Rest Stop (2006)

Nicole Carrow (Jaimie Alexander) runs away from her Texas family home with boyfriend Jess to be an actress in L.A. They get lost on the way. While they're at a dirty isolated rest stop, he goes missing and she is hounded by a mysterious pickup truck. Only Jaimie Alexander is any good in this. It helps to have her in her bra but that's a minor victory in a world of defeats. A mystery truck is a good horror trope but that truck is not memorable. It's old but there's nothing cool about it. The story is muddled and it's a supernatural world without rules. It tries to be an one room horror at one point but it keeps coming in and out. It's a mess without much fun.

Rest Stop is far, far from your average horror movie. Perhaps buried somewhere in the reviews are the speculations I cover here, but perhaps not.As many reviewers have pointed out, this is a ghost story, or more precisely an imagining of purgatory.I haven't seen anyone say this, but I feel that Nicole and Jesse are already dead at the start of the movie. Take note that Nicole makes a cryptic reference to "everyone has their own personal demon", and she mentions that she was the personal demon for her parents.Nicole "runs away" at what appears to be 9AM in the morning, when boyfriend Jess shows up in his car and honks for her. Note that there is no one on the street and absolutely no activity in Nicole's house, although Nicole scolds Jesse (while laughing) that he'll wake them up with his honking.He doesn't seem to care, and taunts her by moving the car a couple of times before she can get in. This is surreal behavior for a young couple running away, and hints that the scene is not what it seems to be at surface level.When this activity is combined with what follows in the movie, it leads me to believe that Nicole and Jesse died somehow, and they are now wandering in purgatory.Note that Nicole wants to call her mother to tell her she's OK, but never quite gets to do that. It's because she (Nicole) is dead.Later on, when Nicole breaks into the ranger's shack and sees video of her and Jesse on the TV there, this oddly does not freak her out as much as it should. This again to me points that at a certain level, Nicole knows that she is in some sort of surreality.The father of the religious family goes into great detail in describing the demons that torture the unfaithful in purgatory. The mother in the RV repeatedly calls Nicole a whore, perhaps referencing Nicole's behavior and the pain it caused her parents.These are major plot clues, in my opinion. The driver of the truck is the last demon from purgatory that the father in the RV mentions, the truly terrifying one.Checkout the Wikipedia page on purgatory. There you will find the reference to the torture that souls experience, as well as a cleansing of the soul by fire (the fire which Nicole avoided, and therefore is still in purgatory until she admits to her sins).Also check out the Wikipedia page on the angel Cassiel ("KZL") who is a guardian of heaven, and uses weapons against the unworthy.Note that Nicole at one point prays to God, and the officer shows up to help. He, like Tracy in the closet, is another of the wandering ghosts in this limbo. It may be that the officer is escaping purgatory by helping Nicole, and sacrificing himself - thus his oddly nonchalant policing behavior when confronting a possible suspect in a kidnapping and assault.Very few have seemed to mention that there are two brothers in the RV with the religious family, and that these brothers specifically show up on one of the missing posters that we see throughout the film, as does Tracy.At the end of the movie, we find out that the religious family somehow killed the driver at some point in the past (presumably when they were not ghosts). I am speculating here, but perhaps it was a hit and run accident (the father from the RV mentions they'll need to take this secret to their graves), and suggests that the driver was an innocent. The original driver then, is likely not the shadowy driver in the movie - he was replaced by the angel Cassiel who uses his truck and form in the purgatory.And then there's the music by Bear McCreary. Wow! Really great, haunting music, particularly the main theme "All That Remains', which has a 70's vibe to it.I haven't gone back to watch it again, but if I did I would look for clues in the first few minutes of the movie, rather than at the end.

This movie is not a good movie, but the reviews are clearly divided. I hate people that tactical vote and this film is clearly a battle ground of false votes, it is not a 10 and it is certainly not a 1. I watched this film because it came up on several profile lists of favourite horror films. I watched it. I get it. There is no great unexpected twist plot or unresolved issues, the acting is not bad, nor is the camera work, the sound track is in keeping and the plot is OK.However, this film is a slow burner, you watch it and you think about it, and keep thinking about it, until you find yourself staring blankly out of the window. If you like to think, then watch this, if you chew gum then don't bother. I honestly could not decide what to give this movie, it breaks what ever your personal rating scale is, just for that fact I would give it a 6/10 and challenge anyone who enjoys rating films to watch it and grumble that your system can't handle it.

I picked this up for $2 at the local op-shop based on the DVD sticker that said; "Rest Stop is hauntingly realistic... in the style of the original version of The Vanishing." — Maria Newborn. FANGORIA TV The original version of The Vanishing is a 10/10 film, and I gave this film a 3, because I have actually seen worse films, such as "Psyched by the 4D Witch". But "Rest Stop" is God-Awful. WARNING (I'm about to tell you what is in the RV) I don't mind the religious family in the RV, that scene was cool, scoring the film an extra point or two. But the entire film was mostly pointless, based mostly on supernatural themes which makes it 180° to "The Vanishing", which didn't need magic fairies to make it scary. Don't get me wrong, magic fairy movies can be good if done well, I quite liked John Carpenters "In the Mouth of Madness", but probably couldn't watch it again for another 20 years or so.... I used to respect Fangoria magazine, as I read it often in my teens, ie 30 years ago, but Maria Newborn is either insincere or naive. Back to "Rest Stop" which is a film that gets worse the longer you watch it, several times I felt the need to press FF, and I regret not doing so now. Pretty quickly I wanted the boring villain and the boring victim to die quickly. The twists are very predictable and totally unrealistic. Originally I planned to write my 1st review on "Before Midnight", an equally dismal film, but this piece of crud got my goat the most.