Malefic Automobiles (epilogue)

From Voodoo folklore: "According to popular belief [malefic sorcerers] do their nocturnal raids in motor-cars. A few years ago there was much talk in Port-au-Prince of a 'tiger car' (auto-tigre) which took people away at night to 'eat' them."

This tale anticipates the emergence of a horror film subgenre in the late 1970s in which malefic, possessed automobiles terrorize American communities. This is the epilogue to a short series of posts showcasing trailers for these films. The epilogue is inspired by comments to the previous posts by Bruce, who pointed me to the 1974 television film "Killdozer".

The plot of 'Killdozer' is based on a 1944 novella by Theodore Sturgeon. The film anticipates 'The Car' by three years, and is a Lovecraftian variation on the theme of malefic, possessed automobiles. Construction workers building an airstrip on a small Pacific Island encounter an ancient non-material, extraterrestrial lifeform which came to Earth in a meteorite and lived in the ruins of an ancient temple for millenia. When one of the workers rams the meteor rock with a Caterpillar D9 tractor, a blue light is emitted which causes the tractor to stop running. Later, the tractor is possessed by the extraterrestrial entity and starts killing the construction workers.

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'Killdozer' inspired the noise rock trio of the same name, from Madison, Wisconsin. The band which was formed in 1984 and broke up in 1996. Killdozer's 1989 track 'New Pants And Shirt' from the album 'Twelve Point Buck' was covered in 2002 by Teeth of the Lion Rule the Divine (which contained Cathedral's Dorrian Gray and SUNN0))) luminaries Greg Anderson and Stephen o'Malley).

Thanks again Bruce!