Welcome to GORIED TREASURES, a Bearded Gentlemen Music column devoted to fright flicks of yesteryears! Specifically, retrospectives of cult favorites, lesser-knowns, and other horror films that have flown under the radar. Sometimes I’ll gush over my pick, and other times I’ll sound like I’m being way harsh, Tai. Either way, let’s talk about scary movies!
When you really think about it, all life is is simply waiting for your next rite of passage to come along. The bigger ones consist of birthdays, graduations, and weddings. Yet a considerably innocuous ritual we all endure is the true key to burgeoning adulthood. After some necessary preparation and testing, teenagers from all around the country are given the means to leave behind all that ails them. With a piece of rectangular plastic measuring roughly 3×2 inches, you, too, can drive away without looking back.
Another definite rite of passage is road tripping. As kids, we go on plenty of these with our families, but the ones with your best friend are just as important. He or she knows you better than anyone else, and they’re easier to ask for help when you find yourself in a scrape. For the three main characters in the 2003 thriller Black Cadillac, they’ll have no one else but each other when their road trip takes a hazardous turn.
BLACK CADILLAC (2003)
“Your sins will find you.”
On a road trip before going their separate ways, three young men stop at a local dive in a backwoods part of Wisconsin. Wise-ass CJ (Josh Hammond) incidentally causes a bar brawl, which his best friend Scott (Shane Johnson) has to break up. With Scott’s younger brother Robby (Jason Dohring) in tow, the three escape into the snowy night. They pile into Scott’s Saab and speed away, hoping to get some distance between them and all the people they just pissed off. Along the way, they notice they’re being followed by an ominous, vintage black Cadillac. It’s safe to assume that maybe someone from the bar is trying to scare them.
After Scott manages to lose the Caddy, the boys come across an off-duty officer named Charlie (Randy Quaid). His car’s broken down, and he needs a lift. Charlie notices the empty beer bottles in the Saab, but he swears he’ll do the boys a solid by overlooking their youthful indiscretion. After all, they did take time out of their trip to give Charlie a ride.
Eventually, the Caddy reappears. And no matter what Scott, CJ, and Robby do, they can’t shake their pursuer. Whoever’s behind the wheel of the black Cadillac is now out for blood.
Pardon the pun, but Black Cadillac is character-driven.
While it seems like this would be a by-the-numbers kind of movie, Black Cadillac manages to inject a lot of drama among its three main passengers. First off, we have Scott, the paragon of all-American and middle-class youth. He attends Yale, plays sports, and he has a way with the ladies. He’s shown getting intimate with random townie Jeannine (Kiersten Warren) early on before he has to clean up yet another of CJ’s messes.
Speaking of, CJ is painstakingly depicted as the rebel of this trouble-making triumvirate. He’s been mysteriously branded with an attention-grabbing facial scar. Others are drawn to its unknown origin, but CJ is tight-lipped. As for Robby, he’s the quintessential, horny little brother that your parents forced you to take wherever you went. He says words like “beave” unironically, mind you.
It’s clear from the start there’s tension among the ranks. Every compliment CJ throws Scott’s way is thinly veiled and pointed. Yet Scott says nothing back. And based on the violent spectacle he put on back at the bar, there’s some anger brewing beneath that Americana facade. Robby is more or less the mediator of this trio. He’s inexperienced in so many ways, but his ignorance is often as enlightening as it is diffusing.
What about Charlie, though? This towering enforcer of the law sits oh so calmly as the black Caddy tails his chauffeurs. It’s difficult to be ambivalent toward Randy Quaid’s character as he does all but twirl an imaginary mustache.
The excessive if not unrestrained road rage will keep you glued to your dashboard.
Randy Quaid notwithstanding, the film lacks any major stars. So Black Cadillac relies largely on mechanical thrills on top of cat and mouse contrivances. It’s safe to say the budget was modest, but John Murlowski’s direction offsets the fiscal hindrances. The car chases are pulled off adeptly thanks to taut editing; due in part to some adequate Christine-esque aping, the movie’s namesake is on occasion unnerving.
The characters experience relief like never before by the film’s end.
The snow laden backdrop serves this Vermont-shot thriller well. That fleeting, cold layer of off-whiteness gives way to transformation for our three main characters. Scott is without a doubt very angry. His confession as to why he’s constantly irritated allows Robby to step out of big brother’s shadow. He can finally see Scott in a new and different light. In relation, CJ’s acerbic and resentful wit makes all the more sense now.
As the sun sheds light on this colorless ordeal, forgiveness and understanding comes in small waves. Loose ends are easily tied up in Black Cadillac, but it’s not a sappy ending either.
TL;DR
Although it lacks the grace of classic vehicular horrors like Duel and The Hitcher, Black Cadillac is a capable and cunning suspenser that’s found a small following over the years. Murlowski’s story seemingly deconstructs male bonding to the point of no return. Alas, the external threat puts everything in perspective for our protagonists. Basic plot formulaicity aside, Black Cadillac wins some marks by having writing that goes the extra mile.
Watch the movie on Prime Video.
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