Roadkill

Alternate titles : Joy Ride.

Tagline : "Never screw with people you don't know."

Two brothers, Lewis and Fuller Thomas (Paul Walker & Steve Zahn) are on a road trip to pick up their friend Venna (Leelee Sobieski) when they decide to have a bit of fun on their CB radio. They begin taunting a trucker named Rusty Nail (voiced by Ted Levine), who doesn't take too kindly to being wound up by the pair.

They both think this hilariously funny, and go onto to pickup their friend Venna without giving their antics a second thought. But unfortunately, their bit of fun seriously backfires when they discover who it is following them in the rear view mirror... (didn't these people ever see "Duel"?, they should know better than to annoy lorry drivers).

It turns out that this particular truck driver wasn't too impressed with their sense of humour, and what's started as a bit of fun quickly becomes a running battle for survival as they realise the pursuing maniac is now after more than just a simple apology.

Whilst the film is obviously geared towards the teen horror market, and was more than a little reminiscent of "Duel" (with elements of "Die Hard 3" and "Cape Fear" thrown in) in places, I found this to be a highly enjoyable feature. The disembodied voice of the truck driver coming in on the CB proved exceptionally creepy on its own, and the scenes where he forced the 2 brothers to humiliate themselves at the truckstop diner had me in hysterics.

This may not prove to be one of the more memorable horror films of recent years, but it is definitely one of the better ones.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Alternate tag lines "It started as a joke. Now the jokes on them", "Terror comes in all shapes. And all sizes...", "How much fun can you have... when the joke is on you?", "This fall, everything you say will come back to haunt you. Everything you see will terrify you. And everything you hear will drive you over the edge."
• Ted Levine, who provides the voice of Rusty Nail, also played 'Buffalo Bill' in "Silence of the Lambs" as well as Big Bob Carter in the 2005 remake of "The Hills Have Eyes".
• Eric Stoltz and Eric Roberts apparently auditioned for the role of Rusty Nail. However the part eventually went to unknown actor Mathew Kimbrough.
• Released as "Joy Ride" in the US and most other countries, the film was retitled "Roadkill" in the UK and Australia, as the term Joy Ride there is a description of when youths have stolen a car to use for racing. Ironically, the third film was titled "Joy Ride 3 : Roadkill".
• The vehicle lights were replaced with aircraft landing lights for extra brightness, as it allowed them to lower the camera exposure, so the night sky remained pitch black at all times.
• Walt Goggins had a role as a police officer, but his part was cut from the final film. The deleted scene can be found on the special edition Disc.
• Five different endings were filmed. Firstly the version used in the theatrical release showing Rusty Nail deliberately ploughing his truck into the motel. Three of the alternate versions all end up at the motel in the same manner as the theatrical version, but the first alternate ending finishes with Lewis ploughing the truck into Rusty Nail, the Second with Venna shooting Rusty Nail with a shotgun and the third with Lewis hitting rusty nail with the truck and knocking him through into the motel room, where he is killed by his own shotgun trap (as seen in the theatrical version) when the police burst in.
• The fifth and final alternate ending was a completely different take on the final reel, in which they chase after Rusty Nail in a stolen police car, following the "truck stop" scene, and the film ends with the corn field chase (shown prior to the Motel scene in the theatrical version) except in this version Rusty Nail ploughs his truck into a tanker full of ammonia nitrate, and blows up. These appear as extras on the special edition discs.

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