Most cars run on fuel. This one runs on blood.
2011-01-28
$13.0M
95 min
Late one night, a mysterious car is brought into the Chicago police impound garage after a deadly traffic accident. The on-call mechanics soon discover the car has a mind of its own. With hundreds of horsepower and two tons of reinforced steel at its command, it's a seemingly unstoppable killing machine capable of outrunning -- and outwitting -- humans.
Should have been much worse than it was.
Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product.
A night of vehicular hell at a Chicago impound garage
After a street accident, a mysterious car is brought to the city parking lot whereupon the midnight crew are thrust into an unbelievable life-or-death situation.
“Super Hybrid” (2010) meshes ideas from “Killdozer” and “Christine” but adds a fresh concept and the milieu of a big city impound garage. It’s superior to the former, but not great like the latter. Shannon Beckner is effective as the protagonist, Tilda, while Melanie Papalia is worth a mention as Maria.
The first act is compelling in the manner of, say, “The Hidden,” but I started losing interest a little by the last act. There’s some predictableness and, while I don’t mind the trope of the unlikely female rising to the challenge, it wasn’t necessary to paint the ex-military guy in such a negative light (Oded Fehr). Just because someone’s a boss and tells subordinates what to do in order to get things done, it doesn’t automatically make him/her evil incarnate. The switch to coldhearted bumbling moron doesn’t ring true.
Meanwhile the parting shot is eye-rolling in the manner of “Abominable” and the future “Dark Was the Night.” Still, if you can roll with its weaknesses, “Super Hybrid” is thrilling enough, albeit one-dimensional, if you want something along the lines of “Killdozer” or “Christine.”
The movie runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan.
GRADE: B-/C+
