1976 Directed by Charles Band
Jealous invalid husband tries to kill sexy blond wife, who uses occult powers and devices to try to kill him.
Death Ride, Draculas Todesrennen, Akaza, the God of Vengeance
The young trophy wife of wheelchair bound José Ferrer bypasses vinyl copies of The Tubes' debut album and "Hotter Than Hell" by KISS at a local swap-meet, in order to pick up a bizarre talisman instead (from Reggie Nalder, no less)...and justifiably spends the rest of the film cursed and possessed as a result.
Released in January of '77, and beating that same year's "The Car" to the big screen, this 'possessed automobile' film entry isn't as good, but it's nearly as fun. It's also quite the mess...essentially feeling like two different films in one: one taking it's influence from the likes of Spielberg's popular TV movie "Duel", the other cashing in on that era's popularity in demonic possession-themed films.…
Day 7. Exclamation in the title.
Like 2 films running through eachother. I was a little slow in seeing the connection between the driverless killer car and the girls story. It delivered great CRASH 💥 SMASH. Loads of cars were smashed in this.
I look at my Jason Voorhees keyring, cut my finger and say Casa Acaza (or something along those lines).
Several years before he made a whole bunch of films starring puppets, Charles Band directed this strange mix of a horror thriller and car crash heavy action movie named Crash! A resentful wheelchair bound man blames his wife, who looks old enough to be his daughter, for his predicament and after having enough of her sends his dog out to murder her while she's driving. She crashes and gets severely injured, but while in recovery from her injuries and amnesia she bleeds on the fetish/voodoo doll she recently purchased which possesses her and sends her Camaro convertible on a path of destruction back to her...I think.
It's kinda poorly slapped together at times, but this is one pretty entertaining flick…
Crash Movies Ranked:
1. David Cronenberg
2. Charles Band
3. Paul Haggis
Plays like a Roger Corman movie and not Empire/Full Moon. Involves an evil totem and lots of car crashes. Wouldn’t have assumed they had the money to blow up so many cars but apparently they did. Lots and lots of destruction. The synopsis says 50 cars get destroyed and that sounds about right.
This might be the most enjoyment I've yet been able to drain from an objectively 3-star-level film. We have here something about a jilted wife, a cursed Hittite talisman, a kooky archvillain with a head full of harebrained schemes, red demon eyes, a driverless car weaving a trail of destruction, liberal use of a fish eye lens and a plot-significant dog attack (all of the things I love). From what I've seen, Band's earlier stuff must have been heavier on technique, since there's a lot more atmosphere, action fast-cutting and foreboding long and panning shots than I expected. It's also prime 70s' aesthetics: swank jazz fusion and spacey synths, classic cars on the road, striped shirts and flat-ironed hair, sun-drenched…
It's not surprising to me (and I doubt it is to you either) that I loved this movie which seems to get some hate based on filmmaking technique alone. I've said it about other movies and I'll say it again, if you hate this movie because of editing and stuff than you're missing the entire point of watching a movie like this.
This is pure exploitation. For most of the movie it seems like two separate movies are happening at once. One with a posessed car wreaking havoc on the highway and one with a man trying to kill his wife. The car plot gives us a reason to watch a ton of amazing car crashes while the marital murder…
I mean, where do I even begin with this film? Of all the first time watches I’ve had thus far in 2021 (and I’ve had some bangers), this is up there with the very best.
Vengeful keychains, exploding vehicles that ignite at the slightest touch, a scumbag husband with a murderous dog... and I’ve not even got to the possessed car yet.
What I love about films such as these, especially from the late 70s and early 80s, there is an earnestness and sincerity to the performances from all involved. It would have been easy to dismiss the material as cheap B-Movie Schlock (it is directed by Charles Band after all), and whilst they aren’t exactly award winning, they are…
Charles Band’s Duel, I guess, but with half a dozen more exploding vehicles. 💥 Definitely does not earn its self-awarded exclamation point.
Almost high art compared to what we think of as Chuckie Band films now. It's goofy and a mess of storytelling, but it's audacious enough to be pretty fun. A husband and wife are trying to kill each other, basically. One uses a Doberman and one uses a possessed car, and at times you can't make out which one's using which. But it'll be goldamned if you don't admire every fucking nanosecond of the vehicular mayhem, some of which you can tell they barely had a handle on when filming, such as almost taking out a house and its family of onlookers.
Tally:
34 crashed cars/trucks/vans (33 of those shown twice)
8 explosions (6 of those shown twice)
1 crashed motorcycle (shown twice)
1 crashed boat (shown twice)
1 crashed semi trailer (shown twice)
2 wheelchairs gone wild
1 terrible parking job
1 wheelchair gently nudged off a cliff by a car
While there is no doubt that the film delivers on it's title (more of which later) you probably aren't expecting this to be what amounts to a possessed killer car movie. Because that's what it is, preceding The Car by just a few months, although this isn't even close in terms of quality.
The story sees José Ferrer trying to knock off his much younger wife Sue Lyon, believing her to be unfaithful. Instead she's left in a coma after an accident and with a missing memory, but still with a little occult idol she picked up from Reggie Nalder at a swap meet which enables her to call her car back to her to enact revenge on her husband.…
