Crash! (1976)

Perfectly adorable

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

B-grade thriller from debuting director Charles Band has a driverless black Camaro causing destruction and death on rural highways and back roads; meanwhile, invalid Jose Ferrer (the victim of a mysterious car accident himself) accuses wife Sue Lyon of cheating and attempts to have her killed, but she's in possession of an occult amulet which may help her turn the tables. Not a bad plot (as these things go), and the cast is certainly solid, but there's barely a semblance of filmmaking talent behind the camera. Band, working with two cinematographers, stages outlandish car crashes and smash-ups without any tension or excitement (though some may say the squashing of a bickering couple in their car has a touch of black humor). The movie is just an exercise in vehicular mayhem--topped with a love of sending cars to their demise in fiery explosions--while the occult asides seem merely an afterthought. *1/2 from ****

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.

I got this movie from a good friend of mine. I have been on the look out for it for years, this is a pretty rare title, so I was very fortune that he fund it for me in Germany, on a Frensh Secam VHS tape. This French Languages version is unfortunately edit down. The entire dream sequence in the beginning of the movie is cut, but one cool thing is, this version is in widescreen. A few years later on I got the English UK VHS version, as far as I know, this this version is uncut. With both editions the picture is a little dusty, but the sound is OK. I have been a big fan of Charlie Band for more than 10 years now and Crash! was one of the very last of he's films to make my collection complete. I have been reading reviews about this movie before I finally got my hands on it and I must say, I was not disappointed. I think this is a great film, I just love the music in it, absolutely wonderful, mind you, this is a really strange film, even for Charlie. If you are a fan of Empire/Full Moon or just like 1970's horror, this is worth a look. I remember Crash! was on the release list some years ago, but never got out on DVD or laser disc. I emailed Charlie about this two years ago and he told me that he would love to re-release it to DVD, but unfortunately he did not own the rights anymore. This film is hard to come by, but as another IMDb user wrote, you can order it from Germany. This version should be in widescreen too, with German Languages. I have not jet seen this DVD, so I can not comment on the quality. Anyway hope you find this little gem, and enjoy it as much as I.

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?