Road Kill (Joy Ride) **** (2002, Paul Walker, Steve Zahn, Leelee Sobieski) – Classic Movie Review 318

Director John Dahl’s scalding 2002 Duel-influenced chiller is an edge-of-seat, nightmarish thrill ride all the way.

Paul Walker and Steve Zahn star as carefree, wisecracking brothers making a road trip across the country from Colarado to New Jersey. They rue the day they play a prank on psychotic truck driver, ‘Rusty Nail’.

Walker plays college student Lewis Thomas, who decides to make the drive to see Venna (Leelee Sobieski), a friend who doesn’t know he fancies her. Zahn plays his raucous, prank-loving older brother, Fuller, who tags along for the joy ride.

Prompted by Fuller, Lewis pretends to be a sexy girl, ‘Candy Cane’ on their car’s new CB radio, and playfully makes a date with a truck driver calling himself ‘Rusty Nail’’. The joke desperately backfires when ‘Rusty’  turns out to be a psychotic killer. Upset as all hell, he relentlessly stalks them and Venna, the girl back home who eventually joins them.

Ted Levine, ‘Buffalo Bill’ from The Silence of the Lambs, provides the voice of ‘Rusty Nail’.

Clay Tarver and J J Abrams (Jeffrey Abrams) penned the ultra-taut screenplay of the film noir-tinged horror thriller, filling it with fine scary moments, witty banter and a high-octane finale.

The highly talented director John Dahl also made the splendid quartet of Kill Me Again, Red Rock West, The Last Seduction and Rounders. He’s largely lost to TV now, with his most recent movie being You Kill Me in 2007 with Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 318

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