The Wraith (1986)

"Roadblocks can't stop something that can't be stopped." - Sheriff Loomis

A mysterious driver challenges a gang of punks.
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Nick Cassavetes, Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid, and cars

Link to IMDB

Jake,
barely in this movie

Jake is the new cool guy in an Arizona town and it takes approximately 10 seconds for him to find trouble. The streets are ruled by a psychopath named Packard and his drug-addled punk friends, and these clowns are always looking for a fight or a new car to steal. Packard is a true scumbag, and it's established that he's even murdered people that got in his way.

Jake meets a girl named Keri and they instantly like each other, but of course she's actually dating Packard, who viciously controls her like a piece of property. This puts Jake on the top of Packard's shit list!

It turns out that Jake isn't the only fresh face in town, because there's also a new mysterious car driven by an unknown man in a black leather disguise. As soon as Packard sees the car he wants to claim it for himself, so one of his thugs races the car through the desert but they both explode in a fiery crash! The mystery car magically reconstructs itself and vanishes without a trace!!

Packard

We are left clueless, assuming that Jake and the mystery man (referred to as the Wraith) are the same person but there's no confirmation on this, and the car seems to be a ghost or alien because it appeared from the sky in a ball of light during the opening credits.
The origin of the Wraith is slowly and awkwardly revealed, which does nothing except add to the surmounting confusion and a realization that Jake has been entirely removed from the story for the last 50 minutes!
Dear movie, what are you doing!?

This is one of those movies that assumes you read the entire spoiler-filled plot synopsis on the back of the VHS box, because it leaves many things unexplained or incoherent in the actual viewing.

Anyways, the Wraith continues to strike fear into Packard and his goons as it drives them off the road and destroys their cars with a powerful gun. Sheriff Loomis is trying to find the cause of all this mayhem, but the Wraith can never be found... There's not really any plot and most of the time is spent with the annoyingly slimy punks, so it actually gets pretty damn boring.

"When you feel nothing, you can do anything." - Packard

Sheriff Loomis                                                        Keri

There are some good action chase scenes and the experienced cast do a decent job, but there's no protagonists to root for (except maybe Keri.) It's hard to imagine a lack of entertainment so profound when the premise is seemingly foolproof for a fun time. It's got explosions, cheeseburgers and fast cars... but it all feels too formulaic and cliché.
There's a whole lot of pointless and confusing elements sprinkled throughout, which makes the movie feel like it's a graveyard where rejected ideas from other movies have come to die.

Be sure not to miss:
- The sheriff has some very unique insults for the punks.
- The car is named the "Turbo Interceptor" and that is cool.
- Rughead is played by the great Clint Howard, and his crazy wig was inspired by Eraserhead.

Internet review:
"It isn’t good, it isn’t bad... but it is weird." - Roscow

Should I watch it?
It's fun, but suffers from being mediocre.

Where can I find it?
Links here.

The Wraith gets...