The Car

The Car is a 1977 American horror film directed by Elliot Silverstein and written by Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack and Lane Slate. The film stars James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley and Ronny Cox, along with real-life sisters Kim and Kyle Richards (as Brolin's daughters). It tells the story of a black unmanned self-driving mysterious car that goes on a murderous rampage, terrorizing the residents of a small town. The film was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, and was influenced by numerous "road movies" of the 1970s including Steven Spielberg's thriller Duel (1971) and Roger Corman's Death Race 2000 (1975). A spinoff sequel, The Car: Road to Revenge, was released on January 8, 2019, with Ronny Cox returning in the series. Plot Two cyclists riding through a canyon are followed down the road by a mysterious matte black car. At a bridge, the car proceeds to crush one cyclist against the wall and ram the other from behind, catapulting him off the bridge. A hitchhiker, hoping to get a ride, encounters the car and insults it after it purposely tries to run him down. It halts to a stop, reverses backwards, and runs him over several times before driving off. The local sheriff's office, called to a series of hit and runs, gets a lead on the car. It appears to be heavily customized and has no license plates, as pointed out by Amos Clemens after he saw it run over the hitchhiker. That night, after intentionally swerving around Amos, the car instead runs over Sheriff Everett Peck, leaving Chief Deputy Wade Parent in charge. During the resulting investigation, an eyewitness to the accident states there was no driver, furthering Wade's confusion. Wade asks his girlfriend, Lauren, a teacher at the local school, to cancel the upcoming marching band rehearsals for their safety. Lauren and her friend, the wife of Wade's deputy Luke Johnson, ask him to let them rehearse. Luke unwittingly agrees.