Rest Stop

This is the first film under the new Warner Bros. straight-to-DVD horror label Raw Feed, which will essentially release a new genre film each year. Rest Stop attempts to resurrect the killer-car sub-genre, which was made popular in the 70s and 80s, where whether it was the person behind the car or if it was the vehicle itself, there were people running (or driving) for their lives. The sub-genre pretty much died out in the 90s, with the exception of a couple films. Sadly, this film doesn't offer much originality or even much sense for that matter. You might have caught the first airing of this movie on the Sci-Fi channel this past weekend, where I'm sure a lot of the gore-scenes were cut short. That's too bad since gore (with what little amount it does have) is pretty much the only thing that'll keep you watching.

The movie starts off interesting when a couple make a detour at a rest stop, only to be split up when the female returns from the facilities to discover her boyfriend is missing. To make matters worse she discovers that an ominous yellow truck has apparently been stalking them since a dubious encounter they had while on the road. It's not long before a cat-and-mouse game is played with the young woman and the man behind the truck, whose seemingly trying to keep her at the rest stop for one reason or another, which just happens to be her only place of solace. This marks director John Shiban's film debut, moving up as producer and director for various television series such as the X-Files and recently with WB's (now CW) Supernatural. Rest Stop is definitely not a good film to debut with since it seemed to run out of ideas half-way through and given the fact it has 3 horrible alternate endings that it was clear not to even know when to stop.

There are a couple decent gore sequences and a nice scene involving someone getting their finger bitten off, but sadly there's not much else going on aside from the girl holding up in the rest area. The killer was probably one of the most uninteresting villains I've seen in a while. Not only was the truck plain and boring, but the driver itself seemed more of a nuisance than someone to fear. From the first half it seems as though it's just a slasher, while the second half begins to delve into supernatural lines (which isn't unknown for John since he worked with the X-Files), which just ends up confusing the viewers. As the film progresses we're thrown a few fairly pointless scenes involving a strange family of freaks (that have nothing to do with the story) and the appearance of Joey Lawrecence as a police officer, who you'll learn makes a very long exit. By the end of the film you're going to be left scratching your head at the horrible ending, which is still a sad improvement from the ridiculous alternate endings that were probably only filmed just to be put as an extra on the DVD.

OVERALL

While attempting to be different Rest Stop essentialy loses its identity by confusing itself as either a slasher or a supernatural flick. As the story progresses you'll find that not much has changed from the point the girl discovered the yellow truck had been following her, and you'll most likely find yourself hitting fast-forward in a lot of the slow-paced scenes involving the girl and the appearance of Joey Lawrence. Rent at your own risk.

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amputation :

Posted 86 days ago

I just remembered that my stupid classmate borrowed my copy and lent it to someone else and until now she hasn't returned it yet.

Werewolf Hunter :

Posted 165 days ago

So much crap, so little time. This movie was so weird and was filled with so many pointless scenes that I felt like barfing! However, I must give it credit because it was one of a few other stupid horror movies (namely the "Black Christmas" remake) that left me with a sense of dread for some reason. I just don't know...

blackeyes&broken<3s :

Posted 293 days ago

I thought it was ok.
I only saw the ScFi verzion cuz I was too lazy to rent the uncut. anyway what can I say abou tthis movie...hmm.... lets start by saying that Brittany G. is right 60% and the acting was indeed a waste of pay- I mean honestly, I could freaking be the star in this movie-thats how bad the acting was. Lets hope the second one will be better.

jered :

Posted 354 days ago

lol i agree with brittany g, i was so angry angry during this movie, to angry to be scared and half of it didnt even make sense, the movie was so boring and i dont know how any one could like it, they had a perfect opportunity to make a good movie and they add all this supernatural crap to it and stuff 2/10

Muppetbaby82 :

Posted 363 days ago

Don't waste your time on this one! The acting in this one is horrible! If you can focus on anything besides the acting the movie is full of random oddities that are just there to make the movie "different". What this movie just ends up being is BORING!

Urban-Legend :

Posted 369 days ago

I personally thought this was a fairly decent movie, different sort of film, but does have the old murderous twisted redneck thing with bloody torture scenes which is always good (not a sick way), it could have more action, hope the sequel does. 7/10

Brittany G :

Posted 394 days ago

I rented this movie off of netflix. Now I wish I hadn't. What was the purpose of this movie? I don't know. Whoever wrote/starred in and had any part whatsoever with this movie needs to be bitch-slapped repeatedly...till the very thought of this movie makes them nauseous. The film opened up looking retarded, there was a sex scene in there that wasn't relevant (nor enjoyable), the main character was an annoying retarded actress who spent most of her time screaming and getting drunk. We never really see the truck driver, and Joey lawrence...what the hell can I say about that...lemme think. His best scene was when he died. This film has done nothing to further his career, and if i ever see him on the steet, I will be forced to spit on him and kick him in the groin...Thank you!

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