CRASH! (1976)
Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 89 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: Charles Band
Cast: John Carradine, Leslie Parrish, John Ericson, Sue Lyon, Jose Ferrer
Crash! (1976) is a Charles Band directed killer car movie that blends elements of stuff like Duel and The Car - the latter of which this predates by a few months, by way of The Exorcist and Carrie. It's a bizarre genre mash-up that boggles the mind with it's WTF-ery while still being quite an entertaining car carnage exploitation flick with oddball supernatural elements. In it we have an unhappily married woman named Kim (Sue Lyons, Lolita), whose older, jealous wheelchair bound husband Marc (Jose Ferrer, Bloody Birthday) blames his younger blond wife for the car accident which took away the use of his legs year's earlier.
Crash! (1976) is a Charles Band directed killer car movie that blends elements of stuff like Duel and The Car - the latter of which this predates by a few months, by way of The Exorcist and Carrie. It's a bizarre genre mash-up that boggles the mind with it's WTF-ery while still being quite an entertaining car carnage exploitation flick with oddball supernatural elements. In it we have an unhappily married woman named Kim (Sue Lyons, Lolita), whose older, jealous wheelchair bound husband Marc (Jose Ferrer, Bloody Birthday) blames his younger blond wife for the car accident which took away the use of his legs year's earlier.
Seething with resentment all this time Marc finally sets in motion a plan to murder his hot young wife with the help of his vicious Doberman Pinscher, which jumps into her car attacking her, causing her to drive off the road. She survives but is badly disfigured and suffers amnesia. However, thanks to a mystical African trinket called an "Akaza" that she bought earlier from a creepy vendor (Reggie Nalder, Salem's Lot) at a swap meet she is able to possess not only her convertible Camaro but Marc's own wheelchair, to exact her revenge on her diabolical spouse. The cast of known-names who were down on their luck enough at the as to be cast ins something like this makes for a fun watch, including an appearance from John Carradine (The House of Seven Corpses), the mark of a quality bad movie, who pops up as an anthropologist to explain the power of the ancient Akaza talisman to us.
Crash! is an over-the-top blend of action and horror with bizarre plot twists, chock full of unending car chases and twisted metal mayhem, fiery explosions, and some truly lunatic red-eyed possession weirdness to keep you pleasantly flabbergasted from start to finish. The flick is padded to the hilt with long scenes of Kim walking around what feels like the entire damn swap meet early on, and Band even has the audacity to shove a five-minute montage of all the previously seen car carnage in to the final reel, which I sort of loved!
Highlights include some red-eyed possession footage that looks like it was probably uncomfortable for Lyons to endure, the driverless car stuff, the unyielding amount of car stunt work and cranage seen throughout, and the scene of a possessed wheelchair killing a dog! At times it feels like two crazy movies haphazardly spliced together, but the end result is a memorable bit of grindhouse that's well worth repeated watches in my opinion.
Audio/Video: Crash! arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Full Moon Features in 1080p HD Widescreen and framed in 2.40:1 widescreen. The source looks pretty good, there's fluctuating film grain throughout, density comes and goes and there's some blemishes but I was pleased with how good it looked. Audio comes by way of English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. Dialogue and screeching tires and twisted metal sound alright, not great, and a bit tinny, but and seems to have been poorly recoded while making the film, it's a cheap and fast sound design that doesn't benefit a whole lot from the surround mix in my opinion.
Extras include an audio commentary with with director Charles Band & David DeCoteau, which is pretty great. I've heard them team-up before and Band never seems to remember much about the making of these vintage films, but thankfully we have DeCoteau on hand who is a treasure trove of knowledge about the making of the film, it's star and lots of fun anecdotal info. They both point out the lesser attributes of the film and are funny and candid about it which makes for a great listen. DeCoteau also features in the Speed Demon: Crash Documentary where he shows of his impressive collection of Crash! memorabilia and visits some of the locations used in the film. The disc is buttoned-up with the original Theatrical Trailer for the film as well as other Full Moon Trailers; plus some brief clips of rare, vintage John Carradine Promo Clips.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster which is sells the automotive carnage of the bonkers flick quite nicely, the only thing missing is the red-eyed possessed chic.
- Speed Demon: Crash Documentary (10 min)
- Original Vintage Trailer
- Rare Carradine Clips
- Audio commentary with director Charles Band & David DeCoteau
- Full Moon Trailers
If you love evil car films like Duel, Christine, The Wraith, The Car and The Hearse and have not seen this Band entry I think you have been missing out. It might be a bit slap-dash in it's construction and execution but Crash! is a wildly entertaining slice of 70's drive-in delirium from a young and hungry Charles Band.
