15 Greatest Guilty Pleasure Movies Of The 1980s

1988's teen horror/car chase movie The Wraith is another of those ones which, from the premise alone, you know could only have been made in that decade.

A small Arizona town is shaken by the arrival of a helmet-clad street racer; kitted out all in black and driving in an ultra-sleek, hi-tech black sports car, the unidentified stranger sets about taking on - and taking out - members of a car-stealing gang.

As both he and the car are seemingly indestructible, it soon becomes apparent that this enigmatic driver has supernatural powers, and seeks revenge for those involved in the murder of a local teen some time earlier. Could the street-racing wraith in fact be the murdered teen reborn?

As patently absurd as the idea of a phantom sports car is, The Wraith plays it all incredibly straight, seemingly intent on being a serious take on adolescent street crime; Nick Cassavetes, to his credit, is genuinely sinister as the head villain.

However, through a combination of corny writing and awkward performances - notably from Charlie Sheen and Sherilyn Fenn, who both seem slightly embarrassed to be there - The Wraith winds up utterly impossible to take seriously.

Even so, it's very hard not to watch that ridiculous space age vehicle hurtling down the desert roads to the sound of 80s rock, and not think it's at least a bit cool.