Critic Reviews
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
As silly as it sounds, but strangely dull.
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Tom Milne, Time Out
Interminably drawn out, with some good special effects but its characters hauled straight out of the cracker-barrel, it has nowhere near the same minatory charge as Spielberg's Duel.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
The performances are terrible -- thin and overwrought in the manner of actors trying to improvise without an idea in their heads.
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, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Good score, OK crash sequences, and lots of unintentional laughs are the only reasons to sit through this movie.
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Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
silly horror classic
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, Film4
The action centres on a remote Midwestern town where a demonic driverless car terrorizes motorists, pedestrians and, in one of the film's genuinely scary moments, cyclists.
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David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...with a script this silly, it's hard to maintain any sense of horror or suspense.
Read all 7 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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One of the most bizarre films I've ever seen dialogue-wise. The Car is a bit of a take on the killer car genre, which includes Duel and later Christine. It's halfway decent, if not incredibly boring at times. More time is spent by the characters sitting around trying to… More
One of the most bizarre films I've ever seen dialogue-wise. The Car is a bit of a take on the killer car genre, which includes Duel and later Christine. It's halfway decent, if not incredibly boring at times. More time is spent by the characters sitting around trying to figure out what to do and grieving the victims of the killer car than actually building up story, although an attempt IS actually made to do that. It just doesn't work all that successfully. The cutting is quite good when it comes to the action sequences involving the car itself, but most of the time it feels light on excitement. The dialogue itself is just flat out weird and feels out of place constantly. I'm not quite sure what they were going for here or whether they were even aware that the dialogue was odd in the first place, but it IS odd and it sticks out like a sore thumb. The film is scare of blood and gore, but there is some light mayhem, and if you're patient enough to sit through it, you'll find some nice moments and fun action.
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The Car is a pretty good Horror film involving a possessed car terrorizing a small town. This film came a few years after Steven Spielberg's similar Horror thriller, Duel. Duel has been credited of influencing the genre of killer of vehicles. The Car is one of many of these types… More
The Car is a pretty good Horror film involving a possessed car terrorizing a small town. This film came a few years after Steven Spielberg's similar Horror thriller, Duel. Duel has been credited of influencing the genre of killer of vehicles. The Car is one of many of these types of films. I enjoyed this film because it had a great deal of suspense and terror. The acting is pretty good considering this type of film. This film has many good things going for it despite the fact that it's not too original. The Car is always on the prowl to terrorize and kill unsuspecting pedestrians. One of the high points of the film is the car's horn, the sound it makes is very memorable and one of the best things about the film. I don't know why I love this film, but I do. I guess I have a soft spot for these types of films and they have a certain appeal to them that makes them worth watching. Even if it's a simple formula of a possessed evil car killing people, it's pretty entertaining to watch. The Car's influence is as I've said Spielberg's Duel, and with that in mind, this film along with Duel probably influenced Stephen King into writing Christine, another killing car story. Every film of this nature follows basically the same thing, but each one are very fun and thrilling to watch. The Car may not be too original, but for fans of Duel, Jaws, Christine \ and The Hearse, you may be well entertained with this possessed four wheeled killing machine. I know I was and I consider The Car a horror classic.
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A not so great movie, but it's entertaining anyway. The plot is very simple, and the story is kind of bare, and silly too. Even so, it was fun to watch.
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I'd heard about this over the years, but it sounded a little hokey. Finally ran across it, and, yes, it is pretty hokey, but it's really not bad, especially considering it's more than 30 years old. The dialog is probably the weakest part of the film, and their are… More
I'd heard about this over the years, but it sounded a little hokey. Finally ran across it, and, yes, it is pretty hokey, but it's really not bad, especially considering it's more than 30 years old. The dialog is probably the weakest part of the film, and their are some ambitious storylines going on behind the main story which are, well, pretty weak too. Still, all that being said, it's pretty suspenseful.
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Opening with a quote from the irrelevant Anton La Vey, The Car looks like what someone would have come up with after seeing the success of Duel and Jaws, and combined the two. The car was designed by George Barris, and is a hulking brute of a thing, with massive bumpers and… More
Opening with a quote from the irrelevant Anton La Vey, The Car looks like what someone would have come up with after seeing the success of Duel and Jaws, and combined the two. The car was designed by George Barris, and is a hulking brute of a thing, with massive bumpers and headlights like staring eyes.
Proof that you can get away with plenty of plot absurdities (somewhat) if you explain them away with the supernatural. All in all The Car played out like a fun compilation of vehicular kill sequences. Sure there wasn't much depth to the film and some might find it silly, but now that I think about it, anybody renting a horror film called The Car should know what to expect. Still fun, even if for nostalgic reasons, seeing this again after many years has inspired me to install the same car horn and target slow drivers in the left lane.
<a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view¤t=thecar6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/thecar6.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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Made in 1977 this film features James Brolin as the sheriff of a quaint desert town that's being terrorized by one very cool looking black sedan that just appears out of nowhere. The Car has no driver, no motive, and no mercy as a tag line for the film reads
I thought the… More
Made in 1977 this film features James Brolin as the sheriff of a quaint desert town that's being terrorized by one very cool looking black sedan that just appears out of nowhere. The Car has no driver, no motive, and no mercy as a tag line for the film reads
I thought the pacing in this movie was pretty good and that all of the actors did a fine job. This is a prime example of what 1970s drive-in horror was all about, so if these kinda films are your thing its worth checking out.
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Silly desert-themed movie about a demonic car. It has some frightening scenes, but it's now very dated.
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In many ways it is a similar kind of story to "Christine" though the Stephen King effort was even sillier.
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A backwater town is terrorized by a demonic black sedan in an entertainingly silly 70s B-movie horror. Not as good as the rather more adult Duel, but a lot more fun than the overly po-faced and humourless Christine.
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After watching the History Channel the other night and seeing the pilot for the cool new series entitled Canadian Restoration, where a customer bought a Lincoln Mark III and wanted the guys at the shop to literally transform it into the car from The Car, i immediatly re-watched the… More
After watching the History Channel the other night and seeing the pilot for the cool new series entitled Canadian Restoration, where a customer bought a Lincoln Mark III and wanted the guys at the shop to literally transform it into the car from The Car, i immediatly re-watched the movie as i havent seen this one since i was in my teens quite some time ago. I had my 12 year old son watch it with me and he sighed thinking it was yet another one of my 70's cheesy movies. It didn't take him long to get right into this as i had told him it's not your average 70's movie, in fact it's actually quite good and suspenseful. He ended up enjoying it just as much as i did upon seeing it when i was around his age. James Brolin is the sheriff of a small western town that gets a visiter in the form of a huge boat of a car with red tinted windows. This car after picking off a couple of the townsfolk starts a cat and mouse game with Sheriff Wade (Brolin)
After seeing with his own eyes that this car is indeed pretty much doing the impossible and hearing from an old indian woman that there was no driver inside, the boys of the Sheriff's dept learn very quickly that this car could be possessed by an evil spirit?? I know it sounds hoky but you have to check this one out if you get chance cause it's an actuall dandy of a thriller!
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Kind of fun possessed car horror film. You got James Brolin as the sheriff of a small desert town plagued by a killer car from nowhere. Notable for some pretty surprisingly good cinematography, and couple of "wow" moments, and many "daylight" kills, which you… More
Kind of fun possessed car horror film. You got James Brolin as the sheriff of a small desert town plagued by a killer car from nowhere. Notable for some pretty surprisingly good cinematography, and couple of "wow" moments, and many "daylight" kills, which you don't see a lot in horror.
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classic horror movie of the 70s..original...the car had a life and personality of its own....anytime I hear that horn sounding....i think of that CAR...low budget for sure, but done well!
Read all 12 featured audience ratings
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