The Ambulance
| The Ambulance | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Larry Cohen |
| Produced by | Larry Cohen Moctesuma Esparza Robert Katz |
| Written by | Larry Cohen |
| Starring |
Eric Roberts James Earl Jones Red Buttons Megan Gallagher |
| Music by | Jay Chattaway |
| Cinematography | Jacques Haitkin |
| Edited by |
Claudia Finkle Armond Leibowitz |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Triumph Releasing Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Ambulance is a 1990 thriller film written and directed by Larry Cohen. It stars Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones, Janine Turner, Megan Gallagher, Red Buttons, and Eric Braeden as the Doctor. Kevin Hagen plays a cop in what would be his final film role. In his first film role, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics has a small role as himself.
Aspiring comic book artist Josh Baker (Eric Roberts) meets a young woman named Cheryl (Janine Turner) on the streets of New York City, who proceeds to collapse and is rushed to a hospital by an ambulance. When Josh arrives at the hospital, he is shocked to find that there is no record of Cheryl ever being admitted and he soon learns another startling discovery, Cheryl's roommate also vanished after being picked up by the same ambulance.
Convinced that there is some sort of conspiracy going on, Josh proceeds to investigate the disappearances, despite the overt disdain and discouragement from Lt. Spencer (James Earl Jones).
Cohen later said he was inspired by "the concept of taking something that is thought of as being benign or benevolent... or anything else that has a safe and wholesome image, and turning it into an object of terror." He had done this for It's Alive (babies) and The Stuff (junk food) and wanted to do it with ambulances. "When you hear or see an ambulance on the street, it’s usually considered to be something that is going to rescue you and take care of you, a vehicle of mercy," said Cohen. "In this story, it’s actually a vehicle of murder. The whole idea of an ambulance that suddenly arrives from nowhere, picks people up, and takes them away to some dark place where they are never seen or heard of again was completely original and creepy."
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Wikipedia