[Joyride 2:Dead Ahead]
Plot:Four young adults - Melissa, Bobby, Kayla, and Nik - en route to a concert in Las Vegas, take a lethal side trip -- when suddenly...their beater of a car breaks down. Now in need of a new ride, they eventually do find one, only they make the fatal error of stealing a car which belongs to the depraved, homicidal, sadistic, maniacal, sociopathic trucker Rusty Nail...the cold, calculating killer who plays vicious and cruel games with his victims, often pursuing them in his ominous, black 18-wheeler truck. After one of their friends is kidnapped by the murderous trucker, the remaining travelers are forced into Rusty's violent realm to play his sinister cat-and-mouse games in an attempt to rescue their friend and stop the killer before it is too late.

Cast:Nicki Lynn Aycox, Nick Zano, Laura Jordan, Kyle Schmid, Mark Gibbon.

My Thoughts:A worthy sequel.

Review:So here we were in 2008, and finally the powers that be have decided to trot out a sequel to the 2001 horror/thriller "Joyride". The first film starred Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, and Leelee Sobiesky as three young people who run afoul of a hyper-sensitive trucker named Rusty Nail, who after a seemingly harmless prank, decides to teach the "youngins" a lesson in respecting their elders. The sequel pretty much returns the same sequence of events, Rusty Nail is still hyper-sensitive and angry...and he's once again been rubbed the wrong way by some less than senseless young people. Only in the case of part 2, "Dead Ahead"...you can actually see things from Rusty's point of view.

In part one, you really sort of felt sorry for Lewis and Fuller, and especially Venna, who really didn't ask to be dragged into the whole bad situation...but along with her friend Charlotte...was anyways. In part two, all pity, or semblence of empathy for these kids...pretty much vanishes once their car breaks down, and they then decide to steal Rusty Nail's car. Oh...this after they smash the window of his house, and break his door as well. Of course being that these are horror film kids, they don't think that ole Rusty will mind too much that they busted up his place, and ripped off his ride.

But Melissa (Aycox), being the sweet one of the group, decides to leave her phone number at Rusty's place, ya know -- so he can reach them and they can go over how much it's gonna cost to replace that window, the door...and the fact that they plan on returning his car. Now in typical Rusty Nail fashion, he gives the whole idea a big "fuck you", and so he tails the kids, who were on their way to Vegas for a concert...to a local diner. Where he snatches Melissa's fiancee Bobby (Zano), and then phones Melissa to let her know he has him. At that point...the chase is on, and things begin to unfold as they did in part one...where Rusty forces the kids to play games and meet goals in order to save their friend.

The interesting thing about "Joyride 2" though are the characters. It really shows here that the people behind the movie took great care to make sure this wasn't just some bullshit cash-in sequel with one dimensional characters who just wanna screw and smoke dope. Bringing in up and comer Nick Zano, and blossoming scream queen Nicki Lynn Aycox were both good casting choices from my point of view, as they both give great performances...and make the supporting cast around them better as well. Also the characters have an intriguing dynamic between the four of them.

Aycoxes character Melissa is sister to Jordan's character Kayla. Nik meanwhile is Kayla's friend/soon-to-be-boyfriend who she met on Myspace. Nik, being the emo/goth type...though not overdone with the look, doesn't exactly get along with Bobby who's more of the clean-cut jock type. And Melissa is a bit wary of her sister bringing along a guy who she met online. So this dynamic is toyed around with for as long as it possibly can be, before Rusty Nail enters the picture and snatches Mel's man.

The games this time around also differ from the ones in "Joyride". Whereas Fuller and Lewis were never really forced to play until Rusty Nail snatched Charlotte late in the game, in this film...Rusty grabs Bobby early on, and really turns up the heat on these kids more and more as the movie progresses. The tasks he has for them to complete, are also alot deadlier this time around, and include retrieving a severed finger among many other things. Per usual, the kids try and cheat Rusty on one of his requests...and that of course is always a bad idea.

And it's also when Rusty starts to take things personally, which doesn't bode well for this particular group of young people. I'd say Rusty nail is alot more vicious in part two, than he was in part one. He actually commits a few straight-forward murders in this film, instead of rigging things to kill his victims..i.e. shotgun-door in part one. One of the deaths he engages in is a pretty heart-breaking one and really captures a moment in the film where the tone and overall mood changes drastically. There's also a nod to a victim from the first film, Ronald Ellinghouse aka the guy who shoves fuller at the hotel in part one.

This homage is carried out via the death of one poor nameless SOB who tries to rescue Bobby from Rusty's truck, only to get brutalied for his efforts. That death is a nod to Ronald's death from the first film, and is seemingly becoming a staple in this particular series for Rusty's method of murder. The final act of the movie delivers a ton of excitement and suspense...only matched by pretty much everything that comes before it in the picture.

Yep, "Joyride 2" has very little down time...and you should be kept on the edge of your seat for the duration of the 90 minute ride. It's that intense of a movie. One big issue with "Joyride:Dead Ahead" though is the ending, the final scene...which by all laws of reality and what occurs just moments before...is made to seem extremely impossible and implausible. But, then again weirder things have happened. "Joyride 2" is a very worthy sequel, which should entertain fans of the first film, and the casual horror film fan who is just looking for a good 90 minute thrill ride and has or hasn't seen the first movie. I'd definitely recommend checking it out on DVD.

Positives:Good performances, strong story, lots of suspense and intense moments, a more vicious Rusty Nail, and a strong third act.

Negatives:The final scene like I said, just doesn't seem plausible based on previous events.

Overall:Three and a half stars.





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