Leofwine_draca This dull television movie only serves as a reminder to us how good the original car chase thriller, DUEL, was. In fact, this film is derivative of that in every way, even incorporating parts of John Carpenter's CHRISTINE en route (no pun intended) but still managing to come out inferior in every respect. The first half of the film is a boring, clichéd view of small town life where absolutely nothing happens, apart from the sun shining into the lens of the camera and boring people going about their humdrum lives. I was very disappointed by this lacklustre opening but finally things did pick up in the second half, which is basically a long chase scene in the mountains and desert, a la DUEL. Although this part of the film looks cheap and rubbish compared to Spielberg's classic, it is at least mildly entertaining and better than the atrocious first half.The trouble is that the film is poorly made and rips off other films too much. In some instances the director goes for a John Woo-style slow motion but it just makes the film look stupid instead of stylish. Joanna Cassidy is truly an atrocious actress and her attempts at screaming are embarrassing to watch, incredibly asinine, and all round annoying. I had to look away sometimes. There are no other actors in the film to speak of, apart from the grey sedan which does assume a life of its own in a way seeing as we never meet the driver (which is quite disappointing too). The car is admittedly suspicious looking.There are a couple of good scenes in the film, for instance one where the car hits a policeman who goes flying up in the air (the actor playing him was a stuntman so I guess he did that all himself). Also, there is an incredibly stupid and cheesy ending where the paedophile's car flies off a cliff (hmm, maybe the director of this film saw the ending of DUEL here?) and then happens to land on a big building full of explosives which was just sitting there underneath it. However the rest of the chase is dull, the cars aren't going fast enough, and there's just not enough to hold the attention. This is the kind of humdrum, mundane, thinks-its-good American film which I absolutely hate. It only serves as a reminder of how good the other films it rips off are. Don't waste your time with this stinker.

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki A beat-up Dodge Charger runs over people, and abducts young girls in a small desert community. Later, it is revealed the driver molests the girls. Why was that part added to the plot? Let's face it, a movie like this, made such a long time after its obvious source (Duel) is only going for any unintended laughs it can get, and it's impossible to find any humour and in a flick about a child molester. If you can get past that, the entire second half of this is an extended (if outdated) car chase, which has moments of competency and a bit of excitement, but is often times played out in super slow motion, as the Charger does battle with a minibus, with the lead girl's daughter hanging in the balance. This is all capped with a wholly predictable double twist ending, in which the villain's identity and his motives are burned to a crisp in the requisite fiery explosion. The second half is the only reason I rated it as highly as I did.

moogyboy O. My. God. Is. This. Movie. Horrible.That about illustrates what about 90% of this bit of telecinematic roadkill plays like. Slow-motion camera, used normally, acts as a kind of exclamation point to an action scene. Here it's used so much that it becomes and ectoplasmic sludge of periods and ellipses. Here are some of the things this technique manages not to render in stark dramatic relief: 1) Lots of things exploding.2) Joanna Cassidy screaming.3) Joanna Cassidy's daughter screaming. ("Mommyyyy!!")4) Joanna Cassidy's school bus careening around the desert.5) An "evil-looking" *snicker* black Dodge Charger careening around the desert after Joanna Cassidy's school bus.6) More things exploding.7) Everything in between the above items.Needless to say, not a whole lot going on here. Probably a good 20 minutes of action footage in real time, along with a requisite but lame set-up story. What our brilliant director has done is take an action sequence and stretch it out enough to fill two hours of precious USA Network airtime. Not pad it out...STRETCH it out--literally, like a piece of Silly Putty, till you can see right through it. I guess the framing storyline qualifies as padding, on second thought, since it does fill out the allotted time, adds some exposition, and is absolutely inconsequential enough that it doesn't stick in my memory.The only thing about the acting that I do distinctly remember is Joanna Cassidy screaming in realtime on the soundtrack while screaming in slow motion on the screen; I remember the scream sounding ridiculous, as if the dubbing director was giving her a wedgie. Or maybe it was a tooth being pulled. I doubt she was nominated for any Emmys for her heroic effort to get through this movie with a straight face.The only things (besides the slo-mo and the endless explosions) I remember about the production are the awesomely retarded customization job on the Charger (huh huh, the grille looks like mad eyes, huh huh, diabolical, dewd) and the shot of the cop getting creamed by same at the beginning of the movie (actually kind of a neat effect--his boot goes flying off his foot).I don't want to give away the nail-biting denouement, but I will give you a hint: something explodes. And something doesn't start. Until. The. Last. Possible. Second. The. End. Burp.

telepinus1525 One of the few movies I saw twice because I couldn't believe how boneheaded it was the first time! One of the things that bug about movies like this is the need to be "ambiguous" without revealing too much about the nature of the threat/killer/monster...all the director managed to do was annoy me with ,"So, what the hell was it?" and not even let know just what the hell "it" was! Unless the car really was possessed. Joanna Cassidy was served better in films like "Roger Rabbit" and "The Package", and was totally wasted here. Take a hint: don't even bother watching this snoozer.