Directed by Jerry London
Cast: Clint Walker, Carl Betz, Neville Brand, James Wainwright, Robert Urich, James A. Watson, Jr.
Universal Vault Series / Region 1 / Not Rated / 1.33:1 Full Frame / 74 minutes
No Disc Extras
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Killdozer is a real guy’s movie. Picture the life of a construction worker in the 1970s at its most low down and dirty. Grit stained faces. Dirtied clothes. Work hard, live hard mentality. That’s what Killdozer is all about. Oh, and don’t forget the bulldozer that’s running by itself and picking off the crew one by one. As a gore film, Killdozer will sourly disappoint. You have to keep in mind that Killdozer is a made-for-TV movie that’s almost four decades old. It was designed to be fast, fun, and ultimately throwaway. But this is a real gem, if you like this kind of forgotten fare. This is b-movie fun with a little bit of darkness thrown in for good measure.
A meteor rock falls from the sky, lands near a bulldozer, and it turns the device into a killing machine. A small group of construction workers are on an island working on God knows what project, because it’s just a big mess of broken down things on the beach. But who cares? Logic be damned. The heart of the movie is the working class plight: the boss who won’t listen to basic reason. So what if we buried one of our men just minutes ago, the boss says, get back to work if you know what’s good for you.
The first half of the movie is full of unintentional comedic moments like the above statement. It’s not long before the plot turns into survival horror as the workers get picked off one by one. It’s a tried and true formula, “us” against “the thing out there.” Surprisingly, the feature uses dark lighting effectively to set a scary mood, giving this movie an extra kick of merit. The deaths are bloodless, but there is enough action and extreme seriousness stressed against something so ridiculous that it’s entertaining. Imagine if the Syfy Channel was making films forty years ago and they didn’t have CGI. Ultimately, Killdozer is a hokey PG-rated fun time.
Killdozer has been re-mastered, so the image quality is superb. This is easily the best version of the film to this day. Colors are crisp, and the scenes at night aren’t black to the point you can’t see anything. The audio is good too; you don’t have to crank that puppy to hear what everybody is saying. The only real gripe is the lack of any extras or commentaries. This is no frills, though the image quality alone makes this worth a purchase for fans of offbeat cinema. As a side note, this is a made on demand DVD-R. It won’t play on certain devices.