Arthur and his brother George crash their car in the small town of Paris, Australia and unfortunately George is killed. Arthur survives and slowly discovers that car accidents are more common in Paris than is usual, he also finds leaving the town more difficult than it should be. Add to this an escalating feud between the youths and the adults of the town and Arthur finds himself in a far worse situation than he first thought...
Having only seen two of Peter Weir's films ("The Truman Show" and "Master and Commander") I didn't have any idea what to expect from "The Cars That Ate Paris" as both the aforementioned movies were totally different. Well seeing as "Cars" was a film made very early in Weir's career the oddities and quirks that are present especially in "The Truman Show" are evident here, only multiplied by about ten. "Cars" is such a strange movie that I hadn't decided whether I liked it or not by the half-way mark, luckily by the end I had and I must say that I did enjoy it, if not only for its eccentricity but also its interesting premise (which unfortunately I didn't feel was sufficiently explored).
Without ruining too much of the storyline, the town of Paris seem to cause car accidents on purpose, then salvage the wreckages and add them to their city or use them as Death Race-alike destruction derby cars. Upon surviving his accident, Arthur slowly begins to discover these strange activities and as a result is effectively imprisoned in the town. He also begins to notice the continuing unruly actions of the youth of the town who seems to be plotting some sort of uprising.
 
The film certainly provides the viewer with a restrained but obvious sense of unease through the strange actions of the townsfolk and brief glimpses of the results of a scientist's experiments (something that again is not fully explored). The lack of bright colours also adds to the disquieting nature of the film and it always seems as though something terrible is going to happen any minute, something which works to the films advantage as were it not for this impending sense of terror I could see many viewers turning off.
Unfortunately the actions of the members of Paris are never properly explained and the film could as a result seem to many viewers largely pointless. If you require a reason behind the peculiarity then you'll be disappointed but if you indulge purely in the interesting ideas on display then you'll end up having a good time. It also helps that the acting is spot on, with Terry Camilleri as Arthur a delight to watch, his naīve and quiet demeanour depicting a likeable character who, despite his flaws, is a truly engaging protagonist.
The film is also dialogue-light with many scenes containing no speech at all and often focusing entirely on the titular cars driving around in circles or crashing into one another. This combined with the static camera work and many un-relatable characters will alienate many viewers but I felt it all added to the peculiar attraction of the movie. It is also of note to mention that sometimes this film is billed as a horror-comedy, however, aficionados of this particular genre will find no typical elements of comedy present. Although there is an underlying sense of black humour, there are no belly laughs to be found.
An enjoyably eccentric piece of subdued filmmaking that will definitely not be for everyone, especially horror fans, as it only briefly displays elements of the horror genre. It definitely picks up the pace towards the end once it delivers an exciting climatic showdown and so both halves of the film deliver in their different ways. Definitely recommended to those who like their horror subtle and served with a bit of mystery and intrigue rather than in-your-face violence and gore.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Cars, Cars That Eat People
MOVIE YEAR: 1974
DIRECTOR: Peter Weir
WRITING CREDITS: Peter Weir, Keith Gow
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
CAST: John Meillon, Terry Camilleri, Kevin Miles
COUNTRY: Australia
RUNTIME: 91 min
RATING: 7/10
Cars That Ate Paris, The Website/IMDB Click here
Cars That Ate Paris, The Trailer
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