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Dec 18, 2015 Web Exclusive By Austin Trunick

Wade Parent is the only man who can stop The Car… a customized ‘71 Lincoln Continental driven by Evil itself! Rising out of a cloud of dust on the horizon, The Car cuts a trail of destruction across the desert, terrorizing the people of a small town and the nearby Indian reservation. It’s up to police officer Wade Parent (James Brolin) to stop the sinister machine, to save his city and his family.

The Car is your typical killer car movie (see: Christine, Maximum Overdrive) but it’s just-better-than-average across the board. The film does a commendable job of making the deadly Lincoln intimidating and mysterious, never explain where it came from or the motive behind its murder spree. (Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey is quoted in the film, and even receives an advisor’s credit—it’s heavily implied that The Car is actually The Devil.) The stunts and car chases are pretty tense and well-done—very Mad Max-y—and the cast is more than solid for a b-picture of this caliber. (Kathleen Lloyd plays Parent’s girlfriend, and has her own, fantastic stand-off against the villainous vehicle in a cemetery.)

Scream Factory’s Blu-ray looks and sounds very good, and boasts a fair number of bonus features. The best piece of supplemental material is an interview with director Elliot Silverstein, who discusses the challenges of making a killer car movie. (He was tasked by the studio with making “Jaws on land,” even though hunting a shark in the endless depths of the ocean and a mean-spirited automobile on the few roads of a small town aren’t even in the same ballpark.) Two minor cast members are also interviewed and an assortment of trailers and ads are included. The Car is by no means an essential horror film, but those in the mood to watch people run down by a driverless automobile can do far worse.

www.shoutfactory.com/film/film-horror/the-car

Author rating: 6/10