Director – Bret McCormick (The Abomination, Repligator)
Starring – Benton Jennings (American Horror Story, Dexter), Richard Harrison (Terminal Force, Empire of the Dark), and Blue Thompson (Blood on the Badge, Ozone: The Attack of the Redneck Mutants)
Release Date – 1990
Rating – 2/5
Blu Release – 4/5
Visual Vengeance has been pivotal in releasing some seriously underrated or long forgotten S.O.V. horror to blu. One of my favorite releases over the last several years is VV’s release of Bret McCormick’s The Abomination. They later released anothr McCormick film Repligator on blu. I really enjoyed both films and was surprised by just how different these two were. They showed how versatile McCormick was as a filmmaker.
Recently, VV released another McCormick film that I had never seen before. The film, Highway to Hell, is an action horror flick that I’ve wanted to see for several years now but never had the opportunity to check out. I want to thank Visual Vengeance and MVD for sending this one along for review.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a serial killer who has escaped prison and flees into the desert. He continues his murderous ways while he is hunted by a cop who is seeking revenge for what this sicko did to his daughter (or sister?). Caught in the middle of the cat an mouse game is a young woman taken hostage by the escaped serial killer. **Spoiler Alert**
I went into Highway to Hell very excited to finally see the film. This is one I had heard about for years but never had the opportunity to check it out. While it does share a name with a film from 1991, these two films are very different. With that being said, the movie just wasn’t as fun as I had hoped for. You can’t compare this one to the previous films from McCormick that I had mentioned. Repligator is a sci-fi horror mash up that completely embraces the campy side of the genres while The Abomination is one of the greatest no budget splatter films that I’ve seen. Highway to Hell had an interest premise but it had trouble trying to find it’s own identity.
The acting in this one is very stiff and corny. The cast really hams up the screen but I wouldn’t call it bad acting. We just don’t see a lot of conviction with the dialogue delivery and absolutely no emotional range unless you consider screaming to be an emotion.
The story for this one feels like it wanted to be an action flick centered around a serial killer but budget and other constraints prevented it from being what the director had envisioned. The movie itself has a lot of identity issues. One scene flows like a horror flick while another scene is set up like a drama with a cat and mouse story. We don’t have a lot of cohesion which makes me really curious as to what the original idea for the film actually was.
Finally, don’t expect to see a lot of blood and gore. This film is character driven with a lot of focus on the relationship between the two leads. Overall, Highway to Hell is a confused film that had a story that I could have really got behind if they just stuck with it. An action thriller about an escaped serial killer with a hardened cop hunting him could have been a film you would never forget. I seriously wanted to like it but it just wasn’t for me. This is still an awesome release from Visual Vengeance especially if you are a collector but the movie this movie isn’t going to be for everyone.
Special Features:
Region Free Blu-ray
SD master from original tape elements
Commentary with director Bret McCormick
Director Bret McCormick interview
Red Hot Asphalt: actor Richard Harrison interview
Road Trip: actress Blue Thompson interview
Writing A Road Map to Hell: screenwriter Gary Kennamer interview
Actor Tom Fegan interview
Image Gallery
Bonus Movie: Redneck County Fever (1992), directed by Gary Kennamer
Redneck County Fever – Commentary track with Bret McCormick and Gary Kennamer
Redneck County Fever – Bret McCormick interview
Redneck County Fever – Gary Kennamer interview
Visual Vengeance trailers
‘Stick Your Own’ VHS sticker set
Reversible sleeve featuring original VHS art
Folded Redneck County Fever mini-poster
Optional English subtitles
