Ah, the adorable Mrs.Stowe
I sure miss the late 80's/early 90's, back when she was an elite member of the chosen few actresses club (alongside Linda Fiorentino, Lara Flynn Boyle and Sherilyn Fenn) who's every new film became instant priority-viewing on my movies' list. I wonder if she herself regrets the glorious days of "China Moon", "Blink" and "Unlawful Entry" are gone forever, especially now that she has to appear in below par and allegedly 'hip' new horror movies like this dreadfully irritating "Octane". This film is, briefly put, a big fat steaming & smelly pile of utter garbage. The story makes no sense whatsoever, the terribly slow built up atmosphere of mysteriousness leads absolutely nowhere, the "villainous" characters are pathetic & all but menacing and there's a seriously frustrating shortage of gore and sleaze. The ravishing Madeleine Stowe plays the uptight mother of an equally ravishing teenage girl (Mischa Barton) and the two are on a long and nightly homeward car journey. Things heat up when mommy forbids her daughter to go to a music concert and, bang, the girl promptly runs off with a bunch of rebellious teenagers in a giant truck. The fact she wanders off with complete strangers is already quite implausible, especially in this day and age, but the script even gets sillier when the strangers turn out to be members of some sort of bizarre cult. I think it's even hinted that they are a modern type of vampires, but that's never really confirmed. And then it even gets more retarded when literally everyone on the highway appears to be involved in this fiendish organization, including a female police officer and random motor home people in a restaurant. Stephen Volk's screenplay is truly unimaginative, borrowing even elements from 70's chillers like "Race With The Devil", Marcus Adams' direction is totally uninspired (not at all stylish, like some reviews I encountered dare to proclaim) and you know you're in trouble when someone without charisma like Jonathan Rhys Meyers is supposed to play an evil personified type of character referred to as The Father. Give me a break. "Octane" is a pretentious, pitiable and miserable excuse for a thriller, and if you have idea what good film-making is about you'll stay the hell away from it.
