Line #19 Film/Killdozer


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9	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_killdozer.png]]
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11	A 1974 Creator/{{ABC\|US}} MadeForTVMovie starring Creator/ClintWalker and Creator/RobertUrich, based on the radical "man vs. his machines" theme that hit big and hard in the '70s and '80s.
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13	Adapted from a 1944 short story written by Creator/TheodoreSturgeon, it concerns a group of construction workers on an uninhabited island off the coast of Africa, setting up an airstrip for an oil drilling operation. One of the crew's bulldozers becomes possessed by an alien life force after its blade strikes a long-buried meteorite. The possessed dozer then takes it upon itself to hunt and kill the workers.
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15	Creator/MarvelComics published a comic book adaptation of Sturgeon's story the same year the film came out, in its sci-fi anthology title ''Worlds Unknown''.
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17	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant You'd be forgiven for thinking that this has to do with]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Heemeyer the Killdozer]], the vehicle involved in a real-life rampage at Granby, Colorado in 2004.
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20	!!Tropes:
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22	* TheAlcoholic: Kelly is a recovering alcoholic. When strange things start happening, Dennis suggests that he might have fallen OffTheWagon.
23	* AttackOfTheKillerWhatever: A bulldozer is likely to not pose much of a threat to anyone who can run faster then it can crawl. Its akin to a fat ninja who expels gas every few minutes.
24	* AutomatedAutomobiles: It does drive itself.
25	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Technically averted, as Mack (white dude) dies from a mysterious illness shortly after the alien force is unleashed. However, Al (black dude) is the first to be killed by the possessed bulldozer itself.
26	* BrokenHeel: Dennis when he and Kelly are running away in the climax.
27	* ChromosomeCasting: An all male construction crew versus a [[HauntedTechnology killer bulldozer]].
28	* CigarChomper: The tough-as-nails, unfazable mechanic Chub spends the entire film with a cigar clenched in his teeth.
29	* ClosedCircle: A murderous bulldozer doesn't sounds like a threat you couldn't run away from... but then again, everybody's stuck on an island, and one of the first things the bulldozer destroys is [[TheRadioDiesFirst the hut where the radio was located]].
30	%%* CloudCuckooLander: Dutch.
31	* ConstructionVehicleRampage: The bulldozer itself.
32	* CoversAlwaysLie:
33	** Based on the poster it looks like a crazy bulldozer roving around some mountain-forest area killing people and ritualistically shoving graves around. The movie...not so much.
34	** Also the one at the top of this page, which shows a farm tractor equipped with a bucket attachment, when the movie actually features a proper Caterpillar D9 bulldozer.
35	* CrowbarCombatant: In the final confrontation, Kelly attacks the bulldozer with a pry bar: smashing one of its headlights to provoke it into pursuing him.
36	* EnergyBeings: The alien entity trapped inside the meteorite.
37	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Chub's truck explodes after being very slowly overturned by the bulldozer.
38	* GenericDoomsdayVillain: The evil alien entity that possesses the bulldozer is just a generic evil force that serves to run wild and cause chaos and death. It has no real motivation or personality.
39	* HauntedTechnology: The dozer is possessed by an alien entity.
40	* HighVoltageDeath: Kelly and Dennis destroy the dozer by luring it onto a metal grid which they then electrify.
41	* HomicideMachines: The possessed dozer hunts and kills the workers.
42	* ItKindOfLooksLikeAFace: The twin headlights and grille of the [[HauntedTechnology possessed bulldozer]] look like a malevolent face.
43	* ItsProbablyNothing: Kelly asks mechanic Chub to examine the bulldozer to determine why it went berserk. Chub reports back that he can't find anything mechanically wrong with the dozer, but there is mysterious humming emanating from the blade which he can't locate a source for. Kelly listens to the hum, then dismisses it as "probably nothing important".
44	* TheLancer: [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Dennis]] is one of the first to believe Kelly about the killer bulldozer, and becomes his major supporter him in fighting it.
45	* MadeOfExplodium: Several random items in the camp explode when the bulldozer runs over them.
46	* MagicMeteor: The [[EnergyBeings energy entity]] arrives on Earth in a meteor and remains trapped there until the dozer smashes the meteor and the entity is released and [[HauntedTechnology possesses the dozer]].
47	* MyCarHatesMe: Dutch's jeep stalls directly in the path of the oncoming bulldozer.
48	* OneWordTitle: ''Killdozer''. The title is a compound word of ''kill'' and ''dozer''.
49	* {{Portmantitle}}: The title is a compound word of ''kill'' and ''dozer''.
50	* TheRadioDiesFirst: One of the first things demolished by the bulldozer is the hut that houses the radio.
51	* SanitySlippage: Dutch starts losing it after Mac dies: first becoming paranoid and then telling long, pointless stories. By the end, he decides that he wants to go for a swim while the killer bulldozer is still on the loose.
52	* SealedEvilInACan: The entity trapped within the meteorite broken by the bulldozer.
53	%%* ShellShockedVeteran: Dutch.
54	* TooDumbToLive: Dutch, drunker than even Kelly has ever been, attempts to play chicken with the bulldozer in a little Jeep. This in and of itself isn't the stupid part. The stupid part is [[spoiler:Dutch makes no attempt to ''get out'' of the Jeep while the bulldozer is running it over, and just sits there and gets crushed]].
55	* VehicleTitle: The title refers to the possessed bulldozer.
56	* VehicularCombat: The final fight involves the bulldozer vs. an excavator piloted by the heroes.

Context Film / Killdozer