A small construction crew on a small Pacific Island results to be horrorized when a spirit-like being takes over a big bulldozer going bersek , and continuing a murderous rampage , causing wreak havoc. Six construction workers are building an airstrip when find a strange non-material lifeform which has lived in the ruins of an ancient temple for millenia . The entity is of course ominous and commandeers the earthmoving equipment to the general detriment of all concerned. And it's up to worker Clint Walker to to stop the demonic , driveless bulldozer. Everyone knows a Machine Cannot Kill. Except the Machine. Six men ... playing a deadly game of cat and mouse ... With a machine that wants to kill them.
A pretty solid , intriguing and suspenseful 70's vehicular horror film
based on the novella by Theodore Sturgeon. Passable thriller originally made for TV with plenty of thrills, chills, breathtaking attacks, suspense, and anything else. There are not motivations, no explanations, except perhaps for a hint of allegory in the screenline and a tense visual suggestion about the ancient fight between the vulnerable, prancing knight and the lumbering , nasty dragon. The cult "Killdozer" is a supernatural tale of a creepy , malevolant bulldozer that apparently might be driven by the devil himself , adding the nice choreography of the weird machine while attacking the unfortunate workers . The entertaining story is visibly inspired in "Duel (1971) " and is inconclusive, and the spectator never knows for sure whether the bulldozer is driven by a demoniac being or a space force from a meteorite. The admittedly ridiculous fantastic premise stretches credibility to a near breaking point, but thankfully the script's patent absurdness is successfully surmounted by Jerry London's direction professional . The wreak havoc caused by the bulldozer is never graphic and that is a good point since the plot is supported by the nice acting from Clint Walker , Neville Brand , James Wainwright , Carl Betz and brief appearance of a newcomer Robert Urich to be continued by a notorious television career despite his early death .
The picture belongs to subgenre about mysterious automobiles with own life whose main representation turns out to be ¨Duel¨(1971) , following ¨Killdozer¨(1974) , ¨The Car¨ (1977) by Elliott Silverstein , ¨Christine¨ (1983) by John Carpenter and ¨Maximum overdrive¨ (1966) by Stephen King . In spite of receiving largely negative reviews from both critics and audience members , these movies have acquired a cult following over the years and nowadays considered to be cult classics.
The motion picture was professsionally directed by Jerry London giving a smooth, plain, unfussy filmmaking, furthermore, thirty and some years later this movie has not aged. London is a director and producer, known for directing some prestigious miniseries , such as : Chiefs (1983), Shogun (1980) , The Scarlet and the Black (1983) and Ellis Island(1984) .And making a lot of episodes of popular series , such as : The Guardian , The Rockford Files , City of Angels, Hawai 5-0 , Hotel , The Six Million Dollar Man, Kojak , Switch , Forrester , Baretta , Marcus Welby , Lucas tanner , The Partridge Family , The Show of Doris Day, Hogan's heroes, among others . And this Killdozer (1974) rating 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable.
