Black Cadillac

I purchased this DVD for $ 5.99 at our local video store thinking it would be a great filler for a rainy night. My curiosity got the better of me so I stuck the DVD into the machine. Five minutes into the movie I soon realized it was going to be good one. Even the three new actors caught my immediate attention and they kept the movie rolling very well. An interesting note about Black Cadillac is.. "It's totally believable ! " Guys can relate to our days of youth trying to get into bars underage looking for booze and ladies. And some of us can remember some of the many brawls that end-up out in the back of parking lots. Once the suspense started; it never let-up until the last 10 minutes when we finally realized who owned the Caddy and why they were stalking the boys. Once again, it brought back memories of a few old classics " DUEL " and "THE CAR." Both of which had top run actors and I seriously believe Black Cadillac was better then both. If you love old cars and you feel like watching a movie with a lot of suspense, then add Black Cadillac to your collection. You will not be disappointed !

Being given more change than you should have received from staff in a shop never gets tedious, nor does an ATM machine that inadvertently dispenses 20s instead of 10s…

…My point is a simple one – exceeding expectations is one of life's underrated joys!

Let's not pretend, 'Black Cadillac' (BC) should have been an unmitigated disaster.

Why?

1. A relatively unknown cast 2. A tired genre – Teen movie 3. A tired concept – road/horror/chase 4. Single location – The middle of nowhere!

Somehow – and I still can't figure out how – the film was nothing short of forgettable greatness!

I'll be brief and bullet-point the highlights of this splendid film;

1. A ridiculously witty script – fantastic banter that I too could have watched for another 5 hours! 2. Awesome sound design. The car actually 'speaks' to us throughout the film, albeit in a very grumpy fashion via the world's finest sounding engine! 3. Marvellous acting. No one is gonna win a tiny gold fella called 'Oscar' for their performance in this film, but by the same token any new up and coming actors might want to view this film as an exercise in understated, laid back, well timed delivery…I adored the interplay between the 3 key characters - the casting team struck gold…they just worked together so well! 4. Subtle yet dexterous direction. The Director clearly wasn't trying to impress us in a "look what I can do" kinda way, but we were at times left thinking "Look what he can do".

It would be ill-conceived to suggest that BC doesn't contain echoes of 'Duel' because it simply does - not least the Cadillac's ultimate moment of reckoning.

I adore 'Duel'; it's one of my top 3 films of all time, but so what? BC manages to pay homage to a timeless classic, while simultaneously and seamlessly saying "Cheers for the concept, now let's take it somewhere else…somewhere funnier, somewhere more contemporary…somewhere utterly different."

(Don't get me wrong, we weren't taken somewhere better than 'Duel', I doubt such a place exists, but we were shown new landmarks on a favourite holiday resort!)

I'll probably forget about this film in a few weeks…months at best, but during those 90 minutes – and several minutes after - I was relishing every moment of humour, action, intrigue, suspense and all round escapism it offered.

I absolutely loved it!

After getting in a violent bar fight, three friends take off across a huge expanse of wilderness, only to be terrorized by a hulking black Cadillac. A friend of mine rented this and insisted I watch it with them. I was expecting a supernatural "Christine"-style thriller and with a title like "Black Cadillac", a goofy one at that. As it turns out, this film has no supernatural elements, nor was it very goofy. The film succeeding is being entertaining, well done, and at times even vaguely creepy.

The entire cast does a fine job here, especially Randy "Where the hell did my career go?" Quaid playing the police officer, who succeeds in making his character both funny and creepy at the same time.

The screenplay offer more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at, most of which were genuinely surprising. The tension between the characters was also very effective. The characters are mostly well-developed, there were even one or two I actually (gasp!) cared for. Director John Murlowski has done a fine job handling the suspense, and the chase scenes were often exciting.

If you're a fan of the "road terror" sub-genre, you'll probably like this movie. It kept me engaged and entertained for 90+ minutes, and that's pretty much all I asked for. Give it a try.

6/10.

After causing some trouble at a remote roadhouse, three young men are pursued through the night by a mysterious black car.

Sounds OK? And it should have been. The basic premise is quite good and Shane Johnson (Scott), Josh Hammond (C.J.) and Jason Dohring (Robby), the three young men in question, are all quite solid in their roles. Their acting is convincing and applause to them.

Where Black Cadillac falls down is in the pace and the editing. After an initial good 30 minutes the films meanders through the next hour to a predictable and overly slow conclusion. The audience is left with a feeling that this could have been a good 45 minute short but the script/direction ran out of steam far too early. 3/10.

In a rural area of the upper Midwest three youthful dudes leave a rowdy bar on a cold, snowy night. Soon, they notice a car following them. It turns out to be a big, black Cadillac that just will not leave them alone.

Huge amounts of dialogue, annoyingly shallow characters, and manipulative music characterize this low-budget horror flick from writer/director John Murlowski. Aside from the characters, another and even more serious problem with the film is the plot. Whoever is driving that Cadillac could take action against the kids at any time. Instead, the driver teases, torments, provokes, harasses the three kids, and in general prolongs the ordeal. Why? Because without the teasing and the harassment, you don't have a full-length feature film. The film's plot is thus ... contrived.

Further, this is another one of those films wherein automobiles undergo horrendous physical torture, like in one scene of this film where the car careens off a high embankment. But then the car still runs. Wish I could find a car that durable.

The film's cinematography is acceptable, if not exceptional. The visuals are dark. Some of the scenes involve rear screen projection, and a "camera shaker" for effect.

To its credit, the film does have a Twilight Zone feel to it. The story takes place entirely at night, and with a general absence of other people, once we leave the bar sequence. Hence, the darkness and the sense of aloneness out on the open road does indeed foster some tension and suspense. But the story's resolution is ultimately disappointing.

"Black Cadillac" probably will appeal to younger audiences who may see in it some element of horror. But aside from the suspense derived from the dark and eerie atmosphere, I found the story to be hokey, the characters irritating, and the dialogue too talky, for the film to be satisfying.