Rest Stop: Don't Look Back

I wasn't particularly impressed with the 2006 movie "Rest Stop", after having sat down not too long ago to watch it, so I was in no particular hurry to watch the 2008 movie "Rest Stop: Don't Look Back". But I mustered up and sat down to get it over with, you know, like yanking off a bandage from a deep wound.

The storyline in "Rest Stop: Don't Look Back", as written by John Shiban, was a fine mess of a scrambled heap of an inconsistent one if there ever was one. The narrative made little sense, and there were plot holes so big that I am sure the city depart of roads were ready to roll out and cover them up. I especially enjoyed how the brother named Jesse could just manage to disappear from a moving vehicle at a blink of an eye, but even more impressive was the fact that his brother didn't even go looking for him. I could go on with the lazy writing and plot holes here, but it is so bad that you have to watch it yourself to take it all in.

Was it the same actors and actresses from the 2006 movie? I don't know. Nor do I really care. Because both movies were subpar entertainment. But at least I can check them off of my watched-movies-list.

Visually, then "Rest Stop: Don't Look Back" has a little bit of gore and visceral mayhem, but nowhere enough to make up for all the shortcomings of the movie.

This is by no means a movie that will ever grace my screen a second time. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend horror fans to waste their time, money or effort on. But hey, having a sequel as bad as the predecessor must count for something, huh?

My rating of director Shawn Papazian's 2008 movie "Rest Stop: Don't Look Back" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

This follow up for the original "Rest Stop" is fast paced, entertaining, humorous (Jared taking a crap and being ambushed by a truck by later getting a crap shower! in the likes of "Slumdog Millonaire" or the having sex with a ghost scene), and gory at some points.

The plot twist that worked in the original tries to repeat the success in this sequel but it didn't make an impact at all.

The whole explanation towards the legend of death is pretty interesting and gruesome if you take in account the opening murder. The creepy twins, the midget, the sexual sadistic mother, and the preacher; now that's material for a b-direct to video sequel. The gore is just good and it's all about eye gouging and stabbings. The acting is just regular by the standards of these kind of movies.

The lead actress is pure hotness! Most of the characters are likable, heck even Jared. I liked how it kept connected with the events of the original.The "ends here" line was pure gold and gave a darker tone to the movie.

Watch it if you're fan of direct to video horror. It has the "b" feeling all over it.

The ending left me wondering "what the hell?!". And I'm sure a sequel is on it's way. But for the better it should "ends here".

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.

The plot: Searching for his missing brother, a soldier runs into the killer ghost from Rest Stop, with predictable results for him and his friends.

Rest Stop 2 follows many of the conventions of the first movie, but manages to excise some of the pointless filler, replacing it with extended scenes of gory torture. Also, the origin of the ghostly killer is revealed, along with his connection to the creepy religious family. If you were dying to know these things, then I can understand why you'd want to see Rest Stop 2, but there really isn't much reason to subject yourself to this movie, when you can just read the synopsis on Wikipedia or the IMDb.

One of the saving graces of the original Rest Stop was its atmosphere and judicial use of gore. Unfortunately, the parts without gore tended to be a bit boring. In Rest Stop 2, the gore is pretty much its sole reason for being. As a result, I would recommend this movie only to fans of Rest Stop, gorehounds, and torture porn enthusiasts. Most other people will probably be either bored stupid or too grossed out. It's no masterpiece, but the gore effects are pretty good, for a low budget, direct-to-video sequel. Honestly, I'm a bit tired of horror movies that are nothing but young adults being tortured to death slowly, but I've seen worse ones than this. Some of the scenes were twisted enough to be memorable, but the movie itself really isn't.

The corporal Tom Hilts (Richard Tillman) returns from overseas to his hometown Argyle, Texas, for a ten days leave with the intention to seek our his brother Jess (Joey Mendicino), who disappeared one year ago while heading to California with his girl-friend Nicole (Julie Mond). He drives his truck with his girlfriend Marilyn (Jessie Ward) and followed by his friend Jared (Graham Norris) in his old car to California trying to track his brother. While in the old highway California, Jared needs to stop his car in an old rest stop to go to the toilet and is attacked by the driver of a yellow truck. Meanwhile Tom and Marilyn wait for him in the next rest stop where Tom is also attacked and kidnapped by the driver of the yellow truck. Marilyn sees the ghost of Nicole in the restroom and realizes that they are facing supernatural evil forces.

"Rest Room" had a good premise but the writer did not know how to end the story. However "Rest Stop: Don't Look Back" is a disappointing mess, with a non-likable lead characters – Tom, Jared and Marilyn – and an invincible sadistic ghost. The greatest "attraction" of this flick is the sick tortures inflicted by the driver to his victims, removing eyes and drilling knees and legs, with lots of gore and pain. But the plot itself is very weak and worse than in the original movie. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Rota Mortal: Não Olhe Para Trás" ("Mortal Route: Don't Look Back")