BEFORE: Back home in Queens, we did a lot of driving today, back from lunch in Saratoga. So a film about a car is very appropriate.
THE PLOT: A nerdish boy buys a strange car with a evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.
AFTER: Essentially, this seems to be an almost identical plot to "Carrie" - an awkward teenager gets picked on by bullies, then gets his/her revenge - the main difference is that this time, the instrument of revenge is a 1958 Plymouth Fury.
The car in question has a killer personality, and is able to repair itself, which seems handy - but how exactly did it get possessed in the first place? We're led to believe that it somehow contains the spirit of a previous owner, but we also see the car on the assembly line, and it kills a few auto-workers, and that's before the car has any owner at all - so how does it happen?
I understand several subplots from the book were left out of the movie - here we're just supposed to assume that the car is "born" evil, rather than possessed? I think it's more correct to say that the car's new owner, Arnie, gets possessed by the spirit of the car.
Starring Keith Gordon (last seen in "Jaws 2", apparently), John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul (last seen in "Spy Hard"), Robert Prosky (last seen in "Hoffa"), and Harry Dean Stanton (last seen in "Man Trouble").
RATING: 4 out of 10 school lockers
SPOOK-O-METER: 6 out of 10. A demonic car, one that kills, is a great idea - way to take the commonplace and put an evil twist on it.
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