Ever since “The Duel” was released to theaters, horror fans have been searching for the ultimate villainous motor vehicle to satisfy their thirst for horror on wheels. Many of these horror films feature GM models a Cadillac Hearse (The Hearse, 1980) and the souped-up Chevy delivery truck driven by the winged boogieman in Jeepers Creepers (2001). We had to search high and low to find an everyman’s Chevy truck as the evil lead in a horror movie, but we did stumble across a Killer 1979 K5 Chevy Blazer in the lead role of 2005’s “Throttle.”

The plot summary is described the flick’s plot as, “Every day, millions of people descend into underground parking garages, get into their cars and drive to the safety of their homes. But tonight, five levels down in a deserted corporate parking structure, financial analyst Tom Weaver won’t be going home. After finishing a late night business deal, Tom arrives at section E5 of the garage only to discover his car won’t start. Worse yet, the elevators are shut down and every stairwell has been locked. Trapped in the bowels of the garage, Tom realizes he’s not alone. Something else is down here. Watching. Waiting. A monstrous 6000 pound Truck whose driver sits hidden behind a veil of tinted glass.”  

What the plot summary doesn’t tell you is that this movie heaps on the cheese that horror movie fans love. Lead character Tom Weaver isn’t just leaving work… he’s having the worst day of his life. He breaks off a friendship with co-worker before it turns into an extra marital affair. Then he finds a hotel key in his wife’s purse and an identical hotel key in the car of his boss, who Tom’s working a shady ten million dollar business deal with. He confronts his wife and she denies the affair which prompts Tom to go to the office to complete the shady business deal with hopes of becoming rich.

Tom’s Jaguar XKR before it gets disabled.

At midnight, which seems to be the witching hour for horror movies, Tom heads to the parking garage after canceling the deal with his boss. Tom discovers that his car has been vandalized and left immobile. Tom realizes he’s not alone. Watching and waiting, a massive, 6000 pound second generation 1979 Chevrolet K5 Blazer whose driver sits hidden behind tinted glass. The driver is a psychotic killer with only one goal: Not letting Tom get out alive. The driver taunts him at first, chasing him, honking the horn, and flashing its lights, and Tom goes to the stairwell. However, it has been chained shut from the inside. Worse yet, the elevators are shut down for the night. Tom finds a fellow co-worker who is leaving and begs for a ride. Frightened, the woman maces him and flees.

This Ford Mustang is one of many cars wrecked by the rampaging K5 Blazer.

The movie continues in this same vein and to make a very long and painful story a little shorter, Tom’s wife Molly did not have an affair with his boss and she returns at the end of the movie and is saved by Tom. The killer turns out to be a disgruntled co-worker that has snapped.

Tom’s wife Molly is played by Amy Locane, whom experienced a vehicle horror story of her own. On June 27, 2010, Locane was involved in a fatal motor vehicle collision in Montgomery, New Jersey. The crash killed a 60-year-old woman and seriously injured the woman’s husband as they were turning into their driveway. Locane’s blood alcohol level at the time was three times the limit for legal impairment. In November of 2012, a Somerset County jury convicted Locane of vehicular homicide and assault by auto for which she was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime. 

The real life horror story did involve an SUV but not a K5 Blazer. Sadly, Locane was driving a 2007 Chevy Tahoe, the successor to the K-series Blazers. Coincidence?