A maverick of independent cinema, Larry Cohen made a habit of transforming the seemingly benevolent into the malevolent: infants in It’s Alive, ice cream in The Stuff, police officers in Maniac Cop and the personification of the United States in Uncle Sam. In The Ambulance, it is the very thing that should save our lives that might transport us to our deaths.
When comic book artist Josh (Eric Roberts) meets Cheryl (Janine Turner) in New York City, he believes he might have run into the woman of his dreams. But just as they are getting to know each other, Cheryl begins to feel ill. She is picked up by an ambulance – and then disappears into thin air. Unable to track her to any of the city’s hospitals, Josh learns that Cheryl is not the only missing person connected to the mysterious ambulance and takes it upon himself to investigate an apparent conspiracy to kidnap people from the streets of New York. But Josh’s interference isn’t welcomed – either by Lieutenant Frank Spencer of the NYPD (James Earl Jones) or the sinister forces behind the ambulance itself…
One of Larry Cohen’s most underrated and underseen films (featuring an unlikely cameo by Marvel legend Stan Lee), The Ambulance deserves to reach the same cult status as his earlier horror movies It’s Alive, Gold Told Me To, Q – The Winged Serpent and The Stuff. Eureka Classics is proud to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
