'WRAITH': A HORROR , FOR SURE
Philadelphia Daily News (PA) - November 24, 1986
Author: BEN YAGODA, Daily News Movie Critic
"The Wraith," a drama starring Charlie Sheen, Nick Cassavetes, Sherilyn Fenn and Randy Quaid. Written and directed by Mike Marvin. Running time: 89 minutes. A New Century Productions release. At area theaters.
The chief contribution of "The Wraith" to the teen/revenge genre is a significant shortening of what could be called the comeuppance quotient - the amount of time that elapses before the sadistically-warped villain starts getting the extremely painful punishment that is his due.
By my unofficial count, it took only 21 minutes before Packard Walsh, this film's sniveling sociopath, began getting zapped by the black Turbo Interceptor that is "The Wraith's" instrument of good. This not only shatters the previous record but suggests whole new horizons for teen/revenge.
Otherwise, the only remotely interesting thing about this mindless exercise is its casting, which displays a fetish about celebrity sons and siblings.
Charlie (son of Martin) Sheen brings new meaning to the word wooden as the automotically avenging wraith (Webster's: "apparition; also: ghost, specter") of a teen murdered by Packard (Nick Cassavetes, son of John C. and Gena Rowlands).
Packard is constantly accompanied by a veritable geek chorus of subhuman sidekicks, among whom number Griffin (son of Ryan) O'Neal and Clint (brother of Ron) Howard. And Randy (brother of Dennis) Quaid is the well-intention ed sheriff who vainly tries to make sense of it all.
Quaid is probably the only member of the entire cast who acquits himself with anything close to honor, but I was most saddened to see what had become of Howard.
Two decades ago, appearing with his brother on "The Andy Griffith Show" and with a bear on "Gentle Ben," he was quite possibly the cutest single person on television. The years have not been kind. In "The Wraith," playing a character named Rughead (and looking the part) he sports a grotesque pompadour and is forced to utter lines like "They were adiosed by the kid in the Turbo" and "Whoever he is, he's weird and p---ed off."
Parental guide: Rated PG-13 for violence, profanity, idiocy
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