Review of The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) by Colin F — 24 Mar 2008
Overrated by some, but amazingly underrated.
Weir, before he bacame the director of power, directed this black lil' flick.
Small town of Paris Australia makes car crashes happen to salvage auto parts and let the local mad doc practice his craft.
When Camilleri gets crashed, and 'adopted' by the town, he finds it it stranger by the day. And increasingly hard to leave.
The multiple storylines and theme don't meld perfectly- rowdy car-youths of the town rebelling, town nutters exisiting in thier own strict litttle world which becomes harder to keep together. It reaches a crecendo of death and the youths destroying the town social gathering.
Still, lots of gorgeous scenery and camera work. And a great uneasy air lingers in a beautiful sunny town. The acting is on par to keep this very good in spots.
Mellion is a Mayor determined to keep the town together, Jaffer is subtle as his chained down wife, Cameilleri has the perfect look of a trapped animal desperatly driven mad wanting to escape, Miles is perfectly creepy and cloying as the quack doc, and Spence has an effective mostly mute bit as the villiage idiot with cataclysmic actions.
All in all, a gem worth taking a look at.
And the Spike rig is always cool. ;).
This review of The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) was written by Colin F on 24 Mar 2008.
The Cars That Ate Paris has generally received mixed reviews.
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