of The Crow while watching it.
Can’t wait to see what other cool stuff you guys introduce me to.
Cool, so glad you enjoyed listening Dex! Yeah, though it’s a little obscure, this flick fits in nicely with stuff like the Crow and High Plains Drifter. Though the director is sometimes bitter about the connections to The Crow, I do have to say that I was surprised at how many similarities there were (up to and including an unfortunate death on-set that put a pall over the production.)
Well at least they didn’t lose their lead during filming. Can you imagine a post-Wraith world without Charlie Sheen. Who would have starred in Hot Shots for goodness sake?
Well, when you’re filled with Tiger’s blood and wizard juice (or whatever he’s made of) it’s kind of hard to be taken down by thinking like car crashes and conventional weaponry… 😉
Great stuff. I didn’t remember this one AT ALL. Will try to check it out. For those of us who want to watch, but are too cheap to go buy a $10 DVD, see if you can mix in some movies that are available on streaming sites like NetFlix or Hulu. I’ve found plenty of cult cheese and Sci-Fi on Netflix. Just a suggestion. By no means will deter me from listening though. I’m drawn to retro awesomeness.
Pax, if I had the time, would LOVE to do put together Hollywood Vehicles podcast. Feel the same where a vehicle can draw me in to a TV show or movie in a heartbeat. This pod has been on my back burner for awhile but maybe someday I’ll finally cook it up!
Anxious to see what you’ll be pulling out of the B movie vault each week! Cult Film Club is the new USA Up All Night! And I gotta say, you guys are definitely a step up from Rhonda Shear and Gilbert Godfried.
Thanks Jason. Yeah, I’ve actually been wanting to put together a blog post about awesome pop culture vehicles. Maybe someday.
I love your comparing us to USA Up All Night. I take that as a high compliment.
🙂
That’ll be a series of posts before you know it…
First off, thanks! Second, I’ve got dibs on being the Rhonda Shear
of the CFC (that is until I achieve the level of Joe Bob Briggs, but I
might have to fight the other two in a death match for that honor.) 😉
Also, Jason, if it helps, you can watch The Wraith here: http://www.ovguide.com/the-wraith-9202a8c04000641f8000000000644442
HOLY CRAP, Shawn! Thanks! How’d I miss this site?
I’d never heard of this one, but it sounds crazy! Congrats on the new ‘cast folks!
Thanks Tommy! Yeah, We were shooting for something that we as hosts all loved, but would be a bit on the obscure side…
I LOVE this movie, and had no clue there was a special edition. I bought my copy almost 10 years ago, in order of those weird clear plastic cases. Pan & scan and all that.
This movie holds a special place in my heart, as I had no social life growing up. So, as all my school friends were spending weekends at the mall, I was watching stuff like this on syndicated independent stations. This movie reminds me of cozy fall Saturdays. And, ya know, dead gang members.
This was a great first episode, and I look forward to what’s next!
I had a very similar experience growing up, and thus my own love of movies like this one shines through. Glad to hear you enjoyed this first one, and be sure we’re working on more!
great job on the first podcast guys! I’ve never seen the movie before but will definitely check it out now. Can’t wait to listen to a show where you talk about a movie I’ve actually seen. 😉
Cool, glad you enjoyed it! You know, you can always join the club to get advance notice of the next film we’ll cover so you can watch along… ;p
I’m just finishing listening to your review of “The Wraith” this is a movie that was on frequent repeat on some local channel back when I was in high school in the ’80s. One of the interesting things that was drug up from my memory was the way that the braces would disappear from his uniform when he killed a gang member. As a teen I thought that they were connected to the person he killed. I thought they were representations of the scars or damage done to him by the gang members. I thought of it as a score card. He would kill a guy and he would lose the marker of the pain that was given to him by that gang member.
Hey Gabriel, first off thanks for listening! Yeah, that was one of the really interesting aspects of this flick that the director threw in. Stuff like that and the way the gang members were left unmarked (well except for having their eyes burnt out) help to elevate this a bit from a cut and dry action flick. It might not all make complete sense, but it sure was interesting…
This is well over a year late, but i wanted to drop a note here and say that i loved the podcast! You made mention of how a guy found the molds of the car to make a copy for himself and his kids. Fact of the matter, he found one of the prop cars and had restored it, then made molds with intentions of doing replicas. I helped him with that project for a while and tinkered with the Interceptor myself. Again, loved the podcast! It’s good to see other fans who appreciate the film!