User reviews

Pretty dull thriller. The director chooses an "arty" approach with lots of slow-motion sequences, "poetic" music and minimal dialogue, and it doesn't work. The characters have no personality, the script is virtually non-existent and the suspense is deflated by the fact that the "evil" car's driver (or the evil car itself) has plenty of opportunities to get away from the heroine who chases him, but keeps returning to do battle with her as if he has some scores to settle (we never find out what they might be). While you're watching this movie, don't be surprised if your mind starts going elsewhere, like into thinking what's for dinner or the next day's chores. (*1/2)

It starts out okay; I like that compressed visual depth of field, as it evokes a distortion of reality, consistent with the story's theme. But oh how this film quickly deteriorates.

Driving a school bus for a living, Laura (Joanna Cassidy) is a single mom who has moved with her teenage daughter to a small, presumably quiet rural town to get away from big city crime. Much to her chagrin, an ugly yellowish old car with windows that apparently are tinted, as you cannot see inside, terrorizes Laura and her daughter, then terrorizes the whole town. The first half is marginal at best, as the script trends cliché-ridden and borrowed, and characters are superficial. Then comes that dreadful second half.

The script is written so that at the midpoint plot turn, Laura, driving the school bus, gives chase to the evil car, which has just kidnapped Laura's daughter. The chase "scene" expands to almost the entire second half, some 35 minutes. It's just Laura in the school bus and Laura's daughter kidnapped inside the car.

Sometimes the school bus chases the car. At other times the car chases the school bus. It all depends on where in the plot you arrive at, after you have used your remote to fast-forward through all that chase redundancy. The ending is as hokey and laughable as any ending I have seen. We get dust flying through the air, lots of frenetic background music, screaming, silly maneuvers, explosions, and vehicles that are so durable that even after falling off a cliff, they still return with purring engines and tires that never go flat.

The editing, stunts, and photography in the chase scenes are actually quite good. And Joanna Cassidy is a fine actress. But the script's plot structure is way too unbalanced. The action is not believable. And the film comes across as a rip-off of James Brolin's movie "The Car" (1977). "Wheels Of Terror" might have had some degree of credibility with a vastly rewritten script. As is, it's not worth watching unless the viewer is interested in learning the technical aspects of filming a chase scene.

Joanna Cassidy stars as Laura, a loving mother who drives a school bus. A sick, twisted psychopath is driving around in a 1974 Dodge Charger and abducting and at times killing young girls in the small town she lives in. They are also terrorizing poor Laura until they are matched in a showdown car chase that could have been great, but teeters toward completely boring.

Directed by Christopher Cain and written by Alan B. McElroy. I was expecting Cain to breathe some life into this film other than the extreme over use of slow motion. As well as the whole idea of an evil car running around and chasing people down by 1990 was no where near fresh or original with the likes of Steven Spielberg's DUEL, Stephen King or John Carpenter's CHRISTINE or even THE HEARSE. All are better films, but if you have never seen those films this might work better, but I would suggest watching those films instead. In addition the ending is a complete WTF moment that completely derails the film.

Wheels of Terror is one of those movies that has a mixed theme of horror, mystery, and suspense. It is about a 1974 Dodge Charger (it is said by a police officer during the movie about the year of the car, but how he could have known that without seeing it is a mystery) that terrorizes an Arizona community. The grill of the car was customized for the movie to give it a satanic look. There are several clues throughout the movie that tells the viewer that nobody is driving the car, however nobody comes right out and says for sure. There also are no clue on where this car came from or how it became evil.

The main plot surrounds a mother and daughter who have just moved to Arizona from L.A. to be away from the city to start a new life in the country. Most of the main events of the story surround the car stalking young girls, which lead up to the final chase scene between the mother driving the mini bus and the car which kidnapped her daughter. The chase scene lasts a good half hour.

The acting in this movie is rather poor. You will ask yourself "how can anyone be so dumb?" Before the daughter is kidnapped by the car, there was at least two scenes where the car was about six feet away from her and she was completely blind to it. How can you not see a car that is right in front of your face that is about to run you down? The makers of this movie used a bit too much of the slow motion technique during the final chase scene to add more of a dramatic approach to what was actually happening. The movie is actually very good despite what some of the other critics may think, it is definitely worth seeing a few times. The suspense and mystery really make it worth while.

This movie is very similar to the 1977 movie, "The Car". The difference between this movie and "Wheels of Terror" is that "The Car" will run down anybody in it's way and is more ruthless. The movie is more violent than "Wheels of Terror". Another short story similar to "Wheels of Terror" is from one of the segments of the 1983 movie, "Nightmares". The segment is entitled "The Benediction", which is about a satanic driverless truck that terorizes a priest that is traveling across a desert. Unfortunately the segment is less than a half hour long, but is very creepy and suspenseful.

Bad editing, over use of slow motion, horrible script, and bad plot all make for one terrible movie. 1 out of 10.

"Wheels Of Terror" is a rather improbable tale focusing on one of the major themes of the modern action film: the chase. A beat up, blacked out but seemingly indestructible automobile is being driven around a rural American town by a psychopathic child molester who is snatching young girls off the street, sexually abusing them, and then letting them go. Until the next missing girl is found in the river, which makes it a whole new ball game.

The protagonist of our invisible fiend is a lady school bus driver, a single mother who has relocated to the countryside to raise her daughter away from the pernicious influences of the big city, but who is surely questioning the wisdom of that move now the bad guy has kidnapped guess who?

So what does the film have to offer? Apart from the slow motion chases there are one or two fairly spectacular scenes, but the showdown is too silly for words. There is no side plot, indeed no plot worthy of the name, no resolution, no anything.

Possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I did sit through the whole thing but only because it became so humorous because it was so bad. The acting was god awful. There's no real resolution, just a big explosion. Lame.

Take the time you would have invested in this movie to learn a new hobby or trade. The only reason I gave it a second star was because my partner begged me to do so.

I saw this movie at 2 AM late one night in 1997. At first I only kept watching because there was nothing else on, and it looked a little slow for my tastes. As the movie went on, I was drawn into the drama of the girls being kidnapped... but the moment that Laura pulled up to her house, saw the infamous black car moving toward her daughter, and I suddenly remembered the mechanic at the beginning of the movie mentioning that all he had to repair the bus with was a racing engine and transmission, I was glued to my seat. The pacing of the movie was perfect, even when introduced to that sudden twist and chase scene. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes either social dramas or car chases.

A Great idea for a Horror/Thriller , the main car choice is incredible with a lot of character , the storyline itself could've gone a lot deeper with a better execution of it , to many slo mo scenes , the Location setting was great Casting is quite good to and also the little comedic remark here and there . Overall 5/10.

One of the worst movies I've ever seen. The plot consists almost entirely of a really, really bad chase scene between a scary black Chrysler and a mini schoolbus (you know, the 'special' bus). Somehow, when viewed in the wee hours of the morning, though, it almost becomes watchable. Almost.

A beat-up Dodge Charger runs over people, and abducts young girls in a small desert community. Later, it is revealed the driver molests the girls. Why was that part added to the plot? Let's face it, a movie like this, made such a long time after its obvious source (Duel) is only going for any unintended laughs it can get, and it's impossible to find any humour and in a flick about a child molester.

If you can get past that, the entire second half of this is an extended (if outdated) car chase, which has moments of competency and a bit of excitement, but is often times played out in super slow motion, as the Charger does battle with a minibus, with the lead girl's daughter hanging in the balance. This is all capped with a wholly predictable double twist ending, in which the villain's identity and his motives are burned to a crisp in the requisite fiery explosion. The second half is the only reason I rated it as highly as I did.

Terrible, awful, abominable, contrived, just plain bad, horrendous, laughable, dreadful, ghastly, so bad it just has to be watched. I could not stop, I had to watch it to the end, I just had to find out how bad it could get. Well, it did not disappoint. The ending was definitely up to the rest of the movie, only worse. Just how many feet of film was wasted on this I don't know. But 1 second's worth is too much. I curse hurricane Jeanne for trapping me in the house with only this (UPN) coming in clearly on my TV. It was this or hurricane coverage of fallen trees and dogs wading through puddles. I chose this. It was a tough choice. I probably would have been better off if I was one of those who lost power. I think I secretly hoped I would lose power so I could breakaway from this mesmerizing stupidity.

'Horrible' is an apt description of this bomb of a movie. (Actually, it's insulting to all other movies, just to call it a "movie"!) I would be embarrassed to have my name associated with this waste of time -- it's nothing but a ridiculous plot, with bad acting and ludicrous scenarios. A driver-less car? Flying off of cliffs, only to return to torment (us the viewers, I presume?). No other cars on the road? ANYWHERE?! A 12-year-old kidnap victim is magically a stunt person with acrobatic skills? PLEASE!!! And in case you're waiting for an explanation of the 'plot' in this drivel, give up. It never happens.

If this waste of time shows up on a channel in your area, you'll have the perfect reason for throwing out your television.