The Cars That Ate Paris 4K 1974 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Residents of a small Australian town are willing to do anything to support local businesses. Every day, using ingenious methods, they stage accidents for passing motorists and strip the wreckage for parts. Survivors are not left unattended, and the dead are laid to rest. The town is a trap with no way out!

Review 4K Movie

While looking for work, the film’s protagonist, Arthur Waldou, and his brother George turn off the road following a sign pointing to a small town called Paris. However, a few minutes later, their car crashes; just before that, they manage to see someone waving a lantern. George dies, and Arthur stays to live in this small town (or rather, village), kindly finding shelter in the mayor’s house.

Weir depicts a micro-society where people live so cut off from the outside world that their only means of survival are cars that happen to wander into Paris, which they hunt down with a vengeance. The cars are stripped for parts, tourists are robbed, and those who miraculously survive end up in the hospital; they’re so mentally impaired that the staff there call them “vegetables” (vegetarian), not “vegetarians,” as it was rendered in the translation I watched.

It’s a real little state of its own, with its own city hall, senate (Arthur is appointed senator in charge of parking), police, and even local hooligans and rebels. Essentially, Weir created a dystopia where, using a small town as an example, he illustrated the structure of society and the mechanisms by which it is governed. You can find out what becomes of Paris and our hero Arthur by watching the film.

The genre of "The Cars That Ate Paris" is dystopia and social satire, so fans of straightforward horror films will most likely not enjoy it.

And in the finale, the sight of cars armed with huge spikes makes one wonder whether some of the vehicles in the cult 1990s video game *Carmageddon* might have been inspired by this very film.

Peter Weir’s debut film isn’t the best in his filmography, but it’s undoubtedly original—even to this day.