Route 666

Lou Diamond Phillips plays Jack La Roca, a U.S. Marshall and former Navy SEAL assigned to pick up "Rabbit" (Steven Williams), who is in the federal witness protection program but has been on the run. La Roca is to take Rabbit from Arizona to California to testify in court, but along the way they run into a variety of obstacles, mostly horrific, the most serious of which are the result of La Roca's decision to take a shortcut on Route 666.

Lou Diamond Phillips is a B and C-movie king. Route 666 nicely fits in with his oeuvre. The film is much better than it should be, perhaps, given the relatively small budget and a number of questionable decisions on technical aspects (life reflecting art, as the film hinges on a questionable decision). But although goofy at times, Route 666 is a fun-to-watch action/horror film. It actually ended up as a 7 out of 10 for me.

A number of things quickly drew me in, even though they do not directly have an impact on the quality of Route 666. The first two were the presence of Williams and character actor Dick Miller. I'm a big fan of Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993). Williams plays Creighton Duke, one of the main characters, in that film. Miller is a genre veteran with over 100 titles to his name, and well loved by many genre fans, including me. The third immediate attraction for me is that Route 666 is set in a Joshua Tree-filled desert. I love deserts, and I especially love Joshua Trees. Director William Wesley actually acquired permission to shoot in Joshua Tree National Park, one of my favorites. This was the first film in about 10 years allowed to do so.

Wesley quickly builds an effective, sarcastic and usually witty rapport between La Roca, his partner Steph (Lori Petty) and Rabbit, although Petty can be a bit over-the-top at times. But Williams is particularly funny. There are other standout performances here, as well, especially L.Q. Jones as the Sheriff.

At the beginning, Route 666 seems like it will be an actioner. Although these aren't the most exciting shoot-out scenes ever filmed, they have a nice feel to them, partially due to the setting and lighting, and there is a pleasantly unusual tangent when Phillips has a bizarre "flashback" as he looks at a victim's blood spreading on the dirt.

There is an eerie atmosphere to the whole film, and especially when the horror material starts, it is very refreshing that Wesley chose to keep the proceedings in broad daylight. It also helps that there are two sets of villains, with the second, and possibly the most effective, not being very obvious until late in the film. The more traditional horror villains are very satisfying, with an interesting, unusual yet immediately recognizable look, and they are worked into the backstory of the characters extremely well. Their methods of dispatching victims are creative, although I wish Wesley would have gone into a gorier mode with the deaths. But one death, at least, near the end of the film, is particularly brutal in its abruptness. Even though this isn't Wesley's masterpiece, he shows that he has one in him.

Sure the film has flaws--Phillips plays much of the film with what looks like a large wad of raspberry gum stuck to his forehead, the shaky cam and other effects didn't work very well for me during the horror attack scenes, the score sounded fairly generic and repetitive (it reminded me of playing a video game), and there are some plot points that don't make a lot of sense if you think about them too much. But most horror fans probably will not expect a masterpiece when watching Route 666. With appropriately lowered expectations, you'll likely be pleasantly surprised at just how good this film is.

Are you ready for some weird entertainment? What seems to be a decent cop show turns into a horror flick. Yes, there is plenty of action...but you find yourself wondering how much stranger can this thing get. Some pretty good actors assembled to do this thing for producer Terence M. O'Keefe. William Wesley directs no doubt with a grin. This is a toss up between being really bad and being just a below average B-movie.

Lou Diamond Phillips and Lori Petty are government agents that track down a Federally protected witness(Steven Williams)hiding in the desert along Route 66. After convincing him to return to LA for his appearance in court things get crazy. It is decided to take a shortcut on a piece of closed highway, Route 666, where the now small FBI caravan is attacked by four zombies. The undead are four prisoners/murderers that were slaughtered while working on a road crew several years earlier. One of the zombies happens to be Phillips' estranged father.

Phillips has starred in worst...check out BATS. Somehow he keeps his dignity without embarrassing his following too much. I found Miss Petty pretty much irritating throughout. Williams is outstanding and has most of the best dialogue. Dale Midkiff is notable as a pompous FBI agent. And kudos to the veteran actor L.Q. Jones playing the corrupt county sheriff. The road less traveled is finally rid of its phantoms. Worth your test drive.

If "Route 666" has anything going for it, it has to be the visual aspect. The film is shot in 2.35:1 widescreen and is very nicely photographed. The lighting and camera angles demonstrate a slick professionalism more common to major Hollywood studio productions than cheap, direct-to-video horror flicks. That said, the rest of the film is nothing special. The plot involving restless ghouls on an abandoned desert road is mildly involving, but some terrible overacting (Dale Midkiff, in particular, constantly acts like Chandler--from the TV show "Friends"--having a panic attack) and remarkably stupid plot contrivances undermine any tension built by the director. At one point, two characters start a fist-fight for no reason except to be a plot device to keep them from helping other characters under attack. The filmmakers don't even try to provide a good reason for the sudden fight. At best, the least discriminating viewer might chuckle knowingly at the cheap ploy. More likely the average viewer will say, "Why the hell did they start punching each other?!" Either way, the result is that the audience is knocked out of the story. That's too bad, as the director (or editor) otherwise keep a quick pace to the movie that is usually enough to gloss over most minor plot problems. The film is certainly never boring; there are gunfights, chases, and violent gore horror galore. Bottomline: if you are the type of movie watcher who is familiar with b- or c-flicks and can enjoy them despite their problems, then you could do much, much worse than "Route 666."

don't let my tagline fool you, i like route 666. as far as straight to dvd flicks go it's above average. it actually reminds of drive in style scary movies of the 50's and sixties. Lou Diamond is a solid lead, Lori petty works, i hate to say it but i liked Dale Midkiff. The plot had some merit, it was an original take on a unoriginal concept. However, the script, is one liner, after one liner after one liner. i laughed through the movie, though i'm not sure it's intended to be funny. the lines are enough to make the movie worth while and the make-up effects are a nice refreshing change from the cgi laden horror flicks of late. watch route 666, it's a fun ride, no doubt.

Good tension throughout, the living-dead guys are creepy enough (not easy to pull off in bright desert sunlight), and the Native American shaman looks more like a deli counterman than the time-worn cinema stereotype--all in all, worth a look-see. Personally, I could have lived without all the jiggling camera work during the action shots, and the ending was a little weak, but otherwise I'd give it a 6 out of 10.

One big problem--though out of fairness it's not something that is peculiar to this flick alone. In fact, this has been a pet peeve of mine for years, and I dearly wish it would be advised against by every teacher of cinema...

ACTION RULE # 1: If people shoot the "bad thing" fifty damn times, and with no effect, THEN DON'T HAVE THEM KEEP ON DOING IT!