Rent Cars That Ate Paris (1974)

Mad Max meets The Wicker Man - Cars That Ate Paris review by AER

This Australian oddity is worth seeking out if you love Mad Max and The Wicker Man. It centres around a remote country town in NSW where the mayor and it's people have devised a scheme to stay afloat by plundering the cars of passing travellers. Unsuspecting folks are killed by the townsfolk or booby-trapped roads - yet dischord begins to reasonate as the young car mad youth begin to chafe against the order. At the centre of this is a survivor who is taken in as a waif and who slow begins to see the town for what it is. Our hero is largely passive, played by the gentle Terry Camillieri (who play Napoleon in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure), and the big bad just eccentric (John Meillon - Wally from Crocodile Dundee). Other familiar faces pop up like Chris Haywood (Muriel's Wedding) and Bruce Spence (The Matrix 3).

The cars are great, specifically a VW beetle with spikes! It's not an action film, like the sexed-up trailer suggests, it's more typical of those meandering 70s films that were pretty common in Australia. Peter Weir went on to direct some great Hollywood films before leaving his natice Australia. Odd, memorable, and deserves a considered remake that keeps the soul intact but bolsters the threat levels to the max.