Rest Stop: Don't Look Back

I'm in a minority here, but I really enjoyed the movie.

The gore scenes were pretty good, a few good jump-scares, and just creepy and fun scenes make it a fun movie to watch. Very weird, hard to understand and a lot of problems with it, but it's better than the first, and at least worth a rent.

One of my main problems is the characters were annoying, and I often kept wanting to smack Marilyn across the face.

But, considering a lot of the straight-to-DVD crap that gets put out, this was an okay film that I actually enjoyed, maybe a little more than I should have...

Who in their right mind would green light a sequel to Rest Stop? And from a major studio. Ok, I have another question, but I know the answer. How is it possible to make a movie worse than the original Rest Stop? A: You can't. I'm giving this sequel an extra star for a couple things I appreciated: They go back and explain the origin, as well as exactly what was going on in the first movie. Also, seems like they were allowed to use real equipment this time, as this movie looks rather good. So, things make slightly more sense, but are there any good ideas? Absolutely not! Rest Stop: Don't Look Back is full of unintentional laughs, has some embarrassing performances, a silly curse (and resolution to it), plus a comically bad villain ("The Trucker"). Why did they give him a fake moustache? He looked like a dork. Assuming, he's supposed to be menacing. The actor they used is not intimidating to begin with.

So, it's a year after the first film, and the original couple, Jesse and Nicole, were never seen again. Jesse's brother Tom comes back from Iraq, and vows to find them. Along for the ride is his girl, and... Jared. 13 minutes into this thing, and I realize this insanely annoying character is in it for the long haul. At one point, Tom rescues Jesse... and BAILS! Leaving the other two behind to fight for themselves (in a losing battle).

Let's see, they really amp up the torture porn, so be warned. Also, this score blew as much as the first one (same person, who has gone on to a highly successful and prolific career, composes and conducts orchestral scores! Nowhere to be found here). Yeah, scratching on a low E string... real creative.

By far, the best part of this movie is the bible thumping family in the RV, who are given an expanded role, on the road looking to punish all sinners (and in the wife's case, get off as much as possible -- she is ecstatic in proving someone is sinful). I sort of liked the alternate ending better. The ending they used was just a setup for another sequel. The alternate was low key, and anti-climactic, but the idea was there (not even an original idea, but the one they went with was kind of dumb).

I realize I may be in the minority liking the first, then again the IMDb boards seem to be there only to complain.

Rest Stop was a bit of slasher with a ghost story thrown in. There were several places where you just kinda went "oh...didn't see that coming". In part 2, it seems like they tried to duplicate those, but after seeing the first one, they didn't have the oh-wow value.

The ghost sequences were all pretty obvious (sans one) and the whole Family is a known from the first one so that wasn't a surprise.

As for the background they tried to give the people from the first one, while somewhat interesting, it just didn't seem to fit or feel quite right. One can only hope that if they make a third one it will all payoff. However, they need to finish the story instead of trying to keep stretching it out as it's getting a bit thin and there will not be much more you can do with the story.

If you liked the bit of gore from the first one, this one has taken it up a few steps. If you like the spooky atmosphere, that is there, but not as present as the first one. If you like old Ford trucks, you're in luck!

First saw this on a dvd which i own in 2008. Revisited it today. This film managed to explain about the happenings from the first part but ruined itself. Both the parts had unnecessary torture scenes. Now what kinda ghost tortures people n communicates with a gas station attendant n asks one person to torture another. The story takes place one year after Jesse and Nicole disappeared in the first part. Jesse's brother returns from Iraq n decides to go looking for his brother with his girlfriend and one of his friend.

Once they get to California, the trio asks direction from a gas station attendant who was never there in the first part. I don't kno how the attendant gets the horseriding badge that belonged to Nicole from the first part. Generous with 5 cos of the desert settings n the initial ten mins explanation.

(2008) Rest Stop: Don't Look Back HORROR

Somewhat a continuation of what happened on the first movie, this time has young war veteran, Tom Hilts (Richard Tillman) along with 2 of his other friends- his girlfriend Marilyn (Jessie Ward) and Jared (Graham Norris) going on a search rant to find his brother, labelled who was missing from the first movie. They do this by retracing back to a lonely deserted highway called "Rest Stop", unbeknownst that it's entirely new dimension. Crossing their paths is a psychotic christian family in an RV and a deranged pick up driver. The movie has an interesting premise, except that I did not care too much for the ending.