Damn, this was terrible. Which is what I expected when I stumbled across it on Netflix, but it's even dumber than I figured it would be.
Mysterious car terrorizes a town somewhere in the desert. Car is impervious to bullets, but can't go on hallowed ground. Does not appreciate being cursed at, or perhaps does not appreciate the implication there's someone at the wheel. There's a point where it looks like a pair of cop cars have it beat because they're blocking the road, so the car goes into a roll (where you can see the car is getting damaged), it rolls over both cars (which explode instantly), and then drives out of the explosion unharmed.
I'm pretty sure there wasn't even an attempt at an explanation of why the car showed up there or what it's after, if anything. Why it doesn't kill James Brolin's character when he's standing right in front of it. It's the first time they've interacted, so it can't be that he somehow impressed it, and the car decided this dumbshit redneck cop, riding his motorcycle without a helmet whether he's taking his daughters to school or is in hot pursuit, is the challenge it craves.
The movie reminds me of Jaws in a way. Just a killing machine that humans are largely powerless to resist until they get desperate and angry enough to get stupid. There's even the poor decision to continue with the usual community activity after four deaths, which almost ends in tragedy. The car is not nearly as good as Jaws was at killing people, given the number of targets available. So many children and overweight moms fleeing on foot, on a dirt racetrack, and the car got none of them. Loser.
3 comments:
There was a brief flurry of killer car movies around this time, and you'd think they would all be inspired by Christine but no, that came out in 1983, long after this one. We even got The Hearse before then. Weird.
Maybe they are all influenced by Duel.
Ha! Man, I remember seeing this on TV, late 70s, early 80s. There's a definite Jaws vibe here, coupled with Duel, but with the not going on to hallowed ground and (if I'm remembering this rightly) the demonic face in the flames at the end, they seemed to want to channel The Omen as well, implying there's something Satanic about it. Having your cake and eating it, I guess.
Now I want to watch it again!
Kelvin: Christine was my first thought when I saw it, but like you said, this came first. I hadn't thought of Duel, but that's an interesting point. I haven't watched that movie in a long time.
Gary: I think I might not have been looking at the screen when the demonic face popped up. I remember a lot of very dark fire, and kinda drew an inference from that and the one deputy yelling if anyone else saw that.
I don't think I've ever watched The Omen. For some reason the whole "Satanic horror" thing isn't really my deal, compared to other types of horror.
Post a Comment