The "Joy Ride" Franchise

[StevePulaski]

Joy Ride (2001)
Directed by: John Dahl

Steve Zahn, Leelee Sobieski, and Paul Walker.

Rating: ★★★½

On the road and on the verge of death are Paul Walker and Steve Zahn in the 2001 remake Joy Ride. Back in 2001 and further back in the 90s, remakes were a unique thing to look forward too. That may sound hard to believe, but some had some effort and actually looked like thought and time were put into them. To resurrect an older series back then was a unique idea. But now, its just a joke. Though this one is very good, and goes on my favorite Horror movie list and favorite remake list. It combines likeable protagonists, good scare scenes, and a mean revenge taking trucker with a hell of a voice. Props to to Ted Levine.

Lewis (Paul Walker) has picked up his delinquent brother Fuller (Steve Zahn) from the police station on his journey to pick up his friend Venna (Leelee Sobieski). n the trip, Fuller buys a CB radio, a tool used for communication among truckers. Fuller convinces Lewis to pose as a girl under the codename "Candy Cane" and lure trucker "Rusty Nail" (Voiced by Ted Levine) to a room in a hotel were a man is staying to pull a prank. When the prank backfires, leaving the man half dead, "Rusty Nail" realizes that "Candy Cane" is fictional and hunts down the three teens as they race for their life in this electrifying thriller.

This is basically the "What Not To Do" section in "The Unwritten Book of the Road". It's a hear-pounding thriller that leaves you in suspense throughout. The performances by Walker and Zahn maybe classified as one of the best of the decade. Ted Levine, I must say, put a lot of effort into the "Rusty Nail" voice. Making his voice raspy and scratchy was the creepiest tone he could've set it too.

The sleeper-hit, though cult classic spawned a sequel entitled Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead featuring none of the original cast, not even Levine, with the only big name actor being Nick Zano (who worked on The Final Destination a year later).

The thing I absolutely love about this film is it's creepy tone and creepy scenes. The fact you never see "Rusty's" face, just adds to the scare factor and makes you really wonder, who is this guy? The movie performed drastically bad at the box office opening on a poor weekend, but blowing out on VHS and DVD sales in late 2001, early 2002. A well deserved fright-fest that should be a lot more recognized than it is.

Starring: Paul Walker, Steve Zahn, Leelee Sobieski, and the voice talents of Ted Levine (uncredited). Directed by: John Dahl.

[StevePulaski]

Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2008)
Directed by: Louis Morneau

Rating: ★★★

It's been nine years since we have seen Rusty Nail provoke and antagonize teenagers. Now we see he has returned to a new bunch of innocents in the sequel, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead. I have to admit for a sequel to a cult classic movie that came out seven years ago at the time of this film's release, it had a lot of potential to it. The potential this film had was large, and it delivered it. It was a pretty honorable sequel, especially with no returning cast members. Not even Ted Levine (Rusty Nail) returned.

The original film wasn't famous until it released on VHS and DVD in 2001. The theater viewing was lukewarm. This one was released Direct-to-DVD in 2008. The original focussed more on the three kids freaking out, and with Rusty Nail being hidden most of the time during the movie. This one shows the lower half of his mouth with a cigarette in it whenever he talks which kind of kills the suspense in a way. Though still doesnt ruin the whole film.

The movie centers around four main characters. Melissa and her fiancé Bobby (Nicki Aycox and Nick Zano), with her sister Kayla (Laura Jordan), and her online boyfriend Nik (Kyle Schmid), whom she picks up. After having car troubles, (who doesn't in Horror films?) they are forced to break into a seemingly abandoned house and taking the 1983 Chevrolet Caprice. Melissa leaves a note for the owner and her cell number. Little does she know that the house is home to a deranged trucker by the name of Rusty Nail (Mark Gibbon).

Because of his anger that the four took his car, Rusty kidnaps Bobby while in the restroom of a truck stop and stalks Melissa, Kayla, and Nik and plays several unspeakable psychological mind games on the three and says if they do everything he says he'll return Bobby unharmed. I wont spoil the tasks, but just to clear up everything, he makes them destroy their cell phones to assure no police will be called.

This is every torture porn fan's dream. This film will most likely amuse the fans who were asking for another Joy Ride film, but only slightly entertain the ones really involved in the series, like me. If I get really into a series, I get into it and need to know absolutely every little detail about it. So this amused me, but left me with some questions. I wish they would have brought up something about the first film. An article, a mention, even Rusty saying he's done this before. Anything to hint the first film was real. The time period of the first film was unknown. It could have been in the 90s or 2000s. This film mentions sites like Youtube, Myspace, Google, etc so it's more clear it takes place in present time.

I enjoyed the first one beyond belief and one of the only downsides was Ted Levine did not reprise his role as the voice of Rusty Nail. That voice was unspeakably amazing and really gave a dark, convoluted feel to the storyline. So overall, the sequel is what I would call a sequl that does it's job to be a good Horror film, but fails to recognize it's predecessor in any way. It would have been cool to hear Rusty say "I've done this before, it ain't hard".

Starring: Nicki Aycox, Nick Zano, Laura Jordan, Kyle Schmid, and Mark Gibbon. Directed by: Louis Morneau.

[StevePulaski]

Joy Ride 3: Roadkill (2014)
Directed by: Declan O'Brien

The trucker of the murderous driver "Rusty Nail in Joy Ride 3: Roadkill.

Rating: ★★★

Joy Ride 3: Roadkill comes a surprising thirteen years after the original film, which was a minor hit in theaters but a big hit on VHS/DVD, and four six years after its first direct-to-DVD sequel bearing the subtitle "Dead Ahead" was released. It isn't uncommon for these small successful horror films to end up bearing numerous direct-to-DVD sequels; it's happening with Cabin Fever, for a while I thought it'd never end with Wrong Turn, and it looks like perhaps Joy Ride and maybe Jeepers Creepers will be the new prey. Thankfully, I have no quibbles about producing more sequels to the latter two films. Both franchises I have found enticing and satisfying, with interesting stories and limitless possibilities.

With Joy Ride 3: Roadkill, however, one may be upset to realize that rather than bearing the craftiness of the original Joy Ride in terms of slowburn terror and suspense, or even the moderately-tense atmosphere Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead tried to conjure up, that Joy Ride 3: Roadkill has rewritten the formula of the franchise to play the instruments reminiscent of a splatter-flick more than anything. Whether or not that's up your alley or not, Joy Ride 3 admirably uses all practical effects when staging the more gruesome scenes, meaning no CGI or special effects work is utilized. Instead, we get glorious, old-fashioned practical effects as opposed to an abundance of messy special effects work that can often appear distractingly artificial.

The film concerns a group of gearhead friends, led by a young guy named Jordan Wells (Jesse Hutch) as they venture out to attend and partake in Road Rally 1000, a streetracing event. Hardpressed for time and sporting their beautiful blue hot-rod, the gaggle of friends decide to take a faster stretch of highway nicknamed "Slaughter Alley," despite being warned by a local trucker at a diner midway through their travels. He warns them that often times technology cuts out on that road, meaning GPS and cell-phones are completely useless. The friends wind up finding a trucker hauling eighteen-wheels, who Jordan's friend Mickey (Ben Hollingsworth) cuts off on the road. After engaging in a nearly-lethal battle of road rage and aggressive driving, which leaves the trucker to jackknife in the middle of the road.

The group of friends learn on the CB radio that the trucker they made jackknife on the road goes by the name of "Rusty Nail" (played and voiced by Ken Kirzinger), who warns that revenge is coming and it won't be pretty. The group of friends persist on but soon become victim to Rusty's attacks with his eighteen-wheeler. As the night lingers, the friends find themselves in desperate situations they may or may not come out of alive.

One thing Joy Ride 3: Roadkill does differently than its predecessors is that it doesn't mind showing its antagonist in a brighter, more discernible light. In the first Joy Ride, one could barely see Rusty Nail except for maybe two scenes that were almost two dark to distinguish him and only provide one with the notion that he was a fat, greasy, obese trucker. In Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead, Rusty was often shown in low-light and shadows, and the only discernible features of him were a scruffy beard and a trucker cap. With this third installment, the film has no quibbles showing Rusty at all different angles, only obscuring his hair with a trucker hat and his eyes with dark shades.

Being that we see Rusty in light really obscures what the original film went for. Being that we never got a really good look at the trucker, it almost seemed like just a voice was coming after the three main characters rather than an actual person. It was the closest a film got to the quality of Steven Spielberg's Duel that I had ever seen in terms of turning a real person into something else. This particular film, however, wants to give you a solid idea of how Rusty Nail looks, and to be fair, it's not a decision that cripples the film, but combine that with the excess gore, and you get the idea that this film is supposed to appeal to people who can't be bothered with the slowburn ingredients of the first film.

With that being said, the film still works on several levels. The pacing is present, there is a great unpredictability in the film's setups, the film never runs into dead ends, and it's never boring too boot. Kirzinger does a good Rusty Nail, though the absence of Ted Levine's voice from the first film will always work to anger me, and the suspense works to help the film as well. This isn't the smoothest horror effort I've yet to see, but given the fact that the idea still makes me tense and the execution at hand is competent enough, there's still enough here to cheer on happily.

Starring: Jesse Hutch and Ken Kirzinger. Directed by: Declan O'Brien.

[WD-40]

Nice reviews. Though, IMO, 3 is pure garbage torture-porn and an insult to the prior films. Also, that's an image from "Joy Ride 2" you use for "Joy Ride 3". There's not a shot in "Joy Ride 3" that looks that good.

[StevePulaski]

Appreciate the feedback, thank you, and thank you for reading.