It's been awhile but Laughing Vixen Lounge is back with Fear Fridays. Spring is here and as the weather starts to get warmer we remember summer is just around the corner. And what better adventure to go along with a bright sunny day than a road trip!!! All month long we will be featuring movies with a road trip setting. This week is a great example of how wrong a cross country trip can go. It also stars an actor we lost all too soon. While this may not have been Oscar worthy material it shows just what a joy Paul Walker was to watch on screen.
Every Friday at the Laughing Vixen Lounge Blog is Fear Friday. Fear Fridays are a celebration of all films spooky. Horror is a very broad genre and the Lounge loves it all. Each Friday you will find a review of a different film. These can range from Classic Horror (black and white and cheesy), Thrillers (suspense, jumps and a good mystery), outright Horror (chop chop, slash slash, die die) and anything else in between.
So pop some popcorn, kill the lights and enjoy tonight's selection. And please, share your comments on the film. Bad or good let me know what you thought of it. And now, my little ghouls and dolls, the Laughing Vixen Lounge Blog is proud to present this week's film.
Fear Friday - Joy Ride
Tagline - It started as a joke. Now the joke is on them.
How much fun can you have... when the joke is on you?
Don't play with strangers
Directed by John Dahl (Red Rock West and Rounders) and released on October 5, 2001 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (Rated R). Lewis (Paul Walker) is excited to head off on a road trip home from college so he can pick up Venna (Leelee Sobieski) to ride along with him. Unfortunately his brother Fuller (Steve Zahn), who needs to be bailed out of jail, comes along for the ride too. Bored, Fuller convinces Lewis to pull a prank on a trucker over their CB radio. Big mistake!
A road trip is always a great setting for a horror film and this is a fun example. There is so much unknown when you are traveling and so many chances to go the wrong way. The villain here is great even though you do not ever really see him. You just hear his voice over the CB radio. And what a voice it is! Truly creepy. I can never hear the words Candy Cane again without it sounding so wrong.
Yes, it is a bit silly and over the top but that just makes for a fun movie. If you have not seen it give it a try. Plus, the DVD copy I have has alternate endings included. One of which is completely different than what went into theaters. Very interesting.
Take a look at the original trailer.
Some trivia about the movie.
1. The speaking voice for 'Rusty Nail' was provided by Ted Levine, most famous for portraying 'Buffalo Bill' in The Silence of the Lambs.
2. Three different versions of the ending were shot.
3. Eric Stoltz and Eric Roberts auditioned for the role of "Rusty Nail".
4. As Lewis is looking at his map in the car, his finger follows the road from Red Rock past Green River and down SW. Director John Dahl's earlier motel based thriller was Red Rock West.
5. In one scene, a seemingly maniacal ICE truck pulls up to a gas station that the brothers have pulled up to. In Duel, a likewise maniacal truck pulls up to our hero (David Mann) and a small billboard for ICE is visible in the background.
6. During the course of the movie, watch the LED signal strength indicator lights on the brothers' CB radio. The first four indicator lights change colors in nearly every scene, including bright green, dark green, yellow, red, and crimson. This is obviously intentional and not a series of continuity errors.
7. Was renamed 'Road Kill' in the UK, since taking a 'Joy Ride' is not the pleasant journey it is in the states, rather the name for when youths steal cars and race each other or the cops and eventually total and dump the car.
8. The car they are driving is a 1971 Chrysler Newport.
9. Leelee Sobieski ended up filming two different romantic interludes, one with Steve Zahn and one with Paul Walker during the shooting and re-shooting of the film. Both scenes ended up getting cut.
10. Although Ted Levine provides Rusty Nail's voice, he actually wasn't brought in until post-production, and, physically, Rusty Nail is played by the hulking actor Matthew Kimbrough.
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