The Car

One of the best—and most brazenly bizarre—of the killer car movies from the ’70s and ’80s, this Jaws-on-wheels joyride tracks the terror that seizes a small desert town when a mysterious, driverless coupe begins running down residents. The rampaging-vehicle set pieces—including one involving a marching band full of schoolchildren—are handled with cool, unnerving precision (complete with through-the-windshield POV shots). What’s most audacious is the film’s refusal to offer any rational explanation for the strange goings-on, making its steel-and-chrome monster into a force of senseless, existential dread.