Wednesday, February 24, 2010

It's a hell of a trip down 'Route 666'

Route 666 (2001)
Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Lori Petty, Steven Williams, Dale Midkiff, and L.Q. Jones
Director: William Wesley
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

While escorting an unwilling witness (Williams) to a mob trail, a fractious group of Federal Marshals discover that mob hit men and corrupt small-town cops are the least of their worries. While traveling along an isolated stretch of highway, the find themselves in a life-and-death struggle against the restless spirits of the chain gang that died while building it.


"Route 666" is one of those horror films that's good for a bit of scary fun, so long as you don't think too hard about it. It's one of those movies that would come to screeching halt if the characters behaved intelligently, or even close to the level of professionalism that real US Marshals would exhibit. However, the actions of the characters are SO stupid that and the ludicrous behavior of the cops is so far fetched (two decide to make out in the armored car that's supposed to be carrying their witness, two others decide to beat the crap out of each other in the nearby hills, while their witness is handcuffed to a convertible where he is nearly killed by the ghosts and a mob hit man that's been trailing them) that viewers will be too busy snickering to notice the gaping holes in the plot. It truly is one of those movies that's so bad it's good.

The movie also has the presence of Lori Petty going for it. She's an actress that I've always found appealing, and she tends to elevate everything she appears in. (She has a sort of unconventional tomboyish sort of beauty, and I can sit through just about anything that she has a major part in.) And then there's the quartet of ghosts who assume solid form by becoming creations of asphalt. They are very creepy, very violent killing machines. Oh, and star Lou Diamond Phillips does his usual excellent job at playing Lou Diamond Phillips.



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