The Car (1977 film)

The Car is a 1977 American supernatural horror film directed by Elliot Silverstein and written by Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack and Lane Slate. The film stars James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley and Ronny Cox, along with real-life sisters Kim and Kyle Richards (as Brolin's daughters). It tells the story of a black unmanned self-driving mysterious car that goes on a murderous rampage, terrorizing the residents of a small town.
The film was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. A spinoff sequel, The Car: Road to Revenge, was released on January 8, 2019, with Ronny Cox returning in the series.
Two cyclists riding through a canyon are followed down the road by a mysterious matte black car. At a bridge, the car proceeds to crush one cyclist against the wall and ram the other from behind, catapulting him off the bridge. A hitchhiker, hoping to get a ride, encounters the car and insults it after it purposely tries to run him down. It halts to a stop, reverses backwards, and runs him over several times before driving off. The local sheriff's office, called to a series of hit and runs, gets a lead on the car. It appears to be heavily customized and has no license plates, as pointed out by Amos Clemens after he saw it run over the hitchhiker.
That night, after intentionally swerving around Amos, the car instead runs over Sheriff Everett Peck, leaving Chief Deputy Wade Parent in charge. During the resulting investigation, an eyewitness to the accident states there was no driver inside that car, furthering Wade's confusion. Wade asks his girlfriend, Lauren, a teacher at the local school, to cancel the upcoming marching band rehearsals for their safety. Lauren and her friend, the wife of Wade's deputy Luke Johnson, ask him to let them rehearse. Luke unwittingly agrees.
The car enters the town and attacks the school marching band as it rehearses at the local showground. It chases the group of teachers and students into a cemetery. Curiously enough, the vehicle will not enter onto the consecrated ground. Lauren taunts the driver, which no one among the townsfolk have yet seen. Seemingly angered, the car destroys a brick gate post and leaves. The policemen go on a high-speed chase along highways throughout the desert before the car turns on them, destroying several squad cars and killing five of Wade's deputies. None of Wade's bullets put any dents on the car's windshield or tires, much to his surprise. Wade attempts to enter the car when it stops, but discovers it has no door handles. The car's door then opens by itself, knocking Wade unconscious and allowing the car to escape. At the hospital, Wade is consoled by his remaining deputies and Lauren. He later offers to get her some spare clean clothes.
That evening, Lauren is at her home, talking to Wade over the phone, when the enraged car drives straight through her house, killing her. Luke then explains for a grief-stricken Wade killing his girlfriend was an act of revenge for Lauren's insults and notes it apparently did not enter the cemetery because "the ground is hallowed," a biblical reference. Wade ultimately concocts the final plan to defeat the car once-and-for-all in the mega explosions within the canyons that lie outside of the town. After discovering it waiting in his own garage, they are forced to carry out his plans with great haste. Wade is pursued by the car while high-speed riding on his dirt bike into the targeted mountainous canyon where his remaining deputies have set a massive explosives trap.
Right in the final confrontation, Wade and Luke stand still at the edge of a cliff and lure the car into running straight at them. They swiftly jump off both sides as it goes over the cliff, and jump directly into the area with dynamites and bombs, triggering on a huge explosion. A monstrous, demonic visage appears inside the flames, to everyone's shock. Wade refuses to believe what the group saw in the flames despite Luke's insistence.
The film concludes with the car still prowling on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, apparently having survived the explosions, its horn sound still heard distantly.
Dennis C. Salcedo provides the sound effects of The Car.
The evil, black car in the film was a highly customized 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III designed by famed Hollywood car customizer George Barris. There were four cars built for the film in six weeks. Three were used as stunt mules, the fourth for close-ups. The stunt mules were destroyed during production, while the car used for close-up shots is now in a private collection.
The car's bodywork was painted in steel, pearl and charcoal coloring. The windows were laminated in two different shades, smoked on the inside and amber on the outside, so one could see out of it but not into it. In order to give "the car" a "sinister" look as requested by director Elliot Silverstein, Barris made the car's roof four inches lower than usual and altered its side fenders that same length again both higher and longer. According to Silverstein, the distinctive sound the horn of The Car makes spells out the letter X in Morse code, as a meaning of elimination of its victims.
Parts of the film were shot in St. George, Hurricane-LaVerkin Bridge, Zion, Kanab, Crazy Horse Canyon and Glen Canyon in Utah.
Church of Satan leader Anton LaVey is acknowledged as an uncredited technical advisor for the film. The opening credits of the film begins with the quote "Oh great brothers of the night, who rideth upon the hot winds of Hell, who dwelleth in the devil's lair; Move and appear!", which is attributed to LaVey. The quote is a slight alteration of a passage from the "Invocation Employed Towards the Conjuration of Destruction" section in 'The Book of Leviathan: The Raging Sea' within The Satanic Bible. The original quote from The Satanic Bible is “Oh great brothers of the night, thou who makest my place of comfort, who rideth out upon the hot winds of Hell, who dwelleth in the devil's fane; Move and appear!”
The film's main theme, heard predominantly throughout, is a reworked, orchestral version of the Dies Irae. The theme was intentionally made to resemble more Berlioz's 5th part of Symphonie fantastique (itself also inspired by Dies Irae) rather than Dies Irae as it was found to have a more sinister tone than its original counterpart. Moreover, a derivative of the music was also used in the 1991 film Sleeping With The Enemy.
The film was panned by critics, citing poor dialogue and acting. The film holds a 30% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 20 reviews.
Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film "has all the ingredients of a parody, although someone has made the mistake of doing it straight." Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel gave the film one star out of four and wrote, "What's worse than the rotten acting is that 'The Car' makes absolutely no sense as a story. In some scenes the car is presented as a supernatural being, able to materialize at will. In other scenes however, the car is hopelessly realistic. Even more surprising is the poor quality of the film's special effects." Arthur D. Murphy of Variety wrote, " 'The Car' is a total wreck. Story concerns a phantom auto on a killing spree (allegory, anyone?) in a small western town where everybody overacts badly." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film's "various special effects are superior," but stated, "With often laughable dialogue—some of it deleted after previews—the film's appeal is limited to the undiscriminating seeking a new sensation." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it "a blatant, pitiful attempt to recycle elements from superior scare vehicles," namely Duel and Jaws. John Gillett of The Monthly Film Bulletin stated that the film "manages to be a fairly brisk thriller" when the action was focused on the car, but lamented that director Silverstein "has been saddled with one of those small-town family scripts complete with Deputy Sheriff romping with his schoolteacher friend, a drink-and-neurosis-ridden police force, and some generally strained acting by a less than starry cast."
The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.
The Car was released in standard definition and without additional features on VHS and DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment on July 20, 1999. Arrow Films released The Car on Blu-ray on December 15, 2015. The Blu-ray release features the first HD 1080p transfer of the film, as well as commentary and additional features.
In 2019, 42 years after the original film, a spinoff sequel (also starring Ronny Cox, but as a different character) was released called The Car: Road to Revenge to negative reviews by audiences and critics alike.