Macabre…ish Horror Review: Joy Ride 3: Roadkill

 

 

 

Joy Ride 3: Roadkill, 2014/ 96 min

 

 

A couple, Rob (J. Adam Brown) and Candy (Sarah Mitich), are having drug fuel sex in a motel room and when the meth runs out and Candy is raging, they get the brilliant idea to use a CB to lure a trucker to the room and rob him. Unfortunately for them they connect with Rusty Nail (Ken Kirzinger). To entice him they send him nudes and when he arrives at their door, Rusty is ready for the ambush.

 

He chains them to the hood of his rig and tells them they only have to hang on for one mile. The chain is connected to their wrists, through the grill guard and to the spin axel and if they let go, they will experience the land equivalent to a keel hauling.

 

If they succeed they will be rewarded with a bag of meth. And that baggie is taped to the windshield in view of the already withdrawing Candy. But surprising to absolutely no one, a mile comes and goes and Rusty keeps going and Candy can no longer resist the lure of that bag and she and Rob are left scattered on that stretch of road.

 

 

And that happens before the credits…

 

 

In another town, a racing team is heading to a rally and caravanning with two vehicles and a trailer, from Kansas to Canada and they decide to take a short cut on Highway 17, they are warned by a truck driver, Barry (David Ferry) that that road is known as Slaughter Alley. It’s an unpatrolled stretch of highway that is also the stomping grounds of the legendary Rusty Nail. People die and disappear on that road.

 

Despite the warning, Austin (Gianpaolo Venuta), wants to test the limits of their race car. While piled in the car and speeding down the road, they run into Rusty Nail and Jordan (Jesse Hutch) immediately and aggressively starts playing dangerous games. When they are over it, they don’t realize Rusty isn’t and they play a dangerous game of chicken for miles.

 

Eventually another random car unintentionally joins the fray and the team manages to shake Rusty off their tail. So far it’s only cost them their trailer and their fuel.  Unfortunately, Rusty is recording and check them out on the internet and now he knows everything he needs to know about them. And he radios to let them know. Also informing them that they will pay.

 

Some of them are terrified and want to go to the police and return home but Jordan insists it’s fine and wants to continue on to the rally. In separate vehicles going different directions, they start having problems, a flat, loss of cellular signal and GPS, all the while, Rusty is lurking.

 

Austin’s vehicle is overtaken by Rusty, horribly injured by the wreck, Rusty kidnaps him and Jewel (Kirsten Prout) for more torture.

 

After hearing nothing for a while from Austin or Jewel, Jordan and the rest of the team are thinking of turning back but just then, Rusty calls them to inform them that he has their friends. And he wants payment for his troubles but not in cash, you see, he believes in an eye for an eye.

 

Meanwhile, the cops find the flattened SUV and no occupants. And only one of them, Ofc Williams (Dean Armstrong) is suspicious and worried about what’s going on around here. Between apathetic police, a well prepared, dangerous predator and a careless group of travellers this is not going to end well.

 


This 3rd installment directed by Declan O’Brien  is actually pretty good. It has interesting kills and good physical effects plus this flick starts off strong in that department. This movie is frustrating in the same way as all the others…clueless cops, an unreasonably too well prepared killer that’s too lucky and a damsel in distress that is wearing rope, rather than seeming actually tied up and wearing tape on her mouth, rather than her mouth being actually taped. Otherwise, the pacing and film quality is good. Good twists and ending. This was very entertaining!

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