Draculas Todesrennen

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.

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?

Be prepared for lots of vehicular carnage and lots of impressive fireballs in this goofy combination of possession themed horror and car-crash action fare. Most genre fans are likely to be more familiar with "The Car" (from the same year as this one) and the Stephen King adaptation "Christine", so "Crash!" could use a little more exposure.

Jose Ferrer stars as Marc Denne, hateful towards his hot young wife Kim (Sue "Lolita" Lyon) because he holds her responsible for the fact that he's now a cripple. He tries to arrange for her death, but unknown to him, she's acquired an unusual small figurine at a swap meet, one that possesses weird powers. At the same time, a mysterious, black, driver less convertible has appeared and is sometimes killing motorists.

Marc Marais wrote the silly script for this nonsensical but diverting B picture. The cast deserves credit for treating it with such straight faces. The plot isn't fleshed out all that well, but in this kind of low budget entertainment, that usually isn't too much of a concern. This plot tends to take a back seat to weirdness and mayhem, anyway. The filmmaking is fairly crude overall, although it's nice that producer / director Charles Band and his cinematographers, Andrew Davis and Bill Williams, shot this in Panavision. Utilizing the Panavision aspect ratio always gives a bigger look to smaller budgeted pictures, something Bands' peer John Carpenter knew very well. The music score by Andrew Belling feels very '70s at times, but it's fun, and atmospheric. There isn't much in the way of special effects, which is probably just as well. Those frequent explosions *are* pretty over the top, and cool to watch.

Co-star John Ericson is utterly stiff as concerned, well meaning doctor Gregg Martin, but Ferrer is a treat to watch, with Lyon trying her hardest as the young wife. Leslie Parrish is likewise sincere as nurse Kathy Logan, and Jerome Guardino is okay as Pegler, the obligatory "detective on the case" character. Band appears uncredited as a helpful motorist; John Carradine and especially Reggie Nalder have great cameos.

There's nothing really special here, but "Crash!" is still worth seeking out for B picture completists.

Six out of 10.

Not to be confused with Cronenberg's sex drive epic, this is Charles Band mixing demonic possession with car crashes. Housewife Kim Denne (Sue Lyon, far away from LOLITA [1962]) is shacked up with bitter professor Marc Denne (José Ferrer). Wait, is this a LOLITA sequel? Anyway, he is angry because she caused an accident where he has to use a wheelchair a lot of the time. So when she buys him a African-looking trinket (from Reggie Nalder at a flea market; never buy from Nalder!), he rejects it and moves forward with his plan of having his Doberman pinscher kill her while she is driving in a convertible (!). She survives, but is hospitalized with no memory and refusing to release the tiny mystical idol. Somehow it possesses her and her car (!), which rumbles around town driver-less and causes tons of crashes. I'm willing to bet Band's second feature came together after someone showed him the crazy gimmick car that looks like it has no one driving it. Oh, and after he watched THE EXORCIST (1973). Surprisingly, this beat THE CAR to theaters by a few months. The film makes absolutely no sense, but is worth seeing for some crazy car stuff. So at least he delivered on the title.

A young woman (Lyon) innocently purchases a mysterious idol-trinket that remarkably helps her in dealing with her bitter crippled husband (Ferrer), specifically in the form of a possessed black Camaro. John Ericson plays the concerned doctor and Leslie Parrish her nurse. John Carradine has a negligible role.

"Crash!" (1976) is the second movie by 'B' filmmaker Charles Band (and arguably his first). It's basically a less competent (and more obscure) version of "The Car" and technically beat that one to release. Both would inspire the superior "Christine" and all were likely influenced by "Killdozer."

While I'm giving this mid-70's oddity a relatively low grade due to non-sensical storytelling, questionable filmmaking, lousy acting (particularly Ericson) and totally unconvincing vehicle explosions, it has its highlights for those interested. For instance, the red-eyed 'possession' scenes are well done and very creepy. So, yeah, it's a bad movie, but it has its points of interest and is strangely compelling despite its glaring flaws.

Lyon is best known as the alluring teen in "Lolita" and "The Night of the Iguana." Here, she was 30 years-old during shooting and too thin IMHO. As for Parrish, you might remember her from her notable part in the Star Trek episode "Who Mourns of Adonais" from a decade prior.

While my title blurb describes this as "The Dukes of Hazzard meets The Exorcist," the Dukes of Hazzard wouldn't even debut for another 2.5 years when this was initially released. So, motor-mayhem flicks from the mid-70's, like "Eat My Dust," would be more apt.

The movie runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in Fillmore, California (substituting for San Cecilia), which is roughly 45 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

GRADE: C-/C.