Draculas Todesrennen

The spanish revival home owned by Marc Denne in the film is actually located at 1 Peppertree Drive in Palos Verdes, California. The home known as "Villa Francesca" identifies the estate of Harry E. Benedict (1890-1977). Mr. Benedict, an associate of Frank A. Vanderlip, the initial developer of 16,000 acres of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, completed the gatehouse and the farmstead in 1930. The name "Villa Francesca" honors Mrs. Francis Homberg Benedict, his wife. The architect was Gordon B. Kaufmann, one of Southern California's masters of the Mediterranean style. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Not a bad mix of horror and massive car-crashing B-movie - for better appreciation, you see the crashes twice, once in parts, injected into the story, once mostly blocked and through some sauna haze. One point I could not figure out is that the initial accident of Mr & Mrs Denne seems to be already caused by the black Camaro.

Historically, this seems to be the first movie Charles Band directed under his own name. As some funny parallel, Steven Spielberg's first was "Duel" (1971) in which a demonious truck chases cars off the road... I was thrilled to see that Charles Band had also acted, 15 years before, in "La leggenda di Enea" (1962).

As several users asked for DVD availability: I bought it yesterday (at EUR 1 you don't risk much). German sound only (German title "Draculas Todesrennen" which isn't such a bad fit), no frills, Laser Paradise 1997889, production year not evident. Colors and sharpness are not perfect (maybe the DVD was made from older video tape), but OK to watch.

CRASH! Is the second directed feature from Charles Band, best known as the prolific director and producer behind Empire and Full Moon, and his first foray into the horror genre. This one's about a woman involved in a car accident who appears to be under the influence of/is possessed by a weird religious idol, and the wheelchair-bound Jose Ferrer has to try to figure out what's going on. There are definite vibes of THE OMEN in this low budget production, which is mainly based around a series of B-movie style car stunts and explosions. The plot is join-the-dots basic but mildly diverting, and John Carradine pops up as a typical eccentric. The best scenes are those featuring the possessed heroine which ably recall the shudders of THE EXORCIST, but otherwise this is unremarkable.

I got this movie from a good friend of mine. I have been on the look out for it for years, this is a pretty rare title, so I was very fortune that he fund it for me in Germany, on a Frensh Secam VHS tape. This French Languages version is unfortunately edit down. The entire dream sequence in the beginning of the movie is cut, but one cool thing is, this version is in widescreen. A few years later on I got the English UK VHS version, as far as I know, this this version is uncut. With both editions the picture is a little dusty, but the sound is OK. I have been a big fan of Charlie Band for more than 10 years now and Crash! was one of the very last of he's films to make my collection complete. I have been reading reviews about this movie before I finally got my hands on it and I must say, I was not disappointed. I think this is a great film, I just love the music in it, absolutely wonderful, mind you, this is a really strange film, even for Charlie. If you are a fan of Empire/Full Moon or just like 1970's horror, this is worth a look. I remember Crash! was on the release list some years ago, but never got out on DVD or laser disc. I emailed Charlie about this two years ago and he told me that he would love to re-release it to DVD, but unfortunately he did not own the rights anymore. This film is hard to come by, but as another IMDb user wrote, you can order it from Germany. This version should be in widescreen too, with German Languages. I have not jet seen this DVD, so I can not comment on the quality. Anyway hope you find this little gem, and enjoy it as much as I.

This combination of occult-horror and speeding car chase film somewhat effectively merges two of the more popular genres of the 1970s. I saw this back in 1977 when it first came out on a hunch that it might be fun, and it was the only horror flick playing at the time. As I remember, Jose Ferrer is an invalid with a younger wife, and she wanted to get rid of him, and visa versa. Somehow an occult figurine with evil spirits within comes into play and takes control of a Camaro/Firebird speedster, and goes around wrecking other cars and offing folks without a dent of it's own. Obviously a Charles Band low budget take on other slicker studio occult horror such as THE CAR. It's a good example of the Charles Band exploitation style and I remember it being fast-paced and fun, without any real memorable moments, but a nice way to spend a couple of hours, and made before Band started to become a bit pretentious. However, I have not yet been able to find a copy of it in any format anywhere yet! Any ideas out there?