- Actors: Matthew Kimbrough, Leelee Sobieski, Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, Jessica Bowman
- Directors: John Dahl
- Writers: J.J. Abrams, Clay Tarver
- Producers: Arnon Milchan, Bridget Johnson, Chris Moore, J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Downer
- Format: Colour, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 15
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- DVD Release Date: 12 Mar 2002
- Run Time: 97 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0002WT4OE
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 119,232 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Director John Dahl has made more ingenious thrillers than Roadkill, but few with quite its sense of terrible consequences arising from a minor prank. On a road trip, jailbird Fuller (Steve Zahn) persuades his younger, student brother Lewis (Paul Walker) to pretend to be a girl on a CB radio; they set a pushy trucker up with a date with an obnoxious guest at the motel where they stay for the night. The results are far from funny--the guest ends up dead and they find themselves being chased for a while by a large sinister truck. And then, when they have picked up Veena (Leelee Sobieski), the girl with whom Lewis is in love, it all gets worse, much worse.
Dahl has picked up on one of the most sinister aspects of hostage situations, which is that quite minor concessions in negotiation can often be more meaningful than they seem. If the film has a weakness it is that the irresponsibility of the two young men is eminently plausible and not especially sympathetic, and the trucker, rather like the faceless driver in Steven Spielberg's Duel, is never more than a monstrous force of nature. Along the way, though, Roadkill delivers an appropriate number of thrills and sudden reversals, which all makes for an exciting journey into terror.
On the DVD: Roadkill on disc has commentaries by the director, by the writers and by stars Steve Zahn and Leelee Sobieski; it also has a fascinating wealth of alternate endings including one in which the whole third act of the movie goes in a radically different direction. It has a widescreen anamorphic visual ratio 2.35:1 and vibrant Dolby 5.1 sound that pumps up the tension in some crucial scenes. --Roz Kaveney
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Directed by John Dahl, previously best known for Red Rock West and The Last Seduction (the movie that launched Linda Fiorentino's career), Roadkill is very much a homage to the seventies Spielberg movie Duel but rather than being just a cheap rip-off Joy Ride is in fact a very entertaining, genuinely scary edge of the seat ride, which proves that you don't need a big budget to make great movies.
THE PLOT: The film's instantly likeable hero, Lewis, played by Paul Walker (The Fast and The Furious) a scholarship student at Berkeley, buys a battered 1971 car so he can pick up Venna (Leelee Sobieski), who he has a major crush for, from the University of Colorado and drive her to the East Coast for summer vacation. However, on the way he unexpectedly has to pick up his irresponsible older brother Fuller (the always excellent Steve Zahn) who's in a Salt Lake City jail on a drunk-and-disorderly charge. During the journey Fuller buys a cheap CB radio and involves Lewis in an unpleasant practical joke at the expense of a truck driver with the CB handle 'Rusty Nail' but they find themselves in fear for their lives when old Rusty turns out to be a psychopath who takes a violent dislike to them. From then on, they themselves become the objects of the unseen Rusty Nail's revenge. After several hair-raising encounters, they resolve not to tell Venna of their adventures when they pick her up at the clean, well-lit Colorado campus.
It would be easy to criticise Roadkill (known as Joy Ride in America). Its premise is hardly original and its reliance on a CB radio as a plot device harks back to the seventies, rather than the present day when everybody (except in this movie) has a cell phone. However, Roadkill is actually a stunning success due to its faultless direction, which creates Hitchcock like suspense and provides many heart stopping moments. The script is excellent too combining and balancing humour and horror in equal measures, often hinting at violence that is not actually seen and providing nervous moments of humour whilst avoiding corniness. As for the three leads they are perfectly cast with Paul Walker, minus the blonde beach boy locks he sported in The Fast and the Furious, making a good fist of the part of the boy from the wrong side of the tracks in love with the girl from the right side of the tracks played by the equally impressive Leelee Sobieski (Deep Impact). Steve Zahn (Out of Sight) as the misfit brother Fuller is also excellent and he steals many of the scenes with witty one-liners but ultimately this is a movie whose strength lies in the sum of all its parts. Cheaply made it shows that its not big budgets that make great movies its talent and imagination. Here's hoping there's a sequel! Four stars, well merited. ****
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
predictable but well paced and funny in parts. not what I would call a classic but worth an evenings entertainment
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is one of my favourite scary movies for a night with my mates, because it's quite scary and creepy without too much blood and guts. Most of the movie is basically the three friends running away from Rusty Nail, and it relys a lot on tension and suspense for thrills, rather than grossing you out with lots of killing. I first watched it when I was quite young, and let me tell you that me and my friends found it really scary! Watching it now, it doesn't scare me so much, but it's still pretty good.
I think the ending to the actual film is really good, and I was disappointed by the alternative endings on the DVD. You can see why they chose the one they did!
I think the ending to the actual film is really good, and I was disappointed by the alternative endings on the DVD. You can see why they chose the one they did!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Builds on the Hitcher films by Eric Red -- and still a testerone ride
This movie is an evolution to original films, beginning with Spielberg's Duel (Special Edition) [DVD], that worked 'from a script by Richard Matheson, the film starring Dennis... Read more
Published 13 months ago by R. G. White
Predictable and ultimately rather boring
Strictly one for the teens/students this - could not remotely be described as a horror, unless you're the sort of person that used to hide behind a cushion watching Jonathan Creek. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Gaffer_75
Great Film!!
If you like a thriller which is more pyschological then gory then this film is for you. Absolutely great and with a good cast who can actually act! Read more
Published 20 months ago by Humbernick
Compact thriller that's not compact on thrills
This film owes its great idea from Steven Spielberg's classic first film Duel, but this is a very entertaining thriller. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Daniel J. Cronin
A great psychological thriller
I've said psychological as alot of this film is in the mind, you rarely get to see the bad guy and when you do it's only a glimpse, plus there's only an incredibly small amount of... Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2008 by Dazman
very stunning movie
very stunning movie. Fast, freightening, intelligent. Paul Walker and Leelee Sobieski are great. Sound perfect, picture quality perfect
Published on 26 May 2008 by Robert Stryszyk
its only getting 1 star because there isnt a 0 star option!!!
Down there at the bottom with the likes of Wolf Creek, Creep, Red Eye and The Grudge, Joy Ride (also known as Road Kill) was one of the worst horror/thriller flicks we have ever... Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2008 by L. Tiernan
A modern day Duel...
This is called Road kill in UK.
Story is about a guy who wants to impress a future girlfriend by taking her on a road trip,but also he needs to pick up his brother on the way... Read more
Story is about a guy who wants to impress a future girlfriend by taking her on a road trip,but also he needs to pick up his brother on the way... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2008 by D. Bibb
One of my favourite thrillers of the noughties
A delightfully fresh and witty mix of suspense conventions based on the 'unloveable young Americans run into a nutter who makes their lives a living hell' scenario that's low on... Read more
Published on 18 Aug 2006 by Dennion
Boring Boring Boring!!!!!!!
this film is too much a re-run of Duel(a truly great film). it has all of the cliche's possibly avaliable to it, and the plot is way too predictable. Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2006 by Richard Barnett
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