Daily Podcast: Wheels of Terror
Wheels of Terror is one of the best worst movies ever made– especially if you restrict your choices to the “killer car” genre. Sure, Christine is a classic. Those of us who’ve darkened the door of a body shop (Abandon All Deductibles Ye Who Enter Here) can never forget watching the world’s first self-healing bodywork. Speaking of which, Steven King’s directorial debut, Maximum Overdrive (not to be confused with Peter North’s Maximum Thrust series), must be believed to be seen. But Wheels of Terror features the skinniest wheels I’ve ever seen on an automobile. (If you want some real donuts of doom, check out the donk scene.) No, that’s not it. A drifting school bus? Yes, but no; that’s not it either. Ah yes, the best car-off-a-cliff scene in cinematic history. I mention this because Justin and I have been busy with the cataclysmic visual metaphors lately: train wrecks, perfect storms, cliff divers, etc. Suffice it to say, there will be plenty more carnage before this downturn is done, so we’ll be cruising the nets for appropriate imagery for some time. If you could surf and listen, and provide some link suggestions here, we’d be most appreciative. Thanks!
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
Circling the drain.
While technically not a car movie, no article about the 'best worst vehicle run amuck' movie would be complete without mention of Killdozer, a 1974 made-for-tv opus about a D9 Caterpillar bulldozer taken over by an unknown alien presence on a small island. The out-of-control piece of road building equipment subsequently terrorizes a dimwitted group of construction workers who are unable to escape the slow-moving beastie. Unintential hilarity ensues, including a scene where instead of simply out-walking the D9, one mental giant ducks into an empty drainage tube and is promptly squished.