Hell's Highway

This movie has pretty much the same plot line as wrong turn (minus that fact it takes place in the desert and the characters are in search of a pot field). The best part of the entire movie is probably seeing the main cannibal, who looks like Mr. Clean's brother who was locked in an unventilated room while mixing cleaning products. The worse character in possibly the history of movies is the white kid who fronts as a thug. I can honestly say that after being introduce to this character I wish every second after that to see his untimely demise.

There were some good effects and the actual camera shots weren't that bad considering their budget. Also the extras on the DVD were pretty amusing as well (especially the auditions for each character). Being a college educated individual and in the process of finishing my major and attending grad school I know that I can fall back on B movie acting if I don't get hired right away.

This movie got a 4 from me because it did have its moments. My roommates and I were laughing throughout the movie and were able to predict what was going to happen and the order that the characters would be taken out. But like I stated before, if you are forced to rent this movie for any more than one dollar you should simply tell the cashier at your local video store to pay you for removing this movie from their presence.

Normally I am forgiving of most low-budget "young folks in danger" types of low-grade horror films because they sometimes rise above expectations, the shot-on-video HIGHWAY TO HELL being a good example. But this one is a mess of missed opportunities. Same premise as HILLS HAVE EYES, but a group of teenager/early 20s rather than a family. That in itself is a missed opportunity (but not a big one) because we all know where horror films go when there's a gang of gregarious kids around. There's a stupid and unnecessary prologue where we see 2 girls get killed that pretty much gives away the whole story in 3 minutes. If these kids were any goofier, they'd be in a cartoon instead. There's no build of suspense, the frights are few, the cannibals look like friends and family of the film-makers with very little make-up or reason to be the way they are. And there's too many of them anyway. The cannibal hide-out is a cave and then it's an old building, then a cave again. There's no good sense of where anything is here. The leader of the cannibals, while plenty big enough, has the most ludicrous facial appearance and isn't at all scary, his mate is just a screaming mimi. With a decent effort on makeup and a bit of style and maturity this could have been pretty good, but save your time and watch HILLS HAVE EYES instead. Heck, even HILLS HAVE EYES 2 is grade A compared to this.

This update of the classical Craven's movie The Hills have eyes emerges from the mass of the direct to video slasher road movies of the last few years for a very good use of colors in its cinematography. This is the only redeeming feature for a movie with a young cast that could be used with more reasons in a Playboy soft core movie (and one of the actress has indeed been in a Palyboy video), it is totally boring as a real horror movie, with ridiculous special effects (with running blood that is really colored water), almost no new ideas in the use of the killers or in the killings their-selves and an hysterical cast. Anyway, it could be enjoyed by the fans of the genre because the production values are really very high for such a blame.

While returning to Los Angeles in a trailer through the desert, the driver Neil (Brent Taylor) convinces his friends Tara (Ashley Elizabeth), Harmony (Danna Brady), Loopz (Aaron Buer), Michelle (Jessica Osfar), Lee (Ryan De Rouen) and Cashie (Kelsey Wedeen) to take a detour to an isolated mine where it could have a plantation of peyote. The owner of a gas station advises the group to not go to the place, but the stubborn Neil does not pay attention to his words. While driving in a secondary road, Neil sees a girl and wrecks the car in a rock. He decides to walk back to the gas station to call a tow truck, while Michelle and Lee climb a hill trying to get signal to their cell phones. Sooner the teenagers find that they are under siege of a group of sadistic deformed cannibals and they have to fight to survive.

"Detour" is a teen rip-off of "The Hills Have Eyes", using the same storyline but with many silly dialogs and situations. I like horror movies, and "Detour" is not among the worse that I have seen, having beautiful and sexy actresses and a good conclusion with the scary little girl in the best scene of the movie. Unfortunately the annoying character Loopz spoils what could be worthwhile in this movie, plagiarizing the way of speaking of Eminen and having imbecile lines and attitudes. In a certain moment I was so irritated with this actor that I almost stopped the DVD. The screenplay is very weak, without suspense or tension. If you have not seen this movie yet, better off watching "The Hills Have Eyes" instead. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Detour - Rota 666" ("Detour - Route 666")

DETOUR is not only an extremely poor clone of THE HILLS HAVE EYES. It also contains one of the most annoying, idiotic characters to be found in any horror movie.

Ever!

You'll know who it is as soon as he opens his mouth and utters his fabricated "urban slang". Basically, he's a hillbilly type with delusions of being a gangster. He's pitiful and as painfully irritating as a bad case of Shingles!

As for the movie itself, it's about more young, beautiful stickwomen and male models in danger. They're threatened by some very nonthreatening, desert-dwelling "cannibals" that look more like tourists who might have wandered onto the set by accident.

There is no suspense, terror, or originality to be found here...