Good friends & rival race car drivers J. J. Sawyer & Cutter have their friendship ended when Cutter's mechanic's sabotage of Sawyer's race car during a race backfires, resulting in Cutter's death. Years later, Sawyer, now a support truck driver & race car transport arrives in his old town to have his truck repaired. He meets up with his old girlfriend Tammy & her daughter Jesse (who is actually Sawyer's daughter but he doesn't know this or she). At the same time, Cutter's race car has been restored by the mechanic who committed the sabotage, but Cutter's ghost returns to possess the car, the now-possessed vehicle driving off & killing anyone it crosses. Fuelled by revenge, the car heads off to kill Sawyer & his family, prompting them to try to escape.
I've always been a sucker for killer car films. The 1977 classic THE CAR was the very best of this subgenre, with a mean & awesome-looking black Lincoln terrorising the population of a small town. Of course this type of film works better as a supernatural action thriller than a straight horror film, since the premise is a little on the hokey side. You can also count in John Carpenter's adaptation of Stephen King's novel CHRISTINE as another classic killer car film, although not quite up to The Car's standard.
Phantom Racer is an attempt at making a killer car film for the 21st Century, although as a DTV feature. Sure enough, it works on a basic level & has some decent visuals, although for a film that's supposed to be rated PG-13 in the USA (& rated MA15+ in Australia, which is more realistic) it is quite gory in the kills department. In the regard of a horror film, Phantom Racer is lacking due to a premise that is lacking in the scares department.
However as a supernatural thriller, the film is passable enough. Greg Evigan & Nicole Eggert both share an affinity for this type of film & they play it well enough. The scenes of them bonding are reasonable for this type of film & do have add an interesting side to the proceedings. The scenes with the possessed race car taking out a sheriff & his deputy, crushing the deputy's head under its wheel are the closest the film gets to disquieting the viewer. On the other end of the scale, the film's premise (as demonstrated superbly in The Car) tends to rely more on action – the splatter effects in Phantom Racer are cheap & don't really fit the film that well.
I've always been a sucker for killer car films. The 1977 classic THE CAR was the very best of this subgenre, with a mean & awesome-looking black Lincoln terrorising the population of a small town. Of course this type of film works better as a supernatural action thriller than a straight horror film, since the premise is a little on the hokey side. You can also count in John Carpenter's adaptation of Stephen King's novel CHRISTINE as another classic killer car film, although not quite up to The Car's standard.
Phantom Racer is an attempt at making a killer car film for the 21st Century, although as a DTV feature. Sure enough, it works on a basic level & has some decent visuals, although for a film that's supposed to be rated PG-13 in the USA (& rated MA15+ in Australia, which is more realistic) it is quite gory in the kills department. In the regard of a horror film, Phantom Racer is lacking due to a premise that is lacking in the scares department.
However as a supernatural thriller, the film is passable enough. Greg Evigan & Nicole Eggert both share an affinity for this type of film & they play it well enough. The scenes of them bonding are reasonable for this type of film & do have add an interesting side to the proceedings. The scenes with the possessed race car taking out a sheriff & his deputy, crushing the deputy's head under its wheel are the closest the film gets to disquieting the viewer. On the other end of the scale, the film's premise (as demonstrated superbly in The Car) tends to rely more on action – the splatter effects in Phantom Racer are cheap & don't really fit the film that well.