Horror movie casts tyre in killer role

By David Shaw staff

London - Rubber is the title of an off-beat horror movie directed and produced by Quentin Dupieux. It first aired at the Cannes film festival a year or so back and has, in the last few months gained a certain cult following.

The DVD and Blu-Ray versions are due for release in the UK?on 11?April and in the US on 1 April. No other international release dates had been set as we went to press.

For anyone into movies and who has an interest in rubber and tyres it is, as they say, a must-see.

In March 2009 Dupieux and Realitism Films took on a challenge to write, film and produce a movie in less than one year. It was done in the English language and in Los Angeles, in order to take advantage of modern productino and post-production techniques.

For the rubber afficianados, the tyre which stars as Robert in the movie can't be identified to make or brand. There are a lot of shots of the sidewall and all markings have been buffed away. Also, the tread looks vaguely hand-cut, making further identification difficult.

As to the movie, it has a lot of Meta content, with an audience apparently watching the movie as it is being made. They eventually cease watching for various reasons, which means the remaining human actors no longer have any purpose.

With the human actors out of the picture, the way becomes free for some rubber to find its way to Hollywood and wreak havoc there.

If anyone missed our previous stories on this, you should know that Robert the tyre awakens in the desert and discovers a psycho-kinetic power. This allows him first to extract himself from the sand; then to roll and eventually to kill small animals.

It's only when people start abusing him and destroying his fellow tyres in fires that he uses those powers on humans.

I guess there's a lesson in there somewhere.

There's a technical question in the movie. Does a rubber tyre float? I guess the answer has to do with the amount of air trapped, but if rubber has a density of around 1.2, and there's steel as well, the answer should be no.

This is an external link and should open in a new window. If the window does not appear, please check your pop-up blocking software. ERJ is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Home page of movie