Phantom Racer DVD Review
Phantom Racer DVD Review
Don't bother to fasten your seatbelts.
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Greg Evigan, perhaps best-known to TV Land fans as BJ of BJ & The Bear (or perhaps Dad #2 on My Two Dads), shifts his career into low gear as J.J. Sawyer, an ex-racecar driver who's been forced to work as a long haul trucker following a life-altering crash. Having returned to his hometown, he unwittingly digs up a few ghosts (and a daughter he never knew he had… hm, a certain scriptwriter has been watching TV Land a bit too much, methinks!).
The long-lost girlfriend Tammy is played by Nicole Eggert (SyFy's Decoys), while J.J.'s daughter is the rebellious teen Jesse, portrayed with the proper skosh of snark by Brenna O'Brien (SyFy's Tin Man). These two ladies offer the big guy plenty of opportunities to reminisce and tug on heartstrings (Phantom Racer is Lifetime Movie talky at times).
Definitely more The Car (1977) than Death Proof (2007), this — you guessed it — SyFy Channel feature has a few cheesy, queasy moments of bloodstained fun that incorporate the possessed car's working parts into the kill scenes (razorblade sharp windshield wipers, seatbelts that tighten like a vise, and a trunk that snaps shut with deadly force).
The crash scenes are weak though, and the CGI meant to enhance them only makes things worse… perhaps director Terry Ingram should rent a few old horror movies involving car wrecks, study them, and figure out how a lot can be achieved with a little (might I suggest Daughters of Darkness from 1971? Not a great film, but there's a memorable mash-up that's discussed in great detail by director Harry Kümel on the DVD's yack-track).
Anyway, the Phantom Racer car is obviously only working its way up to Satanic status, because it bears the number 66. Predictably enough it's the color of danger and anger — red — and it's out for blood, following J.J. from his glory days of racing to the pastoral side-streets of his little podunk town. It's up to J.J. to figure out why the car has got it in for him (hm, could it have something to do with the car crash that ended his career, and ended the life of a rival driver? Nahhhh… probably not) and stop it before it gets him.
Phantom Racer isn't a bad timewaster, but it could use a tune-up in the horror aspects and the special effects. The actors are likeable enough, but they're burdened with pretty pitiful dialogue and have to do some odd things (the hickish characters definitely don't take the carnage seriously enough at times, joking around out of nowhere or asking mundane questions just seconds after someone's brutal death right before their eyes).
The DVD pulls into the driveway, stock — no additional release materials are included.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson