Joy Ride 2 Dead Ahead DVD review

Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead was one of those itches I just had to scratch. I was a big fan of the original J.J. Abrams’ produced thriller, and wanted to see if they would retain some of the carefully-crafted, open-road chills of the original. What the new film lacks in story depth, it more than makes up for in chills and sheer horror. In fact, Joy Ride 2 brings an even blood-thirstier Rusty Nail to the screen.

In part one, you knew right away that Rusty was a psychopath – but he was a psycho with a purpose. He was the ultimate “bumped into the wrong guy” scenario played on America’s highways. The chase was where much of the thrills commenced. In Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead, filmmakers were hell-bent on making this game of cat and mouse, a true test of wills, fight for survival and ultimately torture.

Although Rusty Nail was again provoked – this time by four young people whose car breaks down near his home, and steal his, in order to get back back to civilization – you know that he is definitely looking for fresh meat to “play” with.

Joy Ride 2 stars newcomers Nicki Aycox, Nick Zano, Kyle Schmid, Rebecca Davis, Kathryn Kirkpatrick and Daniel Boileau, and was directed by Louis Morneau (Made Men, Bats).

The film is truly for fans of the genre, and will probably be even more satisfying to those who didn’t appreciate the subtlety of part one. Joy Ride 2 was released on DVD on October 7th 2008, and is currently available in the Film Fetish Store.