The Cars That Ate Paris (1974)

Director: Peter Weir

Starring: John Meillon, Terry Camilleri, Kevin Miles

More info: IMDb

Tagline: They run on blood.

Plot: When Arthur (Mellon) is kidnapped and kept in the remote town of Paris, he finds that the eccentric residents have an unusual relationship with their equally strange fleet of automobiles.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I really had high hopes for this one despite the low IMDb rating. The collective average score of 1,473 people is right. It looks good and it starts and ends strong but that's all it really has going for it. There's not enough humor to make this a comedy (it's just not funny), there's not enough suspense to make this a thriller and, except for the opening and closing scenes, there's not enough to qualify this as a horror.


Peter Weir (who would later direct Harrison Ford in two of his best "acting" roles, WITNESS (1985) and THE MOSQUITO COAST (1986)) wrote and directed a film that just sits there. I'm not sure even a director's commentary would help me understand what kind of picture he was trying to make. It seems to me it was satire but without the wry laughs. Beats me. It was nice seeing John "Wally from CROCODILE DUNDEE (1986)" Meillon in a pre-DUNDEE role.