Wheels of 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.

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.

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.

Terrible, awful, abominable, contrived, just plain bad, horrendous, laughable, dreadful, ghastly, so bad it just has to be watched. I could not stop, I had to watch it to the end, I just had to find out how bad it could get. Well, it did not disappoint. The ending was definitely up to the rest of the movie, only worse. Just how many feet of film was wasted on this I don't know. But 1 second's worth is too much. I curse hurricane Jeanne for trapping me in the house with only this (UPN) coming in clearly on my TV. It was this or hurricane coverage of fallen trees and dogs wading through puddles. I chose this. It was a tough choice. I probably would have been better off if I was one of those who lost power. I think I secretly hoped I would lose power so I could breakaway from this mesmerizing stupidity.

Wheels of Terror is one of those movies that has a mixed theme of horror, mystery, and suspense. It is about a 1974 Dodge Charger (it is said by a police officer during the movie about the year of the car, but how he could have known that without seeing it is a mystery) that terrorizes an Arizona community. The grill of the car was customized for the movie to give it a satanic look. There are several clues throughout the movie that tells the viewer that nobody is driving the car, however nobody comes right out and says for sure. There also are no clue on where this car came from or how it became evil.

The main plot surrounds a mother and daughter who have just moved to Arizona from L.A. to be away from the city to start a new life in the country. Most of the main events of the story surround the car stalking young girls, which lead up to the final chase scene between the mother driving the mini bus and the car which kidnapped her daughter. The chase scene lasts a good half hour.

The acting in this movie is rather poor. You will ask yourself "how can anyone be so dumb?" Before the daughter is kidnapped by the car, there was at least two scenes where the car was about six feet away from her and she was completely blind to it. How can you not see a car that is right in front of your face that is about to run you down? The makers of this movie used a bit too much of the slow motion technique during the final chase scene to add more of a dramatic approach to what was actually happening. The movie is actually very good despite what some of the other critics may think, it is definitely worth seeing a few times. The suspense and mystery really make it worth while.

This movie is very similar to the 1977 movie, "The Car". The difference between this movie and "Wheels of Terror" is that "The Car" will run down anybody in it's way and is more ruthless. The movie is more violent than "Wheels of Terror". Another short story similar to "Wheels of Terror" is from one of the segments of the 1983 movie, "Nightmares". The segment is entitled "The Benediction", which is about a satanic driverless truck that terorizes a priest that is traveling across a desert. Unfortunately the segment is less than a half hour long, but is very creepy and suspenseful.