Director John Murlowski claims that the events that occur in Black Cadillac actually happened back in 1983 to him and some friends. I'm going to have to call "bullsh*t" on that one as the movie is too much like 1971's Duel and its ilk (you know the drill, gang of people being chased by a vehicle driven by a mysterious figure), but at least they've come up with a marketing ploy to try and get more people to rent their competently made little horror-thriller.

The story here is pretty basic as a group of three twenty-something guys - Yale bound Scott (Shane Johnson), his geeky virgin brother Robby (Jason Dohring), and big-mouthed rebel C.J. (Josh Hammond) - get into a bar fight while on a road trip to celebrate their last summer together. Soon after fleeing the bar and its angry patrons, they find themselves being chased by an ominous black Cadillac and it's driver who seems to want to play mind games with them.

Not long after the chase begins they end-up picking-up small town policeman Charlie (Randy Quaid, who is unfortunately known mostly for his role of "Cousin Eddie" in the Vacation movies) who's car has broken down and needs a ride home. Here's where Black Cadillac makes one of its first mistakes. The character Quaid plays comes across as outright suspicious pretty much from the get go as he continually plays the friends against each other and generally acts both irritating and unrealistically. That's not a good thing when said character will be playing a bigger part in the plot twists later on in the movie, it just helps to project them way ahead of time.

Still, the script by Will Aldis does manage to throw-out plenty of back 'n' forth banter and director Murlowski does establish a fairly eerie mood to the proceedings by keeping it set mostly in the tight quarters of the interior of a car. He also effectively makes the Cadillac seem more villainous by shooting it from low angles. The steady acting of the leads also helps out the proceedings with Hammond making the best impression (the sarcasm he brings to C.J. is quite welcome), although Johnson does go a little over-the-top from time to time.

Black Cadillac has plenty of intriguing moments (like when "Your sin will find you" is written on the foggy windshield of their car), has a twist at about the halfway point that worked pretty well, and is well made; but it can't quite reach the level of various similarly themed movies that came before it (such as 1990's Wheels Of Terror) and the last-third collapses when characters start making way too many irrational actions. And once the finale rolls around it's just not that satisfying and quite predictable (plus you'll be asking yourself, "would the villains really go through all that trouble considering their reason for doing it all?"). (Chris Hartley, 8/21/05)

Directed By: John Murlowski.
Written By: Will Aldis.

Starring: Randy Quaid, Shane Johnson, Josh Hammond, Jason Dohring.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: First Look/DEJ brings this to DVD with a decent tranfer. It looks pretty solid all-around and it's free of any grain or dirt. A few times during night scenes the clarity drops a tiny bit, but overall this looks good.

Extras: The screening copy I recieved didn't contain any extras but the back of the box lists the following: previews, a "making of" featurette, deleted scenes and outtakes, and a director commentary. I would've liked to have heard the commentary just to see what exactly the "based on a true story" elements were.