Movie Info
Movie Name: Killdozer!
Studio: Universal Television
Genre(s): Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Release Date(s): February 2, 1974
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Man vs. Machine…to the death (if machines can die)
A meteorite is unearthed in a dig in Africa, and the bulldozer that runs into it becomes possessed by evil. A group of construction workers find themselves trapped on an island with the killer machine and no way off. Built like a tank, the bulldozer has the power to destroy them all unless the men can figure out a way to stop the alien entity.
Directed by Jerry London, Killdozer! was a made-for-TV movie that aired on NBC on February 2, 1974. The movie is an adaptation of a short story by Theodore Sturgeon which was first published in 1944. The movie over the years has gained a cult following mostly due to the absurd plot.
Don’t turn around…a bulldozer snuck up on you!
Killdozer! on paper sounds like a joke. I can understand how it could be a short comic book story (it was adapted by Marvel Comics as well), but I don’t know how they thought they could stretch the concept into a full length movie…but they really did try.
The story for Killdozer! has no real idea what to do with itself. Once the bulldozer is possessed, the movie really isn’t sure what a bulldozer would do to kill. The first couple of deaths are understandable…the people don’t know that the bulldozer is possessed. The death of many of the later characters make no sense…it isn’t like a bulldozer can sneak up on someone and for the most part, the characters at least could have made more stealthly attempts to avoid the bulldozer to survive.
Wow…this is intense…yeah…
The acting is the acting of a B-Movie. Most of the actors are pretty minor players. The most well-known actor in the group probably is Robert Urich…who become the bulldozer’s first victim. If Killdozer! had been made in the late ’70s or ’80s he would have been the lead.
A bulldozer is a bulldozer. The movie doesn’t have much to do with its special effects. It primarily just involves the bulldozer driving around the island. There is a battle between the bulldozer and a steamshovel…but that is about as visually exciting as you get.
Killdozer! is a bad movie but a movie that you can watch simply because it is so weird. Oddly enough, you can see seeds of Stephen King in Killdozer!, and King’s obsession with possessed machines…that being said, Christine was far more frightening than the killer bulldozer…but I suppose Killdozer could have held his own in Maximum Overdrive (which did feature a possessed bulldozer as well).
