The Age of Commercialism

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Killdozer(1974) is probably the most obscure movie i've reviewed. It's basically a more obscure version of Duel(1971). Duel isn't very famous anyway but it certainly has got it's praise. It was directed by a critically acclaimed director Steven Spielberg. It has a fan site. And it was released on DVD. But this film seems to have gotten little to no recognition. I watched it on YouTube so I don't know for sure if it was ever released on DVD. But is it a good movie? Well I say yes it is. Certainly it isn't a great movie but I still think it's decent. It's about these men on an island to dig up oil for their company. On the island they find a mysterious rock. They try to move it with a Caterpillar D-9 but it fails. The D-9 is then possessed by the spirit of the rock. A spirit that makes mechnical things want to kill people I guess. So the men are trapped on the island and then the film sort of becomes a slasher film with the D-9 going around killing everyone. It actually instills that sense of fear and suspense in it. But it's not done as well as Duel did it. Overall if you want to see what a construction version of Duel is check it out.

Clint Walker plays a construction crew foreman in Africa who accidentally unearths a meteor fragment, that somehow contains/is an alien creature, who "possesses" their bulldozer, and sets out to kill them one by one...Main problem with this TV film is that it is too thin, with a short running time that barely covers story-telling basics to involve the viewer in the strange goings-on, especially when none of the characters(except perhaps Robert Urich) is in any way interesting or distinguished; they're mostly Killdozer fodder, and just what the alien is remains frustratingly vague, leading to the ho-hum ending that fails to satisfy. Theodore Sturgeon's original story deserves to be given another effort, though this film does have a cult following!

There are plenty of hidden treasures to discover among the wide selection of 70's made-for-TV horror/thriller movies. Most of these are virtually unknown and even more impossible to track down, but when you do find one you're usually in for a big and undemanding little treat. "Killdozer" is the one that always stood high on my wish list for obvious reasons: a movie about a murderous vehicle is always guaranteed fun (remember "Duel" and "The Car"?). The production values here are very modest and the few special effects used look particularly cheesy and dated by now, but there's still a fair portion of suspense to enjoy as well as the macho performances of Clint Walker and Robert Urich. "Killdozer" opens with the cheesy image of flashy blue meteorite peacefully floating through space and making its way to earth. A couple millions of years later, the place where it crashed – a remote island little off the African coast – is a construction site where six workers are assigned to build an airstrip. When one of them hits the meteorite with a heavy bulldozer, a blinding blue light transfers into the large machine and it becomes possessed with an evil force. It goes haywire and promptly becomes an uncontrollable killing device, functioning by itself and aiming for the construction workers. "Killdozer" has a simple but highly effective premise and director Jerry London processed it into an explosive and powerfully short (barely 75 minutes) little movie. Obviously not the type of film you watch for its intellectual content and poetically written dialogs, but the sight of a 15 ton bulldozer running amok definitely gets your blood pumping.

Killdozer (1974) 2 of 5 Dir: Jerry London Stars: Clint Walker, Carl Betz, Neville Brand A group of construction workers are building an airstrip on a remote island. While clearing earth they discover a meteor that when disturbed omits a bright blue light and then possesses the massive bulldozer they use into 'Killdozer'. No where to run or hide the workers get picked off one by one until they formulate their final stand.'Killdozer' is an entertaining made-for-TV movie. Not too well done and a bit simple but once you get over its age you'll find yourself having a decent time.