KILLDOZER!!

I will have to admit that I never read the novella that this movie of the week was based on by Theodore Sturgeon. I read the comic book that was based on the movie, but I'm pretty sure that that doesn't count.

Anyway, we have a crew doing construction on an island off the coast of Africa. Pretty obvious that it's the coast of California, but who are we to quibble? So, this meteor crashed onto the island and has been there for quite some time. Since this flick is called KILLDOZER you know it won't take long before this huge bulldozer hits the rock from space and then this alien entity takes over the dozer and man is it pissed! Clint Walker is phenomenal in his role as the foreman of the crew. He thinks there's a rational explanation for the dozer coming to life...for about a minute. Sure, the first guy getting whacked, Robert Urich, by the way in one of his first roles, could be a coincidence, but when it proceeds to chase people with no one driving, he gets on board pretty darn quick that something is horribly wrong here. Neville Brand is, well he's Neville Brand so you get that and it's always fun to get Neville Brand in a flick.

There are some terrible lapses in logic in this flick. The token black guy tries to escape from the onslaught of the machine by crawling into a metal drainage pipe. Metal drainage pipes are tissue paper to a bulldozer and this one is no exception. The big battle between the dozer and a steam shovel is pretty awesome because you know they didn't have any special effects going on. It was two guys banging this giant equipment together and making a lot of noise.

And how can this giant thing manage to sneak up on so many damned people? Are construction guys just stupid or is this just a failure of my suspension of disbelief to launch properly? whatever it is, this is just campy and cheesy enough to work very well regardless of the above mentioned weirdness.

I can't believe with all the retro stuff coming out on DVD that ABC hasn't gotten off the pot and released more of these things on DVD. They could make a set with this and DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK and SATAN'S TRIANGLE and that creepy one with William Shatner and the house full of kids out in the country. ABC made some awesome made for TV flicks back in the day and it would be a good time to bring those puppies back for all of us to enjoy.

On a final note; I will be reading the novella that Killdozer is based on and I just learned that there's a band with that name. I'll have to check those out and get back to everyone and see how they are.

Oh, and the dozer never talks regardless of what the comic cover at the top says. Although that would have been pretty cool if it had a scratchy, spooky kinda voice.

More later.

I'm outta here.