The Cars That Ate Paris
Home Vision (1975)
Adventure, Comedy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
In Collection
#597
8*
Seen It:  Yes
(6/13/2011)
037429176528
IMDB   5.1
86 mins USA/English
DVD  Region 1   NR
John Meillon The Mayor
Terry Camilleri Arthur Waldo
Kevin Miles Dr. Midland
Rick Scully George Waldo
Max Gillies Metcalfe
Danny Adcock Policeman
Bruce Spence Charlie
Kevin Golsby Insurance man
Chris Haywood Darryl
Peter Armstrong Gorman
Joe Burrow Ganger
Director Peter Weir
Producer Hal McElroy
James McElroy
Jim McElroy
Writer Peter Weir
Keith Gow
Piers Davies

This first effort from acclaimed writer/director Peter Weir is set in the secluded rural town of Paris, Australia, where the chief source of income is provided by the orchestration of automobile accidents — which frequently claim the lives of passing tourists, though those who survive are usually subjected to bizarre brain experiments by a loony local surgeon. One such unfortunate survivor is young Arthur, who remains in Paris after his recovery to work in the hospital, unaware (at first) of the circumstances which brought him there. Although there are many amusingly weird moments, this black comedy is a bit too deadpan for its own good and may be too talky and meandering for horror fans. A condensed version was released in the U.S under the title The Cars That Eat People . — Cavett Binion
Edition Details
Release Date 10/21/2003
Packaging Keep Case
Screen Ratio 1.66:1
Audio Tracks ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono
Layers Single Side, Dual Layer
No. of Disks/Tapes 1
Personal Details
Purchase Date 4/15/2004
Owner Thomas Eisenmann
Store DVD Planet
Purchase Price $22.46
Condition Excellent
Reviewed Widescreen Review
Bit Rate 192 KB
Anamophic Yes
Links IMDB

Features
Anamophic
Includes the 77-minute suspense-thriller "The Plumber" (also directed by Peter Weir), new interviews with Peter Weir regarding "The Cars That Ate Paris" and "The Plumber," as well as trailers for both movies. There is also a booklet included in the packaging.

Widescreen Review
Story Synopsis:
Paris, Australia is a strange place, and anyone who drives through it finds out soon enough. Car accidents happen a bit too often and are usually met with fatal results. Arthur (Camilleri), however, is one of the few that survive his accident, but after spending a small amount of time in Paris with the town’s mayor (Meillon), he wishes that he hadn’t been so lucky. The good mayor is sure that he has the situation under control, but as The Cars That Ate Paris start taking over, Arthur becomes the one with the last laugh. (Tricia Littrell)

DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 DVD picture exhibits nicely restored images that, while dated, appear sharp and nicely detailed. Colors are well balanced, with accurate fleshtones, rich hues, and deep blacks. The darker scenes are often presented in a bluish hue with limited contrast. Viewers sensitive to edge enhancement will notice its distraction at times. There are some minor defects in the source element, which is otherwise clean. Overall, for the age of this film, the picture looks quite good. (Suzanne Hodges)

Soundtrack:
Despite the indication on the DVD cover that the audio is mono, there is actually very feeble and subtle stereo content for this Dolby® Digital 2.0 soundtrack. The sound quality, though significantly dated, is actually quite presentable with balanced tonality and reasonably natural-sounding dialogue. Background hiss is only subtly noticeable. The vintage audio certainly has been well-restored. (Jeffrey Kern)