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Joanna Cassidy stars as Laura, a loving mother who drives a school bus. A sick, twisted psychopath is driving around in a 1974 Dodge Charger and abducting and at times killing young girls in the small town she lives in. They are also terrorizing poor Laura until they are matched in a showdown car chase that could have been great, but teeters toward completely boring.

Directed by Christopher Cain and written by Alan B. McElroy. I was expecting Cain to breathe some life into this film other than the extreme over use of slow motion. As well as the whole idea of an evil car running around and chasing people down by 1990 was no where near fresh or original with the likes of Steven Spielberg's DUEL, Stephen King or John Carpenter's CHRISTINE or even THE HEARSE. All are better films, but if you have never seen those films this might work better, but I would suggest watching those films instead. In addition the ending is a complete WTF moment that completely derails the film.

A person in a beaten up dirty old Chrysler kidnaps little girls and kills them. When a school bus driver's only daughter is kidnaped right in front of her, she begins a desperate chase to get her daughter back alive. The special effects leave something to be desired, but the the car is a rather scary effect. Entertaining and exciting, but unremarkable made for TV (USA) movie.

Rated R; Violence and Adult Themes.

Pretty dull thriller. The director chooses an "arty" approach with lots of slow-motion sequences, "poetic" music and minimal dialogue, and it doesn't work. The characters have no personality, the script is virtually non-existent and the suspense is deflated by the fact that the "evil" car's driver (or the evil car itself) has plenty of opportunities to get away from the heroine who chases him, but keeps returning to do battle with her as if he has some scores to settle (we never find out what they might be). While you're watching this movie, don't be surprised if your mind starts going elsewhere, like into thinking what's for dinner or the next day's chores. (*1/2)

That pretty much sums up the film. There's a car without a driver, the aformentioned hotshot, and a "suped-up" yellow schoolbus. The whole 1st half of the movie is set-up for the second half, which is a ridiculous chase between the "driverless car" and our heroine.

I loved "Wheels Of Terror" I saw it back in 1990 on television and then recently saw it for sale on ebay and bought a copy......I liked it but I think some of the movie is wasted on slow motion scenes...I would recommend this movie to anyone. Joanna Cassidy is awesome.....the drama and the plot seemed kinda corny before I watched it ya know how could the bus keep up with that fast dodge charger...everything is explained...I am writing a scrip for "Wheels Of Terror II Burn Rubber" which is my own creation I am going to try my hardest to make that movie a reality and maybe it would bring "Wheels Of Terror" back to television or even put it in theaters but I doubt it. I left a message for the sequel I am putting together on the message board.....please give me in put on it. Wheels Of Terror on a scale on 1-10...1 is bad 10 is good......I would give it a 7 it is a favorite of mine.