ROAD KILL 2010
Bob Morley (Craig), Sophie Lowe (Nina), Georgina Haig (Liz), Xavier Samuel (Marcus)
Directed by Dean Francis
Four young vacationers are terrorized by a maniacal trucker. Things take a supernatural turn when it's discovered that no one is driving the ominous 18 wheeler.
The Short Version: This overpriced lemon needs new tires, a new motor, new gaskets and a full on lube job. Buyer beware.
Incredibly awful Aussie low budget clunker would appear to be a rip off of Spielberg's seminal thriller, DUEL (1971). It soon becomes apparent that the film is a note for note clone of a movie almost as bad, DEATH SHIP from 1980. That film was about a group of stranded cruise ship passengers finding a derelict vessel out in the middle of the ocean. One of them is possessed by a demonic spirit and goes about killing the other survivors. It's discovered that it was previously a German Nazi vessel and now commandeered by supernatural forces; the ship itself not running on oil, but the blood of its victims(!)
ROAD KILL follows this same template, only it substitutes the dusty and isolated Australian outback for the vast expanse of the ocean. This time, the four campers are run off the road (within the first ten minutes) by the mysterious trucker. Not long after, it's discovered that no one is driving the 18 wheeler. After much tedium, we, the viewers come to realize that a demonic force is driving the big rig (shades of another awful movie, THE CAR from 1977) and requires blood to keep on truckin'. A couple of nice photographic touches aren't enough to make this clunker worth investing time and money into it.
Ponderously repetitive, this low mileage horror runs out of gas really fast. There's minimal gore and absolutely zero characterization outside of a torrid sex scene that opens the picture. One couple likes getting it on, and the other girls boyfriend seems disinterested when she becomes amorous. That's as deep as it is gets if you'll pardon the innuendo. For me, the best example of a devil possessed vehicle is still a segment from the anthology horror film NIGHTMARES (1983). See that instead. In dire need of an oil change, viewers of ROAD KILL should just leave this at the junk yard and seek out a new model.This review is representative of the Lightning Media DVD
6 comments:
Duuuude, Im dying to see NIGHTMARES again! Why did that film fall into obscurity! I saw it as a kid eons ago, and now I cant get a hold of it, I wish I could relieve that one. The story about the killer car in the dessert was pretty cool in deed! Another cool killer car flick: THE WRAITH.
one of the most disappointing movies of the year. The trailer was terrific but the movie just sucks
@ Fran: I totally missed out on that AB dvd some years ago. I first caught it on HBO around 1987. THE WRAITH was good, too, and a nice take on the revenge movie. I think this came out on DVD not long ago.
@ Maynard: Thankfully I only rented this. I wasn't expecting much from it anyway and got less than that. I didn't see the trailer, but it's movies like this that reaffirms my lack of faith in modern horror films. Awful movie.
This film was shitouse to the extreme.
Not even worth reviewing.
How the SAFC put money into thsi is beyond me. A distaster on every level.
Though the Flinders Rangers looked nice as a location.
DEATH SHIP was ALMOST as bad as this? Wow, so this must really suck then! Because DEATH SHIP was pretty goddamn terrible. I'm a sucker for killer car movies, but I'll skip this one. Brian, what do you think of THE CAR and THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS?
@Francisco THE WRAITH is awesome. One of my childhood favorites. Still kinda holds up.
@ idiotproof: Yeah, I didn't really think it was worth reviewing, either, but the 'Dis List' needed a new entry, but yeah, awful movie.
@ Aaron: THE CAR is another one that's a waste of film, imo. I think I mentioned it in the review being awful. I did like it as a kid, though. When it hit VHS from AB, I bought it and couldn't figure out what it was I liked about it. But this movie is essentially DEATH SHIP in the desert. Astro might dig this since he's a fan of that one.
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