Killdozer (1974)

A small construction crew on an island is terrorized when a spirit-like being takes over a large bulldozer, and goes on a killing rampage.

Director:

Jerry London

Writers:

Theodore Sturgeon (teleplay), Ed MacKillop (teleplay)

Stars:

Clint Walker, Robert Urich, Carl Betz

Cast

Cast overview:
Clint Walker	...	Lloyd Kelly
Carl Betz	...	Dennis Holvig
Neville Brand	...	Chub Foster
James Wainwright	...	Dutch Krasner
Robert Urich	...	McCarthy
James A. Watson Jr.	...	Beltran

Storyline

Construction workers building an airstrip on a small Pacific Island encounter an ancient non-material lifeform which has lived in the ruins of an ancient temple for millenia. The entity is of course malevolent and commandeers the earthmoving equipment to the general detriment of all concerned.

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Plot Keywords:

bulldozer | drunkenness | alien | possession | based on novel | 

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Taglines:

Everyone Knows a Machine Cannot Kill. Except the Machine.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 February 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Killdozer

Filming Locations:

Indian Dunes - 28700 Henry Mayo Drive, Valencia, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Wisconsin rock band Killdozer took their name from this film nine years later.

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Goofs

When Mack hits the meteorite with the bulldozer, it's completely covered with weeds. A moment later when he and Kelly walk up to investigate, there is only one small tumble weed next to the meteorite.

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Quotes

Chub Foster: What about this slope? Do you think the D9er can get up it?
Lloyd Kelly: Given time, it can make a road anywhere it wants to go.

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Connections

Referenced in 31 Days of Horror: Killdozer (1974) (2009)

User Reviews

32 people voted this a 1?

When I saw the vote record for this title on this site, I was dumbfounded. 32 (the largest number) out of 198 people gave it only a 1!

I remember this film from when it first aired. It was one of the ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK projects. These were short (2 hours with commercials) films produced with TV series level budgets. This film was based on Theodore Sturgeon's short story about a machine that becomes "possessed" by an electromagnetic alien life-form and turns on its operators.

Because of the budget restraints, these films had to rely more on story than showmanship.

Young Orson Wells would have been right at home working on a project like this. Filmed entirely on location. This film was a thriller where an ordinary object we can take for granted becomes an object of fear – a twist Edgar Allen Poe often used in his works. The film is heavily altered from TS's original because of the low budget. The background story of his version of the fall of Atlantis was unnecessary to the plot, so a different and simpler opening sequence was filmed: a meteor crashing into the Earth 100,000 years ago. John Carpenter would use a similar conceptual opening again years later in his remake of THE THING. This film is a story – not a masterpiece – just a story. And I felt it was a good one.

For that matter, so did most of my friends at the time felt the same way -- it was a popular movie.

How I wish wish wish this was released on DVD!