Monday, October 04, 2010

The Car


(1977) **

“Oh great brothers of the night who rideth upon the hot winds of hell, who dwelleth in the Devil's lair; move and appear,"

A small, rural town in Utah is menaced by a large, mysterious coupe that appears out of nowhere one summer afternoon. The motives for the car remain unclear but at least one of the town’s denizen’s remarks that there was no driver at the wheel. The car finds no shortage of people to run over including a parade and a carnival. After the town’s sheriff is mowed down his deputy, a handsome James Brolin takes over the job. The coupe seems to enjoy fucking with Brolin, even showing up in his garage at one point. After Brolin experiences some personal loss he makes it his mission to end the reign of the black menace.



The Car was clearly influenced by Spielberg’s “Duel” and by “influenced” I mean ripped-off, but the results are good old fashioned, stupid fun. As near as I can tell the small town where the action takes place has a population of about 40; why the Prince of Darkness would choose this place as his stomping ground makes little sense. I would suggest he go to NYC but then the poor bastard would spend half his time stuck in traffic. Another question that might pop up during your viewing of The Car is why would such a small town have such a large police force? At one time I counted 10 deputies. The Car is one of those silly movies where people keep finding themselves standing in the middle of deserted streets only to be mowed down by a large, loud, horn-honking vehicle that makes its presence known long before it arrives. In all of the “car menace” films it seems like the easiest solution would be to go where a car could not reach you. I always find it amusing that people run down the street while being chased instead of running off to the side. I suppose that would just hurt the car’s feelings in a “Heeeeeeeeeeeeey” kind of way. Silly fun.

7 comments:

Catfreeek said...

"I always find it amusing that people run down the street while being chased instead of running off to the side." ~No kidding! That's one of the things that causes me to yell at the tv. For cryin' out loud, climb a fucking tree or run into some mud. Jeeeeeez!

50PageMcGee said...

the car's lack of door handles truly underscores the horrific reality that it is possessive of its own diabolical intelligence.

and everything else i've heard about this movie truly underscores my lack of interest in seeing it.

Whirlygirl said...

"I would suggest he go to NYC but then the poor bastard would spend half his time stuck in traffic."

That's one funny line. Your review was full of them.

JPX said...

Love the new avatar, Whirly!

DKC said...

This whole review cracked me up.

Landshark said...

What's with that awesome poem at the beginning? Ha!

The first line sounds like a Meat Loaf lyric.

Octopunk said...

Ha! Great review of a flick made for Horrorthon.

So I'm really pleased you watched this, but speaking of "Heeeeeeeeeeeeey" you used the exact same two pictures I used! Heeeeyyyyyyy.

Nah, I'm kidding. When I looked for pix those were the only two decent ones I could find.

Your NYC hate is wicked funny.

Malevolent

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