I saw this movie at 2 AM late one night in 1997. At first I only kept watching because there was nothing else on, and it looked a little slow for my tastes. As the movie went on, I was drawn into the drama of the girls being kidnapped... but the moment that Laura pulled up to her house, saw the infamous black car moving toward her daughter, and I suddenly remembered the mechanic at the beginning of the movie mentioning that all he had to repair the bus with was a racing engine and transmission, I was glued to my seat. The pacing of the movie was perfect, even when introduced to that sudden twist and chase scene. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes either social dramas or car chases.

I love 'killer car' movies (as people who've read my other reviews will no doubt know by now) so as soon as I read about this film, I just had to see it. Living in the UK, though, it was near impossible to find, especially since the WHEELS OF TERROR Amazon.co.UK has is actually the 1987 film THE MISFIT BRIGADE, which they mistakenly claim is this film as MB had the alternate title WHEELS OF TERROR. But finally, after going to a second-hand video shop and asking them to use their internet search engine, they found a copy of this film, the genuine article, for me.I must say at the outset that it was well worth the wait to finally see this excellent film. Yes, I can see how the plot could be considered a DUEL rip-off, but it manages to be original by throwing in a plot about a real horror we must face in real life: that of a perverted and mysterious child killer. Said killer is never actually seen in the movie (not even a glimpse, unlike the DUEL truck driver whose feet and hands on the steering wheel are seen at certain junctures) but is represented by his omnipresent '74 Dodge Charger, one of the most menacing vehicles ever seen in a movie. I said to a friend recently that I always think black Chargers make excellent 'villain' cars, which is why I'm glad Tarantino is using one in his DEATH PROOF segment of GRINDHOUSE.Joanna Cassidy is brilliant in her role as divorced bus driver Laura, trying to raise her daughter in Arizona, and eventually having to save her from the unseen child molester after she is kidnapped. I admit I haven't seen many films Ms. Cassidy has made but in the few I have seen (WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, BLADE RUNNER and GHOSTS OF MARS), she has been absolutely wonderful. Her desperation and determination to save her daughter and ensure the pervert never harms anybody again are very believable. The rest of the cast are okay, though apart from Marcie Leeds as Stephanie, Laura's daughter, very few of them are on screen long enough to make much of an impact. I agree with some reviewers about the whiny kids on the bus during the big chase sequence being annoying, but at least Laura lets them out to call the police. And in case you're wondering how the school bus can keep up with the murderous muscle car, there's a gratuitous info-dump scene near the start where Latino mechanic Luis points out that he put a racing engine into the bus. Why he would do that I don't know but it explains how the bus is able to chase the Charger.As you can see, I do believe the film has faults, other main ones being the over-use of slow motion shots in what's supposed to be a climactic car chase and Stephanie somehow not noticing that a creepy-looking car is following her down the street at one point. But apart from those minor gripes, I would rate WOT as one of my all-time favourite car chase films and I hope that it gets the DVD release it so richly deserves. Strongly recommended!

I like this movie--loved it as a kid, and would beg my mother to watch it with me. I also remember watching it in the hotel lobby when we had to move somewhere when i was nine or ten years old. Gosh, i hope I can find it--do you guys and gals out there get into the mood of watching old movies you haven't seen in a long time? That's me-- i will watch any movie that comes to mind that I loved watching when I was a little kid... I am a big movie collector, but ironically, i don't like watching much TV, weird huh? So now i tried to post this message and i have to go to ten lines thats weird because the last post i did didn't have ten lines and it posted, so i guess here we go with the tenth line here!

Terrible, awful, abominable, contrived, just plain bad, horrendous, laughable, dreadful, ghastly, so bad it just has to be watched. I could not stop, I had to watch it to the end, I just had to find out how bad it could get. Well, it did not disappoint. The ending was definitely up to the rest of the movie, only worse. Just how many feet of film was wasted on this I don't know. But 1 second's worth is too much. I curse hurricane Jeanne for trapping me in the house with only this (UPN) coming in clearly on my TV. It was this or hurricane coverage of fallen trees and dogs wading through puddles. I chose this. It was a tough choice. I probably would have been better off if I was one of those who lost power. I think I secretly hoped I would lose power so I could breakaway from this mesmerizing stupidity.