Jonny's Cult Films: The Car - Blu-Ray Reviewed.

The Car (1977)

“A sleek, possessed black car terrorizes everyone it comes in contact with in a small town in Utah.”

Director:Elliot Silverstein

Writers:Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack

Starring : James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley.

Hello Folks,

Jonny T here with my review of the newly released The Car, A latest release from Arrow Video for the 1st time on Blu-Ray.
The film opens up with a teenage boy and girl out on a sunny days bicycle ride around the mountains who then challenge each other to a race through the tunnels, the scene then switches to a sepia toned POV from inside The Car, Switch back to happy teenagers racing along oblivious to their impending doom! Then comes the music a blatant rip off of Jaws but it’s great and builds up the scene very nicely, So the car catches up with the two teenagers and the 1st one to be taken out is the young lady who is duly scraped along a wall then ousted over the edge, the car then turns it attention to the young man who is literally pedalling for his life but to no avail and is shunted over a super high bridge which is a great scene and a very impressive stunt, so, The Car is on the lose!
We then see James Brolin being playfully awoken in bed by his new girlfriend whilst his 2 daughters listen in threw the door, it turns out that he is a single parent who takes care of his two daughters whilst holding his job as a police officer and has plans to tell the girls that he wants to not get back with his ex-wife but marry his new flame. The next scene we see is bizarre to say the least, there is an apparent young hitchhiker who is sat by a sign in the road that says “Welcome to Santa Ynez” whilst playing a trombone and in the background is a van that says “Danger Explosives “then a man and lady emerges from the house and the man is beating his wife, Then man then notices the guy playing trombone and tells him to stop playing it and then says “I’ll shove that so far up your ass you will be farting music for a year!” to which the guy mocks him back with farting music noises from his mouth, very odd scene indeed!
So the guy is obviously awaiting a passing vehicle to hitch a lift when he sees dust in the distance of an approaching Car, I wonder what it could be?? And yes you’ve guessed it, it’s THE CAR! It drives straight at him full speed but he manages to jump out of the way in the nick of time and gives the car the finger, The Car grinds to a halt and does no less that reverse at high speed and runs over him, not once, not twice but 4 times!
Now James Brolin and his team go to the scene and question the wife beater to what he has seen and gives them a report that conflicts itself, so they know that a guy has been killed by a mysterious car but that’s about all, they then discover later on the bodies of the 2 teens killed earlier, there is a serial killer on the lose but in the form of a car, so is there actually anybody driving the car and where does it come from? There is a possibility that something sinister and supernatural may well be involved when after one of the officers is killed James Brolin interviews an old native Indian lady who basically says “Bad things are coming with the wind” these is apparent when in a great scene there appears to be a sand storm brewing whilst the locals including a brass band and horse parade are practising out on a track for an upcoming festival and in the distance we see the car approaching at high speed ready to slam into all of them, very similar again to Jaws in a see full of people, so do we find out the mysterious origins of the car? You shall just have to view it and find out folks, this is a superb restoration of the print and I remember seeing it back in the day and it was a great watch once again, obvious influences are drawn from the time as in the Jaws and Dual references, also as with the Arrow Video release it has some great extra’s, so if you remember this in a nostalgic way or have yet to see it I would recommend you pick this up,The Car is available now on Blu-Ray from Arrow Video

8/10

Great stuff!

Jonny T.