SUE LYON CONTROLS THE DRIVE-IN KILLER CAR IN 'CRASH!'

Sue Lyon in the drive-in exploitation of CRASH! Year: 1978

Anyone familiar with THE CAR, about a hotrod that runs on the power of demonic overdrive, will learn CHRISTINE wasn’t entirely new: And we can now add the violently guilty pleasure of CRASH! starring LOLITA ingénue Sue Lyon as a rich man’s trophy wife, that proceeded both...

Lyon's crippled, sinister husband Marc Denne, played by José Ferrer), is a collector of occult artifacts, bound to a wheelchair because of a car accident when Lyon’s Kim Deane was behind the wheel: And you can say he holds a major grudge, enough to where he provides her an ancient statue/artifact for a short road trip. Then, when she’s driving down a rural highway, a killer dog attacks: The car crashes and something awful happens.

Sue Lyon shops at an outdoor market in Charles Band's CRASH!

A few things actually…First off… and this will disappoint Sue Lyon fans… the rest of the film she’s covered in bandages, recovering at a hospital under the care of HONEY WEST actor John Ericson as Dr. Gregg Martin who, with lovely nurse Leslie Parrish, helps Kim heal from her wounds… plus she suffers from a wicked case of amnesia.

Meanwhile, Kim’s nefarious husband, brooding back home, knows he has one only option: to kill her for good. But Kim, wielding the telekinetic power of Satan within her room, controls a black car causing sporadic bloody deaths on country roads: These are the most exciting aspects, breaking from a mostly contained, claustrophobic setting...

Sue Lyon passes up The Rolling Stones Black and Blue... she probably has it already

Directed by b-movie icon Charles Band, who knows the art of exploitation entertainment, there are enough car crashes to keep the viewer interested.

And during those scenes where Lyon, with bright red eyes budging from her bandage face, is manipulating elements from inside and outside the hospital, the film gets genuinely nightmarish!

Sue Lyon wandering groovily in CRASH! Rates: ***1/2

Sue Lyon in CRASH

The death car in CRASH! manned by a comatose Sue Lyon... Strange days indeed...