The movie begins with a young man named "George" (Steven Eckholdt) down a lonely highway somewhere in Arizona with his girlfriend. Suddenly, a group of cars appear and force him to stop. It's then that a man named "Packard Walsh" (Nick Cassavetes) comes up to him and threatens George with physical violence to his girlfriend unless he agrees to race his car against that of Packard's--with the loser having to forfeit their car. Packard wins and both George and his girlfriend are subsequently left out in the middle of nowhere to fend for themselves. The scene then shifts to another young man named "Jake Kesey" (Charlie Sheen) riding a motorcycle in the town of Brooks, Arizona and asking a pretty young woman named "Keri Johnson" (Sherilyn Fenn) for directions. She offers to show him but as soon as she gets on the motorcycle Packard drives up and tells her to get in his car. She obediently gets in even though is is apparent she wants nothing to do with him. But Packard's days of bullying everybody in town is about to be challenged by a mysterious man driving a sleek black Turbo Interceptor who challenges certain members of Packard's gang to race against him one-on-one. What they don't know is that it isn't their cars that this mysterious figure is after—but rather their lives. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I remember watching this movie in the theater when it first came out and I rather liked it as it had a decent horror plot enhanced by some pretty good action scenes. Admittedly, some parts were kind of hokey but all things considered I found the overall film to enjoyable enough and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

A small desert town has been harassed for months by a gang of drag racers, but so far no one has done anything to stop them. One day, a ghostly black car shows up, challenging members of the group to race, then killing them one by one. Neither the gang nor the police can catch the car or its driver, but some investigating into the gang's past may reveal just who's behind all this....If you want a film showcasing Charlie Sheen's talents from 1986, seek out Platoon, because even though plays the titular character, he hardly has any screen time.This is Nick Cassavettes film through and through, and he is wonderful as the main villain. Of course the film references Ghost Rider and The Crow, but it feels more like Repo Man in some scenes of the film.The Wraith is a very strange creature, wearing calipers for no no good reason, and has moments standing high on mountains not doing very much at all.Fenn is also quite wonderful as basically Cassavettes punch bag, and the rest of his motley crew look like extras from The Road warrior, another film this references.The car is pretty amazing, and surprisingly, the cinematography is pretty beautiful when we are out in the desert.Randy Quaid pops up as the sheriff, and chews up the scenery whenever he appears.It's a good old eighties classic, with a cool soundtrack, cooler hair, and Clint Howard with the coolest hair in the world ever.

It amazing at how the film moves along, doesn't get sidetracked, and presents a very interesting camp fire style story.The film is centers around the arrival in town of Jake. Jake quickly befriends Billy Hankins and Keri Johnson. However, by doing this, he runs afoul of Packard Walsh.Walsh is a charismatic, yet evil leader of a gang of thugs who race and cheat people out of their cars. They are desert rats who feel they own the roads.As we learn, they are also murderers. Not long ago, they brutally murdered Jamie Hankins, as he was having sex with the afore mention Keri Johnson, a girl that Packard desires, and will stop at nothing to make sure she is his for life.As the gang challenges Billy Hankins to a race,a black turbo interceptor pulls up. The challenge is on, and gang member Augie Fisher is more than happy to take him on.Instead, Augie becomes the first victim, because they aren't racing your average driver. They are racing a spirit that has returned to Earth to avenge his own death. Augie crashes over the cliff, and his car becomes a twisted, burning wreck.WHen he is pulled from the car, his body is unmarked, but his eyes are missing. This is soon the fate for another member of Packard's gang, Minty. Skank and Gutter boy are killed when the Wraith crashes into the gang's garage. However, the Wraith doesn't kill Rughead, since Rughead had nothing to do with his murder.The wraith finds Packard, standing with a knife, ready to kill Keri. The Wraith challenges Packard to a race. It's a race to the death that climaxes with both cars crashing into each other, causing a massive explosion.Jake meets up with Keri, and has now revealed his true identity. He is in fact Jamie Hankins, and has returned so that he and Keri could be together. After dropping off the turbo to Billy Hankins (who after Jake/Jamie leaves, has now figured out that the Wraith was indeed his deceased brother).The film closes out with Jamie and Keri driving off into the desert, finally able to fulfill their destiny of being together.

The wraith is a racing/horror movie with some decent action.i found this movie to be quite entertaining. there were some mistakes such as when they were taking the pink slips, but no cops. the music in this movie is probably one of the best sound tracks i have heard in a racing movie. the characters in this movie are likable and even in the car gang you are able to like something about there characters. this movie was a little predictable in the death and racing scenes, such has how he stops in front of the cars and kills them and saves the leader for last and kills him in a different way than the rest. they don't explain why he didn't let the body's burn and why did he take there eyes.I would recommend this to people that like racing movies and light horror in movies,but i would rent this and watch it with a couple of friends at night.