History Film / TheWraith

* CoversAlwaysLie: As seen in the above poster, not one of those people looks remotely like the main cast, even though the three men wear outfits that match Charlie Sheen, Nick Cassavettes, and Ryan O'Neal's costumes. Not to mention Ryan O'Neal (apparently)being on the poster, when he's the first character killed, and only in two scenes.

Sheen plays Jake Kesey, a mysterious motorcycle-riding drifter who catches the eye of local girl Keri Johnson (played by Fenn), in an Arizona town. In doing so he runs afoul of a group of Road Pirates led by Packard Walsh (played by Cassavetes), who make their living by challenging locals to drag races, using their cars as collateral and chop-shopping their winnings. Packard himself is a psychopathic CrazyJealousGuy that [[TheDreaded everyone fears]] and claims Keri as his property. An unidentified car and its armor-clad driver challenge the gang, one by one, to a race ending in their death. Sheriff Loomis (played by Quaid) investigates these deaths not only in hope of catching the killer, but also as a means of catching Packard in the act. It all begins to unravel as the connection among Keri, Jake, Packard and the mysterious driver becomes more clearer as Packard is the last on the chopping block.

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Jake is an all-around nice guy, who just so happens to have gruesome knife scars on his back and neck. [[spoiler:They were from his previous death as Jamie Henkins.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Rughead was already packing up and leaving after Minty's death not wanting to deal with the gang anymore. But after The Wraith obliterated Skank and Gutterboy, destroying Packard's garage in the process; he confesses his knowledge of the gang's murder of Jamie Hankins to Loomis. He's the only one in the gang that was spared by The Wraith, because despite his knowledge, it was after the fact; he didn't have anything physically to do with the murder. He didn't even know he was helping dispose of Jamie's body, though he figured it out afterwards.]]

-->'''Gutterboy:''' It's too bad about the 'Cuda, Skank. It's our, what is it, tenth car?

-->'''Packard:''' Get rid of that zombie piss you're drinking before it turns you into a mushroom.

* BigDamnHeroes: The Wraith shows up just as Packard was about to kill Keri.
* BigNo: Rughead gets one when The Wraith removes his visor prior to shooting up the garage. The face is somewhat hidden, but Rughead is the only one to recognize the man as [[spoiler: Jamie Hankins, who is supposed to be dead.]] His reaction also counts as GoMadFromTheRevelation, as [[spoiler: Skank and Gutterboy's deaths]] finally break him and make him confess his knowledge of [[spoiler: the murder to Loomis.]]
* BodyHorror: The Wraith's victims, despite their car exploding and burning, come out intact. The exception being that their [[EyeScream eyes are no longer in their sockets.]]

Sheen plays Jake Kesey, a mysterious motorcycle-riding drifter who catches the eye of local girl Keri Johnson (played by Fenn), in an Arizona town, running afoul of a group of Road Pirates led by Packard Walsh (played by Cassavetes). They make their living by challenging locals to drag races, using their cars as collateral and chop-shopping their winnings. Packard himself is a psychopathic CrazyJealousGuy that [[TheDreaded everyone fears]] and claims Keri as his property. An unidentified car and its armor-clad driver challenge the gang, one by one, to a race to the death. Sheriff Loomis (played by Quaid) investigates these deaths not only in hope of catching the killer, but also as a means of catching Packard in the act. It all begins to unravel as the connection among Keri, Jake, Packard and the mysterious driver becomes more clearer as Packard is the last on the chopping block.

* YourCheatingHeart: When Loomis brings in the remaining gang for questioning, he finds Packard in the middle of a mostly-nude makeout session with a strange blond (despite his obsessive love for Keri). It initially comes across as AllTheGirlsWantBadBoys, but when you watch it with a view to just how dangerous Packard is, and how feared by the young people of the town, you wonder if the girl was just too scared of him to reject him.

* VaderBreath: The only sounds you'll ever hear the Wraith make.

Sheen plays Jake Kesey, who is a mysterious motorcycle-riding drifter who catches the eye of local girl Keri Johnson (played by Fenn), in an Arizona town that runs afoul of a group of Road Pirates led by Packard Walsh (played by Cassavetes). They make their living by challenging locals to drag races, using their cars as collateral. Packard himself is a CrazyJealousGuy that [[TheDreaded everyone fears]] and claims Keri as his property. An unidentified car and its armor-clad driver challenge the gang, one by one, to a race to the death. Sheriff Loomis (played by Quaid) investigates these deaths not only in hope of catching the killer, but also as a means of catching Packard in the act. It all begins to unravel as the connection among Keri, Jake, Packard and that driver becomes more clearer as Packard is the last on the chopping block.

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: When Oggie is the first to get killed by The Wraith, the rest of the gang actually feels bad, even Keri who hates Packard, sheds a few tears for him because he was her neighbor. The only one who doesn't care is Packard, but [[PetTheDog he does show some concern when Keri is crying.]]

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Skank and Gutterboy. Their humor almost makes you forget that [[spoiler: they are cold blooded murderers that helped murder Jamie Hankins.]]

* BrokenBird: Keri was this when [[spoiler:Jamie died]], which was one of the reasons she stayed with Packard despite her dislike of him. Jake makes it his life mission to break her out of that funk.

* AgentScully: Loomis even though he seen first hand what The Wraith can do, does not believe that [[spoiler: he's Jamie Hankins' spirit.]]

* BigDamnHeroes: The Wraith shows up in time, just after Packard was about to kill Keri.

* CoversAlwaysLie: As seen in the above poster, not one of those people looks remotely like the main cast.

* IfICantHaveYou: Packard says it almost word for word to Keri. [[spoiler: It's why he killed Jamie Hankins in the first place.]]

* GadgeteerGenius: Rughead is able to build new fuel injection plants for Packard's car and a digital radio killer to disable cars that attempt to run. [[spoiler:The Wraith destroys the new engine and the digital radio killer before either item could be used.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Rughead was already packing up and leaving after Minty's death not wanting to deal with the gang anymore. But after The Wraith obliterated Skank and Gutterboy, destroying Packard's garage in the process; he confesses his knowledge of the gang's murder of Jamie Hankins to Loomis. He's the only one in the gang that was spared by The Wraith, because despite his knowledge, he didn't have anything physically to do with the murder.]]
* [[ShesNotMyGirlfriend He's Not My Boyfriend:]] Despite Packard saying otherwise, Keri insists that Packard isn't her boyfriend. The only reason she sticks with him, is because she's scared of him. She flats out says it to him after Oggie's death.

* BerserkButton: Played with, Billy Hankins' gets his pushed when he tries to save Keri from Packard. Packard makes [[KickTheDog light of his dead brother]], which causes Billy to snap and pick a fight with Packard. [[EpicFail He doesn't even get one hit on him,]] [[CurbStompBattle as Packard mercilessly beats Billy senseless and kicks him when he's down.]]

''The Wraith'' was made in 1986 starring, alongside Sheen, Nick Cassavetes (yes, that [[Film/FaceOff Nick]] [[Film/TheNotebook Cassavetes]]), Sherilyn Fenn, Creator/RandyQuaid and Creator/ClintHoward.

Before Creator/CharlieSheen became known for his [[MemeticMutation Winning]], he starred in a film where he was winning.....in death races.

* {{Yandere}} The driving plot point to the movie and to why [[spoiler: Packard killed Jamie.]]

''The Wraith'' was made in 1986 starring, alongside Sheen, Nick Cassavetes (yes, that [[Film/FaceOff Nick]] [[Film/TheNotebook Cassavetes]]), Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid and Creator/ClintHoward.

* ResurrectionRevenge: A gang of street racers find themselves facing off with a mysterious new driver. The mysterious driver ends up killing each member of the gang one by one. At the end, it's revealed he's the ghost of a man murdered by the gang. Notably, the only member of the gang he spares was innocent of the murder.

* GadgeteerGenius: Rughead is able to make new fuel injection plans for the gang's car and blow up The Wraith's car with a digital radio killer. [[spoiler:All that did was slow The Wraith down.]]

-->'''Skank:''' Come on, man, you got a big audience with Rughead out here; it'll be first-degree murder.

-->'''[[spoiler: Jake]]''': It's the only one in the world.

-->'''Loomis:''' There's a kid out there usin' his car to kill people, not that it's such a big deal since [[AcceptableTargets it seems to be your gang he's got it in for.]].. so, if you guys try to take the [[VigilanteMan law into your own hands,]] and that killer turns up dead, I'm gonna see you all sniffin' cyanide in the Arizona gas chamber.

-->'''Skank:''' I don't know, but whoever he is, [[Film/TheThing1982 he's all weird and pissed off.]]

-->'''Skank:''' A what?

* BerserkButton: Played with, Billy Hankins' gets his pushed when he tries to save Keri from Packard. Packard makes [[KickTheDog light of his dead brother]] which causes Billy to snap and pick a fight with Packard. [[EpicFail He doesn't even get one hit on him,]] [[CurbStompBattle as Packard mercilessly beats Billy senseless and kicks him when he's down.]]

* BigNo: Rughead get's one when The Wraith removes his visor prior to shooting up the garage. The face is somewhat hidden, but Rughead is the only one to recognize the man as [[spoiler: Jamie Hankins, who is supposed to be dead.]] His reaction also counts as GoMadFromTheRevelation, as [[spoiler: Skank and Gutterboy's deaths]] finally break him and make him confess his knowledge of [[spoiler: the murder to Loomis.]]

* BerserkButton: Played with, Billy Hankins' get's his pushed when he tries to save Keri from Packard. Packard makes [[KickTheDog light of his dead brother]] which causes Billy to snap and pick a fight with Packard. [[EpicFail He doesn't even get one hit on him,]] [[CurbStompBattle as Packard mercilessly beats Billy senseless and kicks him when he's down.]]

* AgentScully: Loomis even though he seen first hand what The Wraith can do, does not believe that [[spoiler: he's Jamie Hankin's spirit.]]

* ButNowIMustGo: Played with, after [[spoiler: Jake reveals himself to Keri, he goes to say goodbye to Billy and then leaves him the Turbo Interceptor as a replacement for his [[TheAllegedCar Triunph]]. Instead of just outright leaving everyone behind, he takes Keri with him out of town.]]