Thursday, April 03, 2008

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!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay, Bruce Adams!

And Killdozer the band were a peach too!

Check em here:

http://www.yourfleshmag.com/artman/publish/article_1018.shtml

Bruce Adams said...

Thanks to you Valter. We should talk sometime as I have something I think you might be interested in.

valter said...

Bruce, my interest is piqued. Nonetheless, Valter is a persona which speaks only through the blog. What do you propose?

Bruce Adams said...

I am starting a record label and I think the music will appeal to you.
mypsace.com/fsslabel- the label
myspace.com/wrnlrd - the first artist
or wrnlrd.com

valter said...

OK, I listened to the music? What do you have in mind? Jazz-style liner notes?

Bruce Adams said...

My initial motivation was to tempt you into reviewing the album. I do believe that you need to hear the entirety of "Oneiromantical War." And if you're interested that can be arranged... But this idea of liner notes is really interesting to me. "Oneiromantical War" is in production now, so liner notes for that release are out of the question. But doing something on the next Wrnlrd FSS release could be very cool. After all, linter notes are so un-metal.