After the release of Trancers 5: Sudden Deth, things were not getting much better for Full Moon Features. In 1995, the company ended its deal with Paramount and turned to fellow independent studio Kushner & Locke for financing. While they were able to stay afloat, the budgets they had weren’t nearly the amount they had in the past. To make matters worse, Kushner & Locke were having their own financial problems and filed for bankruptcy in 2000. Around this time, low-budget filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter moved from Ohio to California to further advance his career. Thanks to his connection with David DeCoteau, he entered a partnership with Charles Band to produce more economical films. C. Courtney Joyner, writer/director of Trancers III: Deth Lives, wrote a script for a potential TV series. When that didn’t happen, the script was reworked and made into 2002’s Trancers 6: Life After Deth.
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Synopsis
In Old Los Angeles 2022, Josephine Forrest (Zette Sullivan) has her body taken over by her time-traveling father Jack Deth. Turns out a member of the council saw footage of her being killed, which would erase Jack from existence. Now in his daughter’s body, Jack/Jo has to investigate what leads to her almost getting killed. Josephine’s boss Mr. Castle (Ben Bar) and his assistant Shauna Wilder (Jennifer Capo) have found a powerful meteorite. Using the meteorite, they’re taking junkies and runaways off the streets and turning them into Trancers to assassinate high-level targets. Jo decides to infiltrate the group taken by Shauna to take down their Trancer operation and save the future. With help from their superior Jennings (Jennifer Cantrell), Jo gears up to hunt down some new Trancers. It’s up to our favorite time-traveling future cop to stop the Trancers and save his daughter while in her body!
Review
Since the original 1984 film, the series has had its peaks and valleys but has remained relatively consistent. The first was a solid sci-fi/action film, and the second relied more on comedy but was still fun. The third film was easily the best since the first film, while 4 and 5 were massive letdowns. That being said, I think it’s safe to say that Trancers 6: Life After Deth is the worst one. While it’s admirable they were able to make it for only $60,000, maybe they shouldn’t have made this. This series has generally been mid to low budget, but they’ve usually had enough to fully realize their ideas. I usually champion films that try to make the most of their budgets, but this film needed more money. Even by Full Moon standards, this film is shockingly cheap, though it’s more depressing than charming.
It doesn’t help either that the acting is about on par with a SciFi Channel original movie. Zette Sullivan is clearly trying to emulate Tim Thomerson’s performance, but no one can do Tim Thomerson like Tim Thomerson. We only see him in stock footage from the previous films, and it makes you wish he had come back. Jennifer Capo might as well have been eating drywall given all the scenery-chewing she’s doing here she’s so over-the-top. Jennifer Cantrell is supposed to fill in the McNulty role from the first two films, but it falls flat. Full Moon has always been known for having cheesy-looking effects, but the low-tier CGI used here is embarrassing. On top of all that, this film commits the biggest sin that a film can commit: it’s boring. Overall, Trancers 6: Life After Deth is a disappointing conclusion to such a promising series.
Buy Trancers 6: Life After Deth from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3itPnnk
