Hell's Highway

Part of the fun of watching this film is due to the "special effects", as they appear humorously unrealistic. Another element of fun are some of the lines and the way in which the actors deliver them. What is interesting is that these elements draw attention to the medium through which they are transported, which helps add to the surreal mood of the film. Phoebe Dollar is as irresistibly hot as ever (the finger bang scene is very erotic), even when she plays to the 'southern white trash' stereotype. All in all, this film achieves, what in my opinion, it set out to do: entertain the viewer. Give this film a look, and check out some of Phoebe's other work too (Goth), if you like, what I call, "surrealistic cinema".

What can I say? My fiancee and I one night decided that it would actually be fun to go ahead and rent some low budget horror films to get us laughing. C'mon, what other horror movie could you see Ron Jeremy in? This plan worked effectively. We were rolling on the floor even before the previews were over.

The special effects were horrible (i.e. the priest's head exploding after being hit with a shovel, the missing appendage of Mr. Jeremy, and the incredibly gory dragging torso), the acting worse, and the characters out of a low budget porn movie.

If you need a laugh, rent this!

"Hell's Highway" has a somewhat interesting plot despite the cliches thrown in it, and it's quite enjoyable for most of its presentation.

What wrecks this horror/bizarre comedy are its cheap production values, painfully yet hilarious editing, weak special and makeup effects, and the atrocious acting from the ensemble casting, except the leading woman Phoebe Dollar as the sexy hitchhiker who needs to kill whoever pickes her up on an endless desert highway. She does a great job, seductive and scary. Considering that basically everyone comes from softcore and/or porn movies where acting isn't the required need except for the hot action, they're all better in what they did outside of this picture. But there's hardly ever any sex in here.

It revolves on a group of college kids driving through a desert highway and when the mysterious Jacinda asks for a ride they're in it for something extremely dangerous that could cost their lives. There's a legend about that place where a couple died in the 1800's trying to cross it, and a curse sprung out from there as a woman kills whoever crosses her path and she needs to add more and more victims to her list. Among the victims there's big name of porn Ron Jeremy playing a failed film producer who tries to make an "audition" with the girl and then comes an hysterical moment.

There are fine moments of thrills and horror to make you fully invested in it as we try to antecipate what comes next. Then, it becomes weirder, funny (intentional or not), with one lousy dialogue after another, and the image quality shot on video is simply dreadful. "Hell's Highway" is one of those flicks that cannot be taken seriously, and if you're in it for some good laughs you're about to be deeply rewarded, but also annoyed. There's no way that the girls in the car would accept Jacinda simply because the boyfriends thought she was hot - those girls should dump them right there for simply that opinion. There are other things to be complained but better not.

Why I was watching this? Pure boredom, perhaps, but mostly it was a curious view in seeing Jonathan Gray outside of softcore flicks, maybe see some different acting skills outside of hooking up with babes. Great looking dude and quite a good actor in those films. Here, he was wasted badly. Poor delivery of lines and cheesy acting (like basically everyone there), it's simply weird. But the script doesn't help anyone either. The scene where the fate of his brother is revealed was awfully written and his reaction was non existent. Where's the big cries, the big shouts, the huge "NOOOO". It became something else, it's unbelievable.

An embarassing experience but not a complete waste of time. It's destined for "special occasions" when you need to watch something bad, laughable and trashy. 4/10.

Two couples traveling through Death Valley to the California coast pick up a hitchhiker from hell (Phoebe Dollar). Havoc ensues. The infamous Ron Jeremy is featured in a glorified cameo.

"Hell's Highway" (2002) proves that an ultra-low budget doesn't mean a movie can't be entertaining. Yes, some of the gory parts are cheesy (while others are pretty impressive) and a miniature set is obvious, but both are serviceable (and somewhat charming) and keep the story flowing. Viewing the trailer, I thought this was going to be a horror comedy, but it's not; it's essentially a serious slasher with cheesy effects and campy elements, particularly Phoebe as the over-the-top nefarious hitchhiker. Jeff Leroy shows his genius in that "Hell's Highway" is adept spare-change filmmaking and genuinely amusing DESPITE the obvious cheapness of it all.

Without Phoebe in the key role, however, it wouldn't be half as effective as it is. She's not blow-your-mind beautiful or anything, but she has a unique look and there's something alluring about her demeanor, not to mention she has curves in all the right places. Beverly Lynne (Monique), with her conventional "hot blonde" look, can't hold a candle to her (she has an unnecessary softcore sex scene, for anyone who might be offended). Kiren David, as Sarah, is the third main female in the cast and is a convincing actress. Actually, all the main cast members take the material seriously and offer respectable performances.

The score/soundtrack didn't do much for me, unfortunately. This is a movie that needs a few quality rockin' numbers. The last act features a couple of creative twists in the story and shows that Leroy put some time into the script. But, as semi-enjoyable as this flick is, there are regrettably too many unnecessary nasty elements to give it a higher grade.

The film has little filler at a mere 70 minutes and looks like it was shot in Southern California.

GRADE: C+

If you enjoy a good cheesy movie I suggest you pick this one up. The sorry acting, the 5 cent effects, and Ron Jeremy. What more could you ask for in a good cheesy film? I would get it on DVD so you can get some real slow mo so that you can see just HOW cheap the effects really are!