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Information Exchange => Reader Comments => Topic started by: Asfr Tas@aol.com on November 06, 1998, 11:42:10 AM



Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Asfr Tas@aol.com on November 06, 1998, 11:42:10 AM
I saw THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS in a cinema in Tasmania when it was first released in 1974 and the audience went completely bananas at the first scene.  At that time it was usual to screen a glossy cigarette commercial just before the main movie, so when the "commercial" apparently ended with a car wreck the audience roared with laughter.   I guess Peter Weir knows something about the Australian sense of humour that your reviewer doesn't!  The movie itself?  OK I guess.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: on November 11, 1998, 07:47:23 PM
This movie fell into my hands, packaged with such brash claims as "They Run On Human Blood..." etc. I could barely keep from choking on my own rage when I realized no people were actually going to be eaten by cars.
   However, this vain hope kept me sane during the 77 minutes of horror, chanting "Eat him, eat him, eat him..." whenever a car and a person appeared in the same shot. Pure hell.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: bear@badmovies.org on November 13, 1998, 12:01:33 AM
Oh man, I would jump <I>RIGHT ON</I> a movie concerning cars physically eating people.  I'd be all about that.  Sentient cars, bent on rampant human consumption... pure B-movie heaven.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: malcolm kaksois on March 15, 2003, 05:48:42 PM
This is without any doubt the best film ever made..


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: haknort@webtvnet on May 02, 1999, 12:44:43 AM
Peter Weir has only made one good movie, and this ain't it.
Neither are any of his other films.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: on June 27, 1999, 02:43:14 PM
I will never forget this movie.  My parents took me to see this in Hawaii when I was in 3rd grade (I'm going to be in 12th in the fall.)  It scared the crap out of me!!!!  However, even back then as a little girl I could tell this movie sucked!  Thanks, though, for the review!  I never really remembered what this movie was about, all I remembered was the cars running off the cliffs and the spiked VW.  I kind of want to find this movie some where and watch it again, just for kicks!


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: strodesp@xmission.com on August 23, 1999, 08:34:10 AM
I saw this horrible movie years ago, but it was called "The Cars that Eat People". The differnet title didn't make it any better. Though the dance hall scene is sort of a classic scene only exceeded in boredom quality by the graduation dance scene in "The Deer Hunter".


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: dangrat@hotmail.com on November 19, 1999, 10:19:19 AM
Before seeing this site i didn't think there would be anything on the net that explored 'cars' so much. I was about to start my own site dedicated to the film, of which one doesn't yet exist.How the hell can you rip into this film so much and then make the effort of providing us with sound and video clips.This film, along with 'picnic', is the only Weir film that contains a hint of real substance.The contrast between peace and intense fear reminds us of a possible Polanski influence, colliding with Weir's own surrealist approach. With such limited resources, as seen with the blatant product placement, I think 'The Cars That Ate Paris' is a commendable debut and is always a great film to watch when you're off your f**king face.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Thomas Piesbergen on March 28, 2000, 10:08:27 AM
I loved this movie. Isn't it great that this nice young man is able get rid of his car-phobia and is able do drive again, in the end? One of the greatest films for car-hating people. Just as 'Le Trafic' of Jaques Tati.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: The Eat on April 07, 2005, 06:18:22 PM
This movie is like a really funny joke, told by a man who stutters and has two bagels in his mouth. Sure there might have been poignant satire and humour, but it was still caked in poor directing and overall feeling of boredom.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Thanael on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
Hey, I'm from Ireland and I get this film. Waken up! It's like the Truman show only darker and not so blatantly satirical. It's brilliant! I saw it twice, ages ago, so I'm not going to bother quoting bits of it cos I'd probably be wrong but I remember being amazed at some of the undertoned messages this film has to offer. The positive reviews above say it all - the negative ones are just from people who concentrate too much on the fact that this film probably cost around 500 dollars to make and cant overcome that.
     But look beyond the uncomfortable acting, the weak props and cheap effects and look at what Wier is really trying to say. In dead poets and truman you had to get over your scepticism of a comic actor playing a serious role and it's the same here - get over your scepticism!

Thanael


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Shawn J on June 06, 2000, 10:02:37 AM
This movie was recently unleashed to my Friday Night Suck bad movie group, and I must tell you, it was one of the worst movies we've watched.  Boring, stupid, and poorly acted, this movie caused me to raise a few of my votes on imdb.  I challenge anyone to come up with a copy of the script from this piece of crap.  I'm sure it would be only 12 pages long, with six of them filled with "(dramatic pause)"


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Devin on September 12, 2000, 02:35:21 PM
Ditto on the title change - it was "The Cars That Eat People" when I rented it.  Man...man, what a huge let-down.  You've got a big ol' spiky VW bug on the cover, eating someone, and it never even shows up in the movie.  I think I remember one flash of the spiky car, and that's it.  The rest is a bunch of people standing around bemoaning car-issues.  As for "a loyal fan following"...erm, all I can do is warn you not to wait for a sequel to this "classic piece of film".  And somehow I doubt the DVD re-master is coming out anytime soon...


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Spudrick on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
I first saw this film when I was 13 - it was the first film shown on Channel 4 in Britain - and I just fell in love with it. The term "veggie" has stuck with me since. But that copper's uniform: pure YMCA video or what! As a rule I've always hated VW Beetles (we used to have one), but the hedgehog version in the film is definitely the exception to the rule; how, as well, one wouldn't be able to recognise fighting it with just a pole could only end in one result still fascinates me: maybe Neil was some sort of veggie at the time of the confrontation - and when the spikes went through him he became the ultimate vegetable kebab!


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Ulysess on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I think a lot of you people, including the reviewer are missing the point.  The film is not a horror film, but a very sophistocated black comedy, even to the spoof commercial at the beginning.  The title is a joke along with the whole movie.  Weir has an interest in closed communities (Witness - Amish, Dead Poets - Public School and Truman being the ultimate) and the macabre.  Weir says he got the idea after being diverted off a perfectly good road in France by a maintenance crew (hence 'Paris') and wondering why we trust these people.  Every time I see this film I roar with laughter.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: David Nicholson on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
"The Cars That Eat People" is actually somewhat different from the "The Cars That Ate Paris". It was re-edited in the US without Peter Weir's permission. I'll admit, I find both versions hard to sit through so I can't give a full analysis of the differences, but the main changes I noticed are at the beginning and end.

First of all, the opening "ad" was removed from the re-edited version.

In the original, Arthur Waldo and his brother are unemployed Australians looking for work. In the re-edited version, courtesy of a voiceover we are told that Arthur and his brother are American tourists from Brooklyn who decided to drive across Australia. (Amazing how Arthur suddenly obtains an Australian accent once he reaches Paris. Must've been caused by the accident!)

The original version simply ends with Arthur driving off into the night. The re-edited version has more voiceover with Arthur saying he's "getting on the first plane out of this crazy country". As the picture fades out we hear the sounds of a car crash and a lion (?) growling.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Andrew Morton on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
This film is a legend in our family - for all the wrong reasons.  It was shown on the then new Channel 4 in the mid 1980's, and we all thought it was going to be like Mad Max!. Stunned by the dull plot, terrible acting, lack of action & dreadful camera work, I went to bed. Foolishly, my younger brother & mother stayed up, convinced it would get better. I was kept up by their howls of derision and the next morning it was roundly declared the worst film they'd ever seen!. Years later it came on again & decided to watch it again,  expecting to find it was in fact an entertaining black comedy rather than an action movie. I discovered they were right  - it is pure drivel from start to finish .  The creator of badmovies should be congratulated - firstly for creating a really  entertaining site, but also for wanting to kick the s**t out of Peter Wier!


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: "Tuffy" on August 09, 2001, 06:25:24 PM
I first saw “The Cars” at the not-so-tender age of 19 and being the gear head that I am I “got it” immediately. In spite of your very cool website, you have this movie all wrong. This is NOT a motorized version of “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.” It is actually a dark comedy with some truly disturbing undertones that has a lot to say about both modern society’s dependence on and worship of cars, and about the desperation of rural small-town life. The “cigarette ad” opening is just one of many barbs thrown at modern day consumerism, and the idea of a whole town’s economy depending on cars is only as ridiculous as Detroit! The whole idea of a town of ghouls is really unsettling, and some of the film’s scenes are just creepy: the townspeople at the bar slavishly putting down their beers in preparation to strip another “victim” at the sound of the bell as the hapless traveler in the Jaguar approaches his end, and the “rally” outside the church where cars are being wrecked to the tune of the townspeople singing a church hymn. While most young men’s cars are the objects of their careful affection, the young men in Paris intentionally destroy theirs-and everything else-for the only kind of thrill to be had in their dead-end existence. And haven’t we all personally known control freaks like the mayor, who barely hang on with their iron fists and then lose everything when they push just a little too hard? For a car lover like myself who understands the dark side of my hobby, this is a great film! (and when was the last time you saw a ’58 Desoto with right-hand steering???)


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Scott on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I hate this movie. I hated this movie when I watched it 3 hours ago, and I still hate it. I want to burn every copy of this movie and then p**s on the ashes. If this director guy wants to make a point about something, then he should have at least made it in something that doesn't make you want to go kill somebody afterwards.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Tony Coasta on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
A junked town, crazy people, junked cars? Is this an early Mad Max movie? I loved the spiked beetle. (It could be Herbie the Love Bug's Rival!) Very short on plot, and I would not consider it as a black comedy!


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Luke on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
The comments of the people who think 'The Cars That Ate Paris' is a good film that can only be appreciated by intelligent Australians remind me of that story 'The Emperor's new clothes'.
This film is s**t on every level imaginable.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Candy on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Oh, c'mon people, an old piece of steel that we use everyday... EATING PEOPLE?  C'mon!  Cars that EAT people.  It just doesn't make sense.  Like I said in "Killer Tomatoes", THIS MOVIE IS ABSURD.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Ian on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Peter Weir's films have always explored general themes of alienation within society: and this -- his first full length film -- explored this as well. The film is not a horror film at all but it is the darkest shade of black comedy -- please note the advertisement at the beginning, the scene where Arthur becomes a Parking Inspector, or the scene where Arthur overcomes his fear of cars with the immortal line "I can drive!". It's definitely a film of it's time, like Easy Rider, If or Billy Jack.

The film -- as far as I've been able to find out -- was made on a shoestring, with a budget of about 1% of a standard Hollywood film: and many of the cast and crew were actually students at the time.



Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Michal on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Couldn't agree more with the points made by "Tuffy"
in his short review. Specifically, those undertones
and subtle jokes in every minute of this film are just amazing. Despite the fact the I consider myself a low budget film junkie this one is a must see for everyone!

As of February 2003, the overall cultural impact of this movie can be witnessed for instance by the recent article
in Time on the ban of inner city traffic in London,
the article is called "The cars that ate London".
Which is in my view a firm proof of the fact
that this movie has finally achieved level of stardom
and generall appreciation, which it truely deserves.

btw. 'veggie' somehow got in to my blood as well :@)


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Mal St Clair on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
OK - So its not a childrens movie. Tell me, without indulgences like this would Mad Max ever have been made ?
For better or worse I'd like to see more of this.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Brian Costelloe on August 26, 2003, 10:32:31 AM
My relatives are extras in this movie which is not something to boast about I guess. Sofala is only famous for one other movie which was filmed there and that was Sirens. So the only reason why I watch this is to see my auntie and uncles as teenagers. I just wish it was a cooler movie that they were in or at least one with saucie models like Elle! The wind charm made out of Jag parts was cool but it is the bad side of B-Grade with a lot of potential slipping through untouched.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Jeremy on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
This is definitly my favourite movie of all time.  I think many people would have enjoyed the movie a lot more if they weren't lied to by the video case - it's a very intelligent movie - and hilarious!  No suprise that Peter Weir has gone on to be such a highly regarded film maker.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Morgan Hoyle-Combs on November 15, 2003, 09:09:56 PM
Remember how I said if you put Mad Max and The Terminator with The Car you would get a movie? Well about that spiked beetle...


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Rod Williams on November 24, 2003, 12:00:23 AM
I like offbeat cheezy movies. This is one of the worst/best ones I have seen in a long time.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Brian Costelloe on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
I made comments earlier (much much earlier) in regards to my relatives being in "The Cars Ate Paris" and having had some time to honestly think about the movie again in depth I have just one thing to add. The movie was poorly executed by todays standards. Screenplay was a big let down in comparison to the storyline. Perhaps if the movie was given a re-touch, storyline modernised and a bigger budget then Peter Weir's original could be a more digestable and widely accepted movie.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: CG on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I was in this movie when I was 17. It was a lot of fun to make and lots of interesting characters on set. I thought the movie was garbage when I saw it. I think it's worse now. Still I laugh when I look back. It was made in a little town called Sofala, NSW, just outside of Bathurst.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Briony on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
It's a bloody great film and if you don't get it I can only look upon you with compassion.  Of course the production standards are "poorly executed" by today's standards.  It's a low budget B movie from Australia, it's not going to look like "Charlie's Angels" now is it.  

I love it because it's anarchic, sarcastic, clever, creepy and just flat out strange.  It is a truly original vision and it shows one of the great directors starting to find his voice at a very early stage in his career.  Yes, it's highly flawed and probably ridiculous at times with unlikeable characters.  It's also a bit of a cack (Australian for crazy funny) and doesn't take itself too seriously.  This was the young filmmaker mucking around and having a fine time.  I wish more people would make films like this instead of trying to make the next big Hollywood piece of cynical rubbish.

I do get why some people don't like it - it's perhaps an acquired taste or maybe you have to be in the right mood.
But the completely over the top negative reactions posted here are  bizarre.  

Honestly, if you think "The Cars That Ate Paris" is one of the worst films of all time you really haven't been around much.  Could it be that you didn't like the fact that it made you feel a bit uncomfortable/confused/stupid and this made you react angrily?  

You'd better just stick to John Carpenter or something.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Dan on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
The only good things about this movie are some of the old holdens that we don't see much on the road anymore here in Australia, and that stunning blonde woman at the start.


Title: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Sarah on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I personally didn't really know what to make of this movie. I admit I've seen some movies worse than this. It could have been really funny, I guess, but instead it was just boring and kind of creepy... in a bad way. Like, a trip through the demntia patient's section in the nursing home creepy.

And yeah, I was severly dissapointed that no car ate a person. I was at least hoping maybe the cars were possessed or something, but no such luck. I guess I might have appreciated it more had the title not suggested that cars might eat some people.


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Gary Roberts on February 25, 2008, 03:54:55 PM
I LOVE this film. It's so off-the-wall and inventive in so many ways. It's almost like being caught up in some weird dream. John Meillon is great as the mayor, a real villain if ever there was one, but subtly so. The opening mock-commercial is a great touch, and there's loads of detail in the film to pick up on and enjoy. Terry Camilleri is very sympathetic as weedy little Arthur, and it's good that he's played as a rather tragic figure - going nowhere, and with nothing but a couple of cheap suitcases to his name. CARS shows just how inventive Peter Weir was at the start of his career, and I like the way it gleefully avoids categorisation: it has elements of a horror flick, a black comedy, a drama, but it's ultimately something very original. If it was remade now, it'd be much slicker, gorier and more brutal, I suppose... but it wouldn't be a patch on the original. This is no bad movie, unless you're completely devoid of humour and irony. :teddyr:


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Malcolm Kaksois on February 29, 2008, 10:09:41 PM
I have said it once and I will say it again and again.THIS IS THE BEST FILM EVER MADE.
Do not listen to the people who have failed to understand.


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Jigen on January 04, 2009, 10:13:41 AM
i saw that movie in german-tv (5 years ago?!?) .. and i was horrofied  :buggedout:
the best scene in my eyes was at the final as one of the cars just spiked somebody up *with an completely unaspected front-attack* and carries im away ^^
super-theatralic scene  :teddyr:


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Doggett on January 06, 2009, 11:46:28 AM
Rubbish, but still not as bad as Frogs.
It has a good title and that's it.


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Simon on April 22, 2009, 04:39:20 PM
I like this film a lot. The plot and characters are quirky and interesting, the story has a depth that seems to have completely evaded the reviewer and the film has a wonderful otherworldly quality about it that is evident in Peter Weir's other films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Witness.

I really don't think this film belongs on this site and anybody watching it expecting to get the same kind of silly, visceral satisfaction they get from bad films are probably going to be disappointed with this original and surreal little gem. This is not a bad film, it's a very good film and it's a shame there aren't more like it.


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Zeek Ditty on June 06, 2009, 08:51:16 AM
Considering myself an semi-expert in cheesy movies, I knew I would have to eventually see a movie rated at a skull.  This one was on cable so I TiVoed it.  What a waste of space!  My brain hurt trying to figure out a plot... until I realized there really wasn't one.  I even made sure to torture a friend of mine with this garbage.  Thankfully he's the forgiving type.  I have now seen a skull, can officially consider myself an aficionado of cheese, and now have to go wash my brain out with soap.


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Robin on September 14, 2010, 09:58:44 PM
The fact that a few of these actors :bouncegiggle: went on to starring :lookingup: roles in "Crocodile Dundee" and "Mad Max" does not detract from my opinion that this movie sucked, and not well.


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: JPickettIII on October 02, 2010, 07:01:53 AM
I am watching this movie right now.  I recorded id on IFC.  I will have to say is WOW :question: :buggedout:  My first thought (and I am about twenty minutes into the movie is) about the movie is Was the director bored and just just actually make the first reality show?  I just seemed that the director just followed people around and then the people pretended to be on camera.  I loved in the beginning of the movie it appearred to be a cigarette add.  I all of saddened wanted a smoke.  I saw the drill with the red cross tape on it.  I think the town of Paris was a junk yard that had a two grow up in it.

I could go on and I want to go but I am using most of my brain power not going insane watching this movie.  I will finish the move and then write a better comment.

Help!


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: RJ on October 09, 2010, 04:40:55 AM
I must admit that I went into this movie expecting something gory, but wow, I didn't expect this.

I actually liked this. It's a movie that tries to get us to think about society and the way cars have changed it. There's so much more you can read into with this movie - one piece of commentary is that car crashes and deaths are so easily accepted as a part of modern life. The title itself is a dead metaphor on how the town becomes so obsessed with cars that it literally "eats" it alive (in how the youths finally decide they've had enough of the town council trying to smother their ambitions and tear it apart). So whilst it's definitely not the best movie in the world, but it's not the worst either. It's an interesting movie and it's just a shame that the way it was marketed didn't help people's expectations.


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: sentrick on March 13, 2013, 12:34:58 PM
I must say that after reading these fantastic comments, all I can do is laugh! “They’re brilliant!“  You can ‘t have a Cult Classic without the critics, as it inspires us lunatics love it even more….
Horror, dark comedy, someone mention reality show….. Well, I do know that it was filmed in and around Sofala, NSW, (Australia) and in 1974 this would have been more like a bl**dy documentary. 
Ironically and metaphorically after they improved the road to the place, civilization moved in and changed Sofala. So the cars really did eat Paris. 
Great, great, great, great, great movie, I especially loved the “vegies “ with boxes on their heads, brilliant s**t!!!
PS. If you like this movie, checkout “Welcome to Woop Woop”


Title: Re: The Cars that Ate Paris
Post by: Trevor on May 22, 2013, 05:23:21 AM
Quote
This movie is terrible, I hate it. I hate Peter Weir who directed it and would like him to know that I wish to kick his ass.* For whatever reason you made this film it utterly destroys the merits you tried to reclaim with "Dead Poet's Society" - you are sick man and will spend eternity in Hell being raped by demonic 57 Chevys for this.

 :buggedout: +  :teddyr: :teddyr: :teddyr: