Hell's Highway

HELL'S HIGHWAY is a low-low budget film starring Phoebe Dollar as Lucinda, a hitchhiker who is far more than she appears to be. She's an unstoppable, murdering force without any sense of right or wrong. Though human in appearance, Lucinda is actually a relentless, demonic spirit. When she's picked up by four college kids, she begins unraveling their sanity and their lives in several blood-soaked attacks.

What this movie lacks in big effects, it makes up for with sheer brutality! Ms. Dollar makes the best of her role, filling Lucinda with pure eeevil!

Watch for Ron Jeremy as a doomed motorist...

Two couples traveling through Death Valley to the California coast pick up a hitchhiker from hell (Phoebe Dollar). Havoc ensues. The infamous Ron Jeremy is featured in a glorified cameo.

"Hell's Highway" (2002) proves that an ultra-low budget doesn't mean a movie can't be entertaining. Yes, some of the gory parts are cheesy (while others are pretty impressive) and a miniature set is obvious, but both are serviceable (and somewhat charming) and keep the story flowing. Viewing the trailer, I thought this was going to be a horror comedy, but it's not; it's essentially a serious slasher with cheesy effects and campy elements, particularly Phoebe as the over-the-top nefarious hitchhiker. Jeff Leroy shows his genius in that "Hell's Highway" is adept spare-change filmmaking and genuinely amusing DESPITE the obvious cheapness of it all.

Without Phoebe in the key role, however, it wouldn't be half as effective as it is. She's not blow-your-mind beautiful or anything, but she has a unique look and there's something alluring about her demeanor, not to mention she has curves in all the right places. Beverly Lynne (Monique), with her conventional "hot blonde" look, can't hold a candle to her (she has an unnecessary softcore sex scene, for anyone who might be offended). Kiren David, as Sarah, is the third main female in the cast and is a convincing actress. Actually, all the main cast members take the material seriously and offer respectable performances.

The score/soundtrack didn't do much for me, unfortunately. This is a movie that needs a few quality rockin' numbers. The last act features a couple of creative twists in the story and shows that Leroy put some time into the script. But, as semi-enjoyable as this flick is, there are regrettably too many unnecessary nasty elements to give it a higher grade.

The film has little filler at a mere 70 minutes and looks like it was shot in Southern California.

GRADE: C+

If you enjoy a good cheesy movie I suggest you pick this one up. The sorry acting, the 5 cent effects, and Ron Jeremy. What more could you ask for in a good cheesy film? I would get it on DVD so you can get some real slow mo so that you can see just HOW cheap the effects really are!

What can I say? My fiancee and I one night decided that it would actually be fun to go ahead and rent some low budget horror films to get us laughing. C'mon, what other horror movie could you see Ron Jeremy in? This plan worked effectively. We were rolling on the floor even before the previews were over.

The special effects were horrible (i.e. the priest's head exploding after being hit with a shovel, the missing appendage of Mr. Jeremy, and the incredibly gory dragging torso), the acting worse, and the characters out of a low budget porn movie.

If you need a laugh, rent this!

If you ever decide to watch a film like this, please take into consideration that it was probably shot for the price of a used car and in the spans of a week. Total Roger Corman/Ed Wood style, so you should never expect a Spielburg quality film(His catering budget is usually bigger than the entire budget of a film like this.) So what does a film like this have to offer a viewer? A dialog heavy script with thick subplots and well known actors? Mind blowing special effects? Beautiful breath-taking 35mm Cinematography? No, but it has couple things that make it unique. Despite the fact that it was probably shot on a camcorder, some of the shots were well planned and executed. Unlike the normal all-hand-held Shot-on-Video features usually do. Of course the Director and the Cinematographer were the same person, which can be difficult. The Characters were unique, yes at sometime they were over-the-top or flat at certain times, but I feel that they were tolerable. It's also obvious at time there was a lot of ad libbing and some of it didn't work. I am a fan of Beverly Lynn though. She started out in the Brain Damage world and has definitely out-shined many of her counterparts. I do hope that she will grow in her craft and lands roles that will gain her the respect that she deserves. This was Phoebe Dollar's first film credit, she definitely shines as the evil Lucinda. She is definitely a presence that will go far in the future. The story also is unique for the fact if you actually try to follow what's going on, you will be pulled in many different directions and will be left still wondering what exactly happen. It definitely had some interesting twists in it. Now onto the special effects, outside the low quality of the video image the special effects look even worse than normal. They are totally laughable. Especially Joe Haggerty's blow to the head.( Which can really be the charm of a film like this, where the gore is so over-the-top that it's actually funny. I can imagine how a movie like this would be in a college dorm, with a room full of drunk men.) Especially when watch the toy model cars driving by or see the miniature gas station blow up! That was funny!! I had to rewind to make sure I saw what I thought I saw!! The Sound was something to be desired. It was for the most part inconsistent. Some of the sound effects were very "fake" sounding and again laughable at times. There also obvious continuity issues like switching props, road movement in the background in a car scene when the car is supposedly stopped. But what do you expect when you can afford re-shoots? To me this movie, seems to be a turning point for the whole Brain Damage world. Where their movies started moving up the ladder from their pocket-change budget beginnings. Good job Jeff LeRoy!! If you want a movie that scares you, it probably won't. If you want a movie that will challenge your intellect, don't rent this. But if you appreciate the micro-budget, and want to see something different that the normal movie studios wouldn't put out, then you might want to check it out.