My memories of seeing The Cars That Ate Paris were dark ones. The horrific pan and scan video print that we all grew up with seemed to be a succession of dank and dreary night scenes, and poorly composed night scenes at that. Now that the film is fully restored on DVD, however, viewers can truly appreciate this masterpiece of the macabre. Filled with sunshine brilliant shots of a beautiful Australian town and buoyed by Peter Weir's magnificent screenplay, this is an outsider classic about a bizarre cargo cult in the middle of an otherwise 'civilized' country. Amongst a raft full of fine performances, John Meillon stands out as the town mayor, and, as accident victim Arthur Waldo, Terry Camilleri (most recently seen in, God forbid, Gigli) effortlessly channels the spirit of Dudley Moore's down in the dumps Stanley Moon from the original version of Bedazzled. There's also a magnificent score by Bruce Smeaton that deftly blends the romanticism of Nino Rota with the majestic sweep of Morricone's best work and adds a dash of electronic dissonance for good measure. Viewers anticipating a film about real man-eating cars are best advised to avoid Peter Weir's freshman feature. All others, you're in for a treat.