Duel
Year: 1971
Director: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Richard Matheson
Threat: Psychotic Truck Driver
Weapon of Choice: Truck
Based on: short story by Richard Matheson
IMDb page: 
DuelYear: 1971 Director: Steven Spielberg Written by: Richard Matheson Threat: Psychotic Truck Driver Weapon of Choice: Truck Based on: short story by Richard Matheson IMDb page: |
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Other movies in this series:
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Rish's Reviews
You probably already know about this one. Made on the cheap for television by a
young Steven Spielberg, the film was so successful that it was actually released in
theatres overseas.
I'd seen most of Duel more than once on television over the years. In fact, it
was on the Unreviewable list for quite a while because I got a phone call ten minutes
before the end and missed the chance to give it Skulls (which, I don't mind saying is
my least-favourite part of doing these reviews). So here I am again.
Simply put, Dennis Weaver is terrorized by a faceless semi truck driver.
This is a great movie! It was really well-edited, with many nice, tense scenes. It had
one of the best, and most natural inner monologues I've seen. With its first rate Hitchcock-like
concept and execution, no wonder Spielberg became the star he is.
Dennis Weaver is such an everyman, his name is actually "Mann." The truck that pursues
him is an intimidating, scary threat, on par with any flesh and blood madman. There
are a couple of brief scenes with a repugnantly evil bunch of school kids. If this is
how children were thirty years ago, how must they be today?
Based on a story by Richard Matheson, Duel had very few Skulls, and I'm sure
there are people out there who would argue that it's not Horror, but it most definitely is.
I actually quite enjoyed the recent semi-remake Joy
Ride, but watching the original is really interesting. This would be a cheap
movie to make (then and now). Why aren't there more films like this made nowadays?
Oh, I forgot, because it's all about remakes and unnecessary CGI today.
I'd Recommend It To: Fans of Spielberg or films of the Seventies.
Posted: July 3, 2006
Total Skulls: 6
| Sequel | ||
| Sequel setup | ||
| Rips off earlier film | ||
| Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie | ||
| Future celebrity appears | ||
| Former celebrity appears | ||
| Bad title | ||
| Bad premise | ||
| Bad acting | ||
| Bad dialogue | ||
| Bad execution | ||
| MTV Editing | ||
| OTS | ||
| Girl unnecessarily gets naked | ||
| Wanton sex | ||
| Death associated with sex | ||
| Unfulfilled promise of nudity | ||
| Characters forget about threat | ||
| Secluded location |  |
|
| Power is cut | ||
| Phone lines are cut | ||
| Someone investigates a strange noise | ||
| Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door | ||
| Camera is the killer | ||
| Victims cower in front of a window/door | ||
| Victim locks self in with killer | ||
| Victim running from killer inexplicably falls | ||
| Toilet stall scene | ||
| Shower/bath scene | ||
| Car stalls or won't start | |
|
| Cat jumps out | ||
| Fake scare | ||
| Laughable scare | ||
| Stupid discovery of corpse | ||
| Dream sequence | ||
| Hallucination/Vision | ||
| No one believes only witness | |
|
| Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth | ||
| Warning goes unheeded | ||
| Music detracts from scene | ||
| Death in first five minutes | ||
| x years before/later | ||
| Flashback sequence | ||
| Dark and stormy night | ||
| Killer doesn't stay dead | ||
| Killer wears a mask | ||
| Killer is in closet | ||
| Killer is in car with victim | ||
| Villain is more sympathetic than heroes | ||
| Unscary villain/monster | ||
| Beheading | ||
| Blood fountain | ||
| Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc. | ||
| Poor death effect | ||
| Excessive gore | ||
| No one dies at all | ||
| Virgin survives | ||
| Geek/Nerd survives | ||
| Little kid lamely survives | ||
| Dog/Pet miraculously survives | ||
| Unresolved subplots | |
|
| "It was all a dream" ending | ||
| Unbelievably happy ending | ||
| Unbelievably crappy ending | ||
| What the hell? |