Blood on the Highway (2008)

Fresh and Exciting

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Foul-mouthed spitfire Carrie (a winningly sassy and zesty performance by the insanely foxy Robin Gierhart), her hopelessly meek dork boyfriend Sam (amiable Nate Rubin), and Sam's surly bad boy buddy Bone (a nicely swaggering portrayal by Deva George) are all en route to a rock concert. During their road trip the trio get lost and find themselves stuck in a remote podunk town populated by ferocious, but slow-witted hick vampires. Directors Blair Rowan and Barak Epstein, working from a gloriously rude'n'crude script by Rowan and Chris Gardner, do a bang-up job with the infectiously loopy material: The hilariously profane dialogue, colorfully broad redneck characters, the blithely inane jokes, and the teeming surplus of wild over-the-top gore all add up to one immensely entertaining and often sidesplitting romp. Moreover, it's acted with tremendous zeal by an enthusiastic cast: Tony Medlin as wacko survivalist Byron, Laura Stone as bawdy and aggressively lascivious whitetrash slut Lynette, Chris Gardner as smarmy and spineless jerk Roy, Richard L. Olsen as flaky hillbilly Old Zeke, and Nicholas Brendon as chipper vampire yuppie opportunist Chase Sinclair. Tom Towles (Otis in "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer") has a cool and funny small part as smooth bloodsucker lawyer Loius Debois. Both Clay Liford's sharp cinematography and the lively score by Paul Nichols are up to speed. An absolute hoot.

On their way to Mr. Fire (an obvious take on Burning Man), three twentysomethings get lost after the neurotic wimp of the group, Sam, gets carsick all over their map. After taking a detour given to them by a roadside hillbilly, Sam, his gold-digging girlfriend Carrie, and best friend Bone, run low and gas and stop at a small gas station. Disaster strikes when Sam gets attacked by one of the gas station attendants, who happens to be a bloodthirsty vampire . . . along with the rest of the town! Luckily for our wayward tourists, the vampire townies are complete morons and there are still some survivors left willing to help them through the crisis. . . even if the other survivors are just as dim as the bloodsuckers.Horror-comedy is a very hit-or-miss subgenre. . . but, it's mainly miss. The subgenre thrives in the low-budget/independent sector of cinema, mainly because schlock humour is cheaper and easier than quality production elements. Because of the sheer stupidity that comes along with the cheap humour and low-budget horror-comedies, the vast majority of the attempts are very, very bad.'Blood on the Highway' took this risk and went for the comedy-horror blend on a low budget. For the rare time, though, it actually paid off. Sure, it's not the next 'Dead-Alive' or 'Evil Dead II,' but it is a surprisingly funny, original, and blood-soaked vampire romp through a Texan hicktown. For what was clearly a fairly low budget, the technical aspects of the film are actually not too shabby. The comedic writing is actually pretty laugh-worthy and definitely evoked some giggles, even if it is just a bunch of vulgarity delivered by some pretty bad actors. The overall look of the film is also pretty good with some pretty awesome and over-the-top gore effects, complete with flying limbs and too-red blood. Even the CGI wasn't overly distracting, but that's mainly because it was only used in small quantities. Another small feature of the film that will be a treat for horrorhounds is the casting of Nicholas Brendon (Xander from 'Buffy') and horror legend Tom Towles, most famous for his role of Otis in 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.'Overall, 'Blood on the Highway' isn't going to go down as a classic among other gore comedies; but, with enough exposure, this splatter comedy does stand a chance to be a future cult classic.Final Verdict: 7/10-AP3-

I saw this movie at AFI Dallas last year. I laughed my ass off. The writing was fantastic. If you like B movie horror and fast paced comedy you will love this movie. The scene where the vampire clerk (Barak Epstein)who is at first mistaken for an average pot head attacks Nate Rubin's character and gets stuck; has to be one of the most original and funny things I have ever scene. I liked it so much I sought out it's director to buy an advance copy. I have watched it at least a dozen times since. Blood On the Highway is a non stop laugh aroma. Do not watch it while drinking milk unless you like to shoot it through your nose.

Just saw this one off cable PPV. Another one of those cheesy horror movies I assumed. This one was priceless! I would have to watch this movie more than once to get all the jokes. The dialog was absolutely hilarious and you have to listen carefully to hear it all. It starts really going once they get to "Housechusetts" or whatever it is. The sex-related jokes had me almost in tears.Oh yeah, also loved the "town meeting" of vampires. And the "veiled" Wal-Mart commentary.The actors did a great job and probably took a lot of showers during the making of this movie. But the WRITING was what made this film really shine. I will watch for more from these people, they are going to make it big in Hollywood some day. They certainly deserve it.