"Killing Cars" is a West German German-language film from 1986, so it has its 30th anniversary this year. The writer and director is Michael Verhoeven who had decent success (including an Oscar nomination) with some of his Nazi-themed film in his long career. This one here is nowhere near his most or least known works, but maybe one of the films by him that weren't received that well overall. I am not sure if the cast is to blame. I like Prochnow and he is very talented for sure and there are other somewhat famous cast members in here like Senta Berger. Maybe the script is the problem. The title already gives away that this is a car-themed film. And it is basically about automobiles that are environmentally-friendly, which is something that is a pretty progressive topic and has parallels to the car industry today. But it's much more radical. The people who make lots of money from oil are not willing to accept that they will have huge losses and the consequence is every economy-related crime you can think of, even murder. Money makes the world go round, right guys? The movie runs for slightly over 90 minutes, but I guess there's different versions out there as here on IMDb it is listed at 105 minutes almost. All in all, I think the political context and the whole premise were fairly interesting, but the elaboration in detail and also the characters just did not make it a compelling watch. I also felt that the film went over-the-top on too many occasions (also in terms of acting) and that hurt the overall outcome quite a bit. Thumbs-down from me. Not recommended.

Cocky and high strung inventor Ralph Korda (a grouchy and unappealing Jurgen Prochnow), who has created an environmentally friendly car that doesn't run on gas, finds himself the target of various powerful car manufacturers after he supplies a German automaker with a prototype for testing.Sounds pretty cool and exciting, right? Well, it just ain't, thanks to Michael Verhoeven's overly ostentatious direction (this whole movie has the self-consciously flashy'n'trashy glowing neon look of a vintage 80's music video complete with lots of hazy back lighting and hyperactive camera-work), a convoluted and meandering narrative that gets bogged in way too much dull talk, a pounding rock soundtrack that's more headache-inducing than rousing, atrocious dubbing, and, worst of all, an arrogant brooding jerk of a main character who's impossible to either like or care about. Senta Berger mostly just stands around as smitten secretary Marie Landauer while William Conrad adds some much needed (and appreciated) rip-snorting vitality as jolly auto magnet Mr. Mahoney. A messy subplot involving an angry gang of punks on a destructive rampage primarily gets in the way of the central story and although the occasional wild car chases are well staged, they overall don't add much to the picture. Drab and heavy-handed, it's basically a stinker.

The central plot idea of a non-petrol-based car whose development is being sabotaged by vested interests from the oil industry is a good one. (The title refers to the killing OF cars, rather than to cars that kill.) However, it does not make ideal material for an action thriller, and that is exactly what director Verhoeven attempted here.As a result there are quite a few unlikely moments in the film where my capacity to suspend disbelief was overstretched. In particular, way too much importance was given to that one example of the World Car, as if Korda had built that thing himself, entirely instinctively using a hammer and a soldering iron - and setting issues such as rights to intellectual property completely aside.The film tries very hard to look stylish, in a very 1980s sort of way, and from a modern perspective some of this looks a bit silly: wearing sunglasses at night, Backgammon as a game that separates the men from the boys, etc.

West German film, also known as "Blitz, which in my opinion, is the better title for this movie than "Killing Cars" (Which is also a bit misleading) as there are actually no killing cars in this movie (Like in say, "The Car" or "Maximum Overdrive"), but like I said, this movie is cheezy, but somehow manages to be fun. The copy I purchased was not from Vidmark, as stated on this site, but I bought a copy from Cineplex Odeon/MCA. I got it on eBay from some guy in Canada/ The movie revolves around Ralph Korda (Played by Jurgen Prochnow from "Beverly Hills Cop II"), a brilliant automotive engineer who is building The "World Car", an environmentaly car that runs withour any kind of gas (A hybrid, if you will.) which, as the back of the box says, could mean a revolution in the international motor business and a threat to all oil producing nations. His project soon comes to a halt by an Arab Oil tycoon who happens to own a large financial stake in BAG. Korda, compelled to complete his "World Car" initiates dealings with investors from New York and other tycoons. He soon becomes involved in a violent and deadly gamble with the odds not in his favor. (SPOILERS AHEAD) The movie ends with Korda, having brought back the "World Car", now wrecked, back to the company headquarters, with the investor telling Korda that the project has been cancelled. Overall, there was some unintenionally funny parts, like the guy doing the handstand. That was funny. So if you're into cheeze like this, this is for you. Otherwise, steer clear. EXTRAS: None, really, except for a somewhat cool Cineplex Odeon Home Video Logo.