Monster of the Day #46

Updated on June 15, 2010 By Ken Begg 23 Comments

I saw this as a kid at the venerable Pickwick Theater, right across the street from where I work today.  On a whim, I picked this–which I hadn’t seen since 1977–for my Halloween movie party feature presentation last year.  It was pretty popular, offering as it did a nice mix of some pretty good stuff (especially the final 20 minutes or so) topped with thick, gooey servings of pure ’70s cheese.

I noticed the film was produced by Universal, which is the studio my friends who show movies at the Portage has a deal with.   So I began campaigning for this film to be run there.  Sure enough, the guy who runs the programs says it will be featured during Halloween week, when they do multiple shows throughout the week.  It will be doubled billed with Duel.

I think you can imagine where I’ll be spending that evening.

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  • Ericb

    The big question for this monster is, full service or self service?

  • Arthur

    I hate to be the one to say it, but which film is this from? I don’t recognise that car at all.

  • OTL

    Arthur, it’s the car from… er, “The Car”. (Truly, they spent many a nanosecond coming up with that title…) :D

  • KeithB

    Hmm, what would be the picture of the monster in Duel? The truck or the cowboy boots?

  • why aren’t they triple-billing it with Christine?

  • TongoRad

    To heck with Christine- Killdozer would be a much better fit!

    There was another made-for-TV movie featuring a cool-ass car called The California Kid that would work as well. You would have to broaden the definition of ‘monster’ a bit, though, to include corrupt small town officials, in this case one portrayed awesomely by the legendary Vic Morrow.

  • actually now that I’m thinking about it, it seeems clear that this needs to be double-featuered with The Love Bug. Duh.

  • BeckoningChasm

    Sandy – yeah, Lindsay Lohan is pretty terrifying, but you want your audience to feel entertained, not brutalized.

  • BeckoningChasm

    Also, in a bad movie version of the Pixar “Cars” film, this can would be the evil boss. The Joker truck from Maximum Overdrive would be his chief henchman. “Do you think I’m funny? Do I amuse you?”

  • Rock Baker

    The Car, Killdozer, Duel, The California Kid, I think I see my weekend taking shape! (Sadly, I don’t have quick access to a print of Duel!)

    Seems like there were quite a few killer cars during this period, but I can’t recall that many titles. I did see a trailer once for a killer car flick that was about a guy who could transfer his soul into various objects, after being killed in a hit and run I think. The only element I strongly recall because it was so wild was a possesed wheelchair trying to kill a mean ol guard dog. Does anyone know what this thing was called? It was from the 70s or very, very early 80s.

  • See? Now you’re just making up stuff to pull our chains.

  • Clearly this is the movie you mean, WHICH I MUST SEE NOW!!

    (Actually, it is available on Ioffer on DVDR. Maybe I’ll grab a copy, although I’m trying to watch the old wallet these days.)

  • See, Rock? Now you’ve made Ken an accomplice in your lies. I remember back in 96 when Ken clearly invented the movie “The Uninvited” out of whole cloth and now it’s happening again.

  • I even invented a fake dealer on Ioffer who is selling tons of incredibly ’70s obscurities that would normally make me drool, just to add this one fake film in there and thus lend verisimilitude to my fabrications. All for naught, though. Curse your perspicuity, Sandy Petersen!

  • Rock Baker

    Yes, that must be the film! (Must be? It can only be! How many killer wheelchair movies are out there?) I have a copy of a movie called Crash! that’s a 70s TV movie of the Airport-ripoff variety (I love those things by the way), and I might’ve overlooked the weird killer car movie forever if you hadn’t shown me that review. So thanks, Ken! (Not that it looks likely I’ll ever actually see it! Crash looks to be more elusive than the old bigfoot movies I try to collect)

  • James Brolin takes on an unstoppable entity of pure evil. A murderous machine with a loud, piercing voice and a thirst for human blood.

    But enough about him and Barbara Streisand.

    I loved this movie as a kid and was I thrilled when Ertl released a scale replica of The Car a few years ago. I still have it and it is shelved along side my collection of American Graffitti cars. If your ever near St Louis Ken, wing your way over to nearby St Charles and you can see it for yourself.

  • Rock Baker

    “Not that it looks likely I’ll ever actually see it! Crash looks to be more elusive than the old bigfoot movies I try to collect” Oops! I meant Crash! Can’t forget the !

  • Ericb

    You know in 100 years there will be a small subculture of people who will remember and treasure Crash!. On the other hand, the Oscar winning Crash will be completely forgotten.

  • No better proof of the essential fairness of the universe exists.

  • Aussiesmurf

    One of my favourite ever Jabootu reviews was the extended riff on ‘Wheels of Terror’, one of the most naked rip-offs of Duel of all time.

  • professorKettlewell

    All this, and still no love for “I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle”

    Ingrates.

  • sandra

    Are you talking about David Cronenberg’s CRASH ? I didn’t like it the first time I saw it because most of the sex was, well, mechanical. Then I realised that was the point :-D. I liked it better on second viewing.

  • TongoRad

    I just got back from seeing ‘Toy Story 3″ and I must say- Ned Beatty just did the finest R. G. Armstrong immitation that I ever heard; I could’ve sworn it was him doing the voice of that bear and boy was I surprised when the credits rolled. Armstrong, of course, always seemed to show up in these types of TV movies or shows, or westerns, in the 70’s and 80’s, and he was indeed featured in ‘The Car’.