Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead
Directed by Louis Morneau
Starring Nick Zano, Nick Aycox, Laura Jordan
Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 7, 2008

When I saw the first Joy Ride way back in 2001, I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the thriller was. The story, about three teenagers on a roadtrip who unknowningly play a trick on a homicidal truck driver was intense and held its own during a time when all Hollywood would make were “teenagers hunted by crazed killers.” Now, seven years later, someone has decided to make the direct-to-dvd sequel to the movie, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead.

This time, the film follows 4 beautiful young adults on their trip to Las Vegas. When their car breaks down in the middle of the road, they are forced to take a car from what appears to be an abandoned house. What they don’t realize is is that the house belongs to crazed truck driver Rusty nail and Rusty does not like it when people take things that are his.

While not as entertaining as the first one, Joy Ride 2 hits all the right notes for a horror film.

Despite is relatively unknown cast, I am actually surprised this movie did not spend anytime in theaters before it went to DVD. The direction was good and the overall film quality was first rate. Plus the actors are ridiculously good looking, the acting toes the line between decent and good, and the body count and gore is high. It seemed almost like a no-brainer to at least test the waters a theater release but chances are the budget was not sufficient for this title.

There are some minor issues that I had with the movie. While a worthy thriller, I was a little disappointed that the strayed slightly from the original movie premise. In the first film, Rusty Nail was more of a Big Brother, type of character, always watching over his victims. You never really got a good look at him and the audience would mostly see him in his truck. In this version, he is resembles the typical crazed killer you find in any horror movie, which is perfectly fine but I think the sequel lost some of its luster once it settled into that role.

Also, the film is a lot more gory than its predecessor and I would have liked it to have maintained its cerebral, suspense aspect the movie. It is easy to stab a metal rod through the back of the head of an unsuspecting victim for shock value but to successfully create suspense which leaves viewers on the edge of their seats is so much more satisfying and I wish the writers would have reached for that instead.

On a more personal issue with the film, in terms of the main characters, I wish horror movies would stop creating annoying characters just to be used as another person to kill off. One character in particular was just a complete jerk that by the end of the film, I didn’t care what happened to this person. I understand you want to rack up a certain number of bodies to mangle but it would benefit the script and the movie so much more if audience members like the characters. You want the audience to grow a fondess for the character and feel bad when they get killed. Otherwise, there is no emotional payoff.
Despite this, Joy Ride 2 was pretty good for a direct to DVD movie. It might not be as good as the original, but it holds it own against any other horror film that is made today (I’m looking a you SAW!). I would definitely recommend you catch this flick during Halloween, just for funsies. It is definitely a treat for anyone who is a fan of horror or suspense.