Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2008)

Not THAT bad. Fairly good acting and a script that seems to work as well. It gives what it should, plus a lot of gore. Well worth watch if you liked the first, and maybe also "Duel" and "Breakdown" in the same style.

RELEASED TO VIDEO IN 2008 and directed by Louis Morneau, "Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead" chronicles events on the desert highways out West when 4 youths on their way to Las Vegas breakdown and come across Rusty Nail, the diabolical trucker from 2001's "Joy Ride." One of the reasons "Duel" (1971) is so memorable is because it was believable. Something like it COULD happen. "Joy Ride" was cut from the same cloth, but added the youth element and the slasher angle. It was engaging enough, but ruined by mounting improbabilities, particularly in the last act."Joy Ride 2" is better, with a few notable scenes, but it's also marred by cartoony horror implausibilities. The prologue, for instance, made me bust out laughing (you'll know what I mean). Still, the movie successfully makes a mysterious trucker and his ominous truck a formidable horror icon.Nicki Aycox arises as the female protagonist with mettle while statuesque Laura Jordan plays her sister. Both are serviceable in the female department. Nick Zano is solid as the male protagonist, but his role is limited. Meanwhile Kyle Schmid is extremely obnoxious as the arrogant goth punk or whatever. Rusty Nail gives him a nice slice of humble pie.THE MOVIE RUNS 91 minutes and was shot in British Columbia, Canada (the Thompson-Nicola Region, east of the Cascades). WRITERS: James Robert Johnston & Bennett Yellin.GRADE: B-

This serviceable follow-up to the 2001 thriller (renamed ROADKILL over here in the UK) has all the makings of a fairly enjoyable B-movie and none of the characteristics of a keeper. The slim plotting sees sinister trucker Rusty Nail once more behind the wheel as he pursues a quartet of four 20-somethings along America's highways. Cue a fair amount of car crashes, bloodshed and even a little torture at one stage as the film veers into HOSTEL territory in a dingy basement filled with torture implements.Director Louis Morneau has a knack for turning out entertaining B-movies on low budgets and originally became a filmmaker under the tutelage of Roger Corman. The highlight of his career is still the James Belushi sci fi RETROACTIVE, but I've also mildly enjoyed SOLDIER BOYZ and THE HITCHER II over the years (although the less said about BATS the better!). JOY RIDE 2 is neither his best nor his worst, merely another familiar road slasher film in a sub-genre filled with such fare.The cast is undistinguished, with Nicki Aycox showing mettle as the heroine and Kyle Schmid irritating as an emo character. Much of the focus is on titillation, with Aycox forced to strip to her underwear for the pleasure of the villain (and viewer). There's a sleazy atmosphere and plenty of hints at unpleasant torture and bloodshed, although it's more a case of what you don't see rather than what you do see given the paucity of the budget. The ending is straight out of DUEL, a much better film about a psychotic truck driver than this, although I did enjoy JOY RIDE 2 better than its predecessor as it has no pretensions to be an A-list thriller.

We watched the big truck jumping out of that cliff, then it exploded, the worst and the most disappointing thing was when I saw Rusty Nail again with a new truck , as if nothing happened to him , the question is : from where did he buy a new truck again? and I thought that I saw his body falling with his truck , right? Is he immortal or something? and I thought he killed those people because they made him angry but in the end , we saw him taking that woman without any reason, her car was just broken down please , it does not deserve 5/10 and please warn us about similar movies, I lost one hour and a half watching this movie at 2