Las ruedas del terror

One of the few movies I saw twice because I couldn't believe how boneheaded it was the first time! One of the things that bug about movies like this is the need to be "ambiguous" without revealing too much about the nature of the threat/killer/monster...all the director managed to do was annoy me with ,"So, what the hell was it?" and not even let know just what the hell "it" was! Unless the car really was possessed. Joanna Cassidy was served better in films like "Roger Rabbit" and "The Package", and was totally wasted here. Take a hint: don't even bother watching this snoozer.

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.

It starts out okay; I like that compressed visual depth of field, as it evokes a distortion of reality, consistent with the story's theme. But oh how this film quickly deteriorates.

Driving a school bus for a living, Laura (Joanna Cassidy) is a single mom who has moved with her teenage daughter to a small, presumably quiet rural town to get away from big city crime. Much to her chagrin, an ugly yellowish old car with windows that apparently are tinted, as you cannot see inside, terrorizes Laura and her daughter, then terrorizes the whole town. The first half is marginal at best, as the script trends cliché-ridden and borrowed, and characters are superficial. Then comes that dreadful second half.

The script is written so that at the midpoint plot turn, Laura, driving the school bus, gives chase to the evil car, which has just kidnapped Laura's daughter. The chase "scene" expands to almost the entire second half, some 35 minutes. It's just Laura in the school bus and Laura's daughter kidnapped inside the car.

Sometimes the school bus chases the car. At other times the car chases the school bus. It all depends on where in the plot you arrive at, after you have used your remote to fast-forward through all that chase redundancy. The ending is as hokey and laughable as any ending I have seen. We get dust flying through the air, lots of frenetic background music, screaming, silly maneuvers, explosions, and vehicles that are so durable that even after falling off a cliff, they still return with purring engines and tires that never go flat.

The editing, stunts, and photography in the chase scenes are actually quite good. And Joanna Cassidy is a fine actress. But the script's plot structure is way too unbalanced. The action is not believable. And the film comes across as a rip-off of James Brolin's movie "The Car" (1977). "Wheels Of Terror" might have had some degree of credibility with a vastly rewritten script. As is, it's not worth watching unless the viewer is interested in learning the technical aspects of filming a chase scene.

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.

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.