Radio Killer 3 - La corsa continua

I enjoyed the first two "Joy Ride" movies, so I was definitely up to watching the third one when it came my way. But I found this entry to be somewhat unsatisfying. Now, I will admit it's far from the worst direct to DVD movie I've seen. It's not boring, the production values are okay (if somewhat restrained at times), and there is some serious splatter here and there. But something prevented me from enjoying what I saw. It may be that it takes a long time to get going after the admittedly wild pre-credits sequence. It may be because the youthful protagonists were annoying and lacking real personality. It may be because there are some confusing moments in the story. It may be because Rusty Nail in this entry seems more of a mindless psychopath instead of the scarily intelligent brute of the first two movies. It may be because the movie gives us several looks at Rusty Nail's face instead of hiding it like the first two movies. It may be because the atmosphere for the most part feels workman-like instead of building terror as it goes along. Whatever the reason(s) may be, I found it hard to sit back and enjoy what I was watching. If they make a "Joy Ride 4", I will give it a chance, but I'll be hoping the filmmakers will have learned from their mistakes from this one.

A couple doing drugs in a motel run out of drugs and money. They decide to lure a trucker to their room and then take his drugs or money. Unfortunately for them the trucker who answers is Rusty Nail. He's got plans for them. He chains them to his truck, tapes drugs to his windshield. If they hang on while he drives for a mile, they get the drugs. They survive the mile. But the girl gets to eager for the drugs and reaches for them. That pulls the chain into the truck's U-joint and they yanked under the truck and run over. So far so good.

Next we meet a bunch of rejects from an Asylum casting call for extras. They're supposed to be a racing team. They're on their way to Canada for a race. There's 6 of them, 2 girls and 4 guys, in 2 cars, an SUV with a bed and some little race car. They stop at a diner, discover on a map a shorter route and ask some trucker about the road. It's called slaughter alley because people tend to die there. The crazy trucker warns them to stay away. A cop arrives tells them it's just fine. So they take that road.

The guy who says he's the mechanic is eager to drive the car. When the driver lets him, he becomes aggressive and irresponsible. He cuts a trucker off. Yup, it's Rusty Nail.

Now it's getting dark off course and Rusty has got to take revenge on the kids, kidnapping some and killing those he gets his hands on. Eventually he gets the girlfriend of the driver and tries to exchange her for the car first and then for the guy. The cops get involved as well, but Rusty is always a step ahead.

Joy Ride 3 offers some thrills, some gore, a bit of nudity, some good country music. Leela Savasta is very cute but doesn't get much to do. Kirzinger is a good villain, but unfortunately the dialogue overall is very weak. The least you can do is give your villain some cool lines. This movie tries to be too serious while it lacks the scares or tension or even a strong lead as the kids are entirely disposable. They should have gone for something more tongue-in-cheek given the weaknesses. Like many horror movies this one too, would have been better had they filmed everything during day light. Overall, Joy Ride 3 is a decent sequel, it doesn't stand out, it's not terrible nor particularly good. O'Brien is a better director than he is a writer and producers should keep that in mind and hire a writer for his future projects.

Your average slasher-horror movie. That is, pretty bad...

A bunch of twenty-somethings are driving to Canada to get to a (Nascar- type) race. They annoy a truck driver who then gets his revenge in rather sadistic ways...

Just from that summary you'll know this movie is hardly original. The highway scenes are derivative of Duel, and just about every highway- confrontation movie since then. The latter half of the movie is pretty much just Saw (or one of its zillion sequels).

So nothing new, and just more sadistic violence for the sake of it. Weak story, paint-by-numbers direction.

Avoid.

I enjoyed the first Joyride which was full of tension and very well done. Unfortunately as we already know the perpetrator this one does away with the tension to instead concentrate more on gore.

A group of boy racers and assorted girlfriends pick on the wrong lorry to mess with and pay the price. It's all fairly predictable stuff but there are one or two good scenes i.e the opening death scene to keep you interested. At times it is extremely gory with some SAW like scenes which I'm not sure add a great deal to the movie. The acting is what you'd expect, by no means bad but not great either.

Overall as long as you don't have high expectations this is an OK time filler but I doubt it's one that will live long in the memory.

But not as good as the first. This entry finds a group of young people driving cross country on the way to take part in a race in Canada. They make a bad decision and take a detour down a road known for its disproportionate amount of disappearances. Of course we know this is the road traveled by Rusty Nail, the villainous trucker obsessed with both his CB radio and destroying anyone that dares insult him.

Our core group of young people cut off Rusty Nail, played by yet another actor after the previous two entries. Here, it is Ken Kirziner, best known as Jason in Freddy vs. Jason. He's actually pretty good, although not as nearly as great as Ted Levine in the first. And Rusty is a much more present villain here, as we actually see him committing the violent acts that were usually kept off screen in the first movie. And the kills here are unique and genuinely creative, even impressive, especially for a straight-to-DVD flick directed by a guy that makes his living doing cheap sequels to theatrical releases.

I'll also say that the movie is fairly unpredictable and you generally won't know exactly who will die and when. The plot is less impressive, becoming repetitive and unbelievable as it goes. But it cleans up in the action-oriented and impressive finale.

The supporting cast is fair, the effects are pretty solid, and the movie is generally pretty good, if not great. The second movie, which made the dubious decision to try and force Joy Ride into the then popular "torture porn" sub-genre, was pretty terrible. This is actually pretty entertaining. I'd say give it a look. It's not a bad little movie.