- Directed by Charles Band
- Written by Marc Marais
- Stars: Jose Ferrer, Sue Lyon, John Ericson
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K4UaMdDKxA
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The awesome poster is the best thing about this one. If you’re into old-school, practical-effect car chases, crashes, and explosions, this one’s for you. As far as horror movies go, it’s pretty tame. A somewhat disjointed tale of murder, revenge, and collateral damage. It wasn’t a great film by any means, but we found it pretty entertaining.
Spoilery Synopsis
A couple in a van talk about almost arriving at their destination. A car comes up behind them and forces them off the road. It’s a Crash! The van explodes in a huge fireball, and we see a body fly through the air.
Sometime later, we watch Kim walking through an outdoor flea market at a drive in. She buys an ugly little figuring from a creepy man at the swap meet.
We cut to Kim’s husband, Marc Denne, watching old movies of the two of them playing tennis. Marc is now confined to a wheelchair, and he’s not happy about it. He doesn’t want her to ever leave the house again.
We cut to the man in the car who caused the crash as he gets into a road rage incident with yet another driver who crashes and explodes… again!
Kim uses the little figuring on her car key chain and then goes for a drive. Suddenly, a doberman dog jumps in the back of her convertible and causes her to crash, this time without the explosion.
We cut to Kim in the hospital, covered from head to toe in bandages. She’s all cut up and has dog bites as well. She’s in shock and won’t release that little figurine. We cut to Marc, who actually trained the dog to attack and kill his own wife.
There’s an APB out for the black convertible hit-and-run car, and as the policeman chases the car, he sees no one driving it at all. It makes the police car crash and then drives off.
Dr. Martin and Lt. Pegler don’t know who she is or what really happened to her. She wasn’t found anywhere near a car accident, so someone dumped her in the desert. Marc watches a “Do You Know This Woman” announcement on TV, so he knows she’s still alive. “With no memory she’s as good as dead, but what if she remembers?” He asks the dog.
Marc goes to the hospital where Kim is staying and sneaks into her room. He pulls out her breathing tube and IV and then leaves. Shortly after, Nurse Kathy finds her dying but hooks her back up; she and Dr. Martin know someone tried to kill Kim.
The driverless ghost car is surrounded now by three police cars, and it’s a crazy chase. All three police cars meet a violent end as the ghost car drives on.
Dr. Martin sketches the figure that Kim won’t release and talks to a guy at the university. The little statue is a Kaza, and it’s really old. The occult character it represents is dedicated to revenge and violence. Meanwhile, Kim wakes up with bright red eyes, and she telepathically moves the wheelchair in her room.
Dr. Greg Martin and Nurse Kathy talk to Kim, who has woken up but doesn’t remember anything. Meanwhile, the ghost car kills a few more police cars and tourists. Lt. Pegler is surprised that Kim has recovered so quickly; she’s going home to live with Nurse Kathy. Greg takes the Kaza figure to a specialist, who turns out to be… Marc. Marc knows all about the Kaza,
That night, Marc’s electric wheelchair attacks Marc’s dog, and Kim seems to be behind it telepathically. The dog is killed. Kathy sees that Kim’s eyes have turned bright red. Marc knows that the Kaza was behind the attack.
Marc calls Kim and wants to meet, but she still doesn’t recognize him. They get together and go back to his house, and she doesn’t remember that, either. He calls her Kim, and she doesn’t pick up on that, either. He admits everything and then locks her in the sauna before cranking it up to eleven.
Lt. Pegler and Greg watch as a black convertible is towed in. The keys fit, so it’s absolutely Kim’s car, so now they know who she is. When Greg hears that she’s Mrs. Demme, he runs off.
At the police impound yard, the car springs to life and escapes as Kim controls it mentally from inside the sauna. We get a hazy “greatest crashes” montage as Kim’s memory returns; she remembers all the car crashes now (I think we see edited versions of all the crashes here, which goes on for far too long and feels like filler).
Greg contacts Lt. Pefler, who sends everyone to Marc’s house before it’s too late. Meanwhile, Marc sits at home and practices what he’s going to tell the police. The convertible gets there first, and it stares down Marc in his wheelchair. He shoots at the car, but his little wheelchair can’t outrun the killer car. The car pushes the wheelchair over a cliff. When he survives the fall, the car “jumps” on him and explodes. Yeah. He’s dead now.
Greg arrives at the house and runs inside. He opens up the sauna and finds Kim inside with red eyes, still controlling the killer car. He leads her out to safety.
Brian’s Commentary
I was never quite clear on why Marc wanted to kill Kim in the first place.
If you like car crashes, this has a lot of them. A lot. The majority of the film’s budget had to have been for junk vehicles and obsolete police cars. I lost track of how many crashed in this. If the convertible that was causing all the accidents was Kim’s car, then how did it cause the van crash in the opening… before Kim’s accident? It was probably just an editing thing, but we noticed it.
John Carradine plays Dr. Wesley Edwards, the anthropologist who tells Martin about the Kaza. It’s a very small role, and he did all his shots in one afternoon. Jose Ferrer was in a large number of horror films around this time, but for some reason, he never really became a horror icon, which is unfortunate. John Ericson, playing Greg, looks like he’d rather be just about anywhere else other than here.
It’s fun in the way only a 1970’s schlockfest can be, and it is entertaining. Still, no one’s going to call this a great film.
Kevin’s Commentary
This was on the choppy and disjointed side, but it was a fun watch. It might have been a little nostalgic for me, having seen so many films of that era that were heavy on car crashes or at least threw one or two in. I hadn’t seen this one before. It’s not a great movie, but I enjoyed it.
