ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

CinemaClown Taking a leaflet out of Steven Spielberg's Duel, The Car creates its own aura of suspense & terror, and is a smartly crafted & skilfully executed horror that makes excellent use of genre elements to retain its tense vibe and, despite a few hiccups, manages to be consistently gripping from start to finish.Set in a small deserted town, The Car concerns a mysterious black car that surfaces in the town one day and goes on a killing spree, terrorising anyone & everyone it happens to come in contact with. The plot mainly focuses on a local sheriff who tries to stop this menace before more people fall victim to it.Directed by Elliot Silverstein, The Car establishes its evil intentions within the opening scene and only takes it up from there. The director is able to encapsulate the tale with an ominous ambiance and the way he utilises the car throughout the movie only adds a diabolical feel to it, which in turn amplifies the film's sinister tone.Sure the characters aren't well-sketched and dialogue is even worse, the performances, however, still manage to be passable, especially from James Brolin & John Marley, both of whom play their roles with flair. The titular machinery is a menacing character in itself and the slight modifications provided to it only add to its mystery.On an overall scale, The Car makes efficient use of its limited budget to bring its foreboding tale to life and is quite effective for the most part. There are times when it enters the unintentionally funny zone but its firm grip on viewers' attention & apt application of the element of suspense makes it a cinematic ride that's thrilling enough to be worthy of your time.

Sam Panico America. The late 70s. It was a very different time and place, to be sure. Fuel was scarce. Crime wasn't. We weren't yet in the grip of the 1980s Satanic Panic, but thanks to Manson, Son of Sam and Zodiac, we were darn close. And despite blockbusters taking over the cinema, there remained grimy little movies unafraid to broadcast their flirtations with the dark lord – The Devil's Rain, The Omen, Mephisto Waltz and this largely forgotten little thriller — The Car.I first saw this film in another way the 70s were different — we only had five channels. ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and a new pay channel – HBO. And unlike the HBO that you know and love today, there were no original series or blockbuster films. Just around 15-20 movies a month that would play again and again and, well, again. Anyone that grew up in the halcyon days of nascent HBO can recite many of them by heart: Flash Gordon, Sharkey's Machine, Superfuzz, Scavenger Hunt, They Call Me Bruce and The Car. I can personally claim to have seen this film over 280 times, perhaps because the summertime was all reruns when it originally aired and perhaps because it was my grandfather's favorite movie (until Terminator 2 came out and that is a story for another article).You'll notice another difference about 70s movies right from the start of this film — kids aren't just put in danger to scare the audience. No, in 1977, movies just outright killed kids two minutes into the movie and we sat there in mortal terror, watching jaws agape.Let's back up a bit. The hero of The Car is, quite literally, The Car. A George Barris customized 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III (Barris also created the 60s Batmobile), the secret of The Car appears to have no driver at the wheel…unless you count Satan! It has a blaring horn noise that is based on the Morse code for the letter X and it shows up just blasting that horn when you least expect it. Don't take it from me. Take it from the two kids, a hitchhiker and the sheriff that it smooshes. After that nice little spot of multiple vehicular homicide, The Car goes after an entire marching band and their leader Lauren (played by Kathleen Lloyd, who you may remember from It Lives Again, a sequel to It's Alive), chasing them the whole way to a cemetery. It turns out The Car can't cross hallowed ground, so she stands and insults it and calls it names. That leads to her boyfriend Chief Deputy Wade Parent chasing the car, shooting at it and tries to get into The Car, only to discover that it has no doorhandles.READ MORE AT http://www.thatsnotcurrent.com/40-years-later-look-back- car-1977/

zareenasafeer I love the 1977 film "The Car" for a number of reasons. One of which, I suppose, was that I first saw this "B" horror flick at the neighborhood theater as a child. Yes, it scared me then and makes me smile now. "The Car" is so extravangantly cheesy as to be almost surreal. To really understand the greatness of "The Car," one must compare it to John Carpenter's "Christine," another haunted car film based on one of Stephen King's weakest novels. I've seen "Christine" once and really don't care to view it again. I've seen "The Car" many times and will watch it every chance I get. Accurately noted by several reviewers, "The Car" is really "Jaws" on land. This souped up automobile is a sleek black Lincoln possessing a fog horn and a bumper the size of Wilford Brimley's mustache. It runs over bikers, hitchhikers and tuba players with hungry ease, tormenting the local yokel police force with demonic glee. The cast is the key here, with small town policemen James Brolin, John Marley and Ronnie Cox joining forces with dynamite expert R.G. Armstrong to corner The Car and blow it kingdom come. These actors have been around the block a few times in films far better than "The Car," but their experienced presence adds a note (albeit a small one) of respectability to the precedings. But before this salty crew goes after the metallic Beezlebub beast, The Car must terrorize a high school band, Brolin's hometown squeeze Kathleen Lloyd (whatever happened to her?) and several unlucky travelers in the wrong place at the wrong time. Needless-to-say, car insurance companies were left mightily frustrated after The Car paid a visit to Santa Ynaz. I don't know why The Car likes to drive in the desert, just as I don't know why it seems to have a crush on James Brolin, teasing him unmercifully while slowly picking off his crew one by one. I do know that the car chases in this film are tremendously exciting. The direction and editing is crisp. Leonard Rosenman's musical score is above average. And the final confrontation, while laughable in its epic excess, is memorable. http://www.gari.pk "The Car" is a fun movie, glorious in a "B" movie comic book kind of way. It's "Creature From the Black Lagoon," "The Omen," "Jaws" and "Smokey and the Bandit" all rolled into one hilariously transcendent package. It is celluloid pulp fiction, with the nutritional value of a whopper and fries. Please grill the onions.

bkoganbing I don't know if it was deliberate on the part of the producers or not of The Car, but just what was the issue that this possessed vehicle had with the good citizens of this small Utah town? And why was it that it only just toyed with Deputy James Brolin instead of just outright killing him as it did others?We never get a reason for all the mayhem and murder The Car causes. But this driverless vehicle appears out of nowhere and starts running down random citizens. In the name of God knows why?Even some of the worst horror films are always a mystery, a mystery of the occult as it were, but still a mystery to solve. We get nothing of that here. Maybe because half the law enforcement community in this county get done in by the vehicle including Sheriff John Marley.That left me kind of up in the air after the rather spectacular conclusion and desperate measure taken by law enforcement to put a stop to The Car. Not a satisfactory end for me.