Search - Rest Stop (R-Rated Edition) on DVD

Fast-Forward Time

Wraith68 | 01/12/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I like horror, no, I love horror. My vast collection is comprised of 98% horror, a good deal of them are low budget schlockfests. Old films, films with no budget, etc. They have an excuse for being bad, and thus, are "so bad theyre good".



This film has no excuse whatsoever for being as bad as it is, except for an idiotic script and director. This film had the money, the technology, the time, and the eye-candy to be good. It's a simple premise for a film, nigh impossible to screw up. "Rest Stop" is one big screw up.



It's expected that when a movie begins with a road trip, there will be an almost mandatory music video montage. Acoustic guitar will play, scenes of the happy travelers cruising along in their car past farms, cities, etc. will play out. They will fumble with the radio and make silly faces, smoke dope, laugh etc. The director chose to up that count a bit, and as a result several times in this film the viewer is sitting around watching what is effect a meaningless music video.



The girl picks up a bottle of whisky and starts pugging away, and thus begins the next full-song, music video showcase. Shots of her swigging, crying, throwing things, etc, to the sound of the music.



Fast-Forward time, several times this happens.



Long, drawn out sequences of characters crying, sappy music blaring, for what seems like an eternity. Everything in this movie is drawn out far longer than it needs to be, hence the title of my review. I ended up just fast-forwarding 5 minutes of what needed to be a one or two minute scene. We get it, the character is sad, they are crying. Move on.



Fast-Forward



Now horror movie protagonists are not known for their intelligence, we all know this, but when the viewer is absolutely flogged with idiocy it's very hard to play dumb ourselves.



- near-dead policeman lays at your feet, victim of the killer. The killer is ambling around like a drunken fool before you. Do you grab the policeman's gun? Do you perhaps grab the policemans radio? Not this idiot.



- The killer's vehicle is before you, empty with keys inside. Do you jump in and flee? Not this idiot.



- You have a deranged lunatic on your trail. You find a bottle of whiskey. Do you get so plowed that you finally pass out? This idiot chose to do so.



Im sorry, there's just no excuse for the sheer stupidity of the central character of this film, other than a reason to draw the film out. Like the aforementioned 5+ minute long scenes of crying and shaking her fists at the sky, the entire movie itself should have been boiled down, cut in half. The lead character is a stupid, whiny poltroon that had no right to survive the ordeal as long as she did. The killer, an incompetent moron.



And the stupid, almost randomly inserted "wacky backwoods family" was an utterly lame attempt to portray something like a Texas Chainsaw type backwoods brood. Unfortunately, they have none of the realistic panache that makes the aforementioned hicks from hell so memorable. There's some ok gore, but I can say without a doubt that it isnt worth sitting thru the rest of this absolutely tedious film. Thank God I only rented it

"

Just plain bad

N. Durham | Philadelphia, PA | 11/17/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I didn't expect much out of Rest Stop, and I was right to. Not only does Rest Stop follow many of the cliche slasher formulas, it features one of the dumbest heroines to ever grace a direct to DVD horror movie, who for some reason seems to keep running back to the place where all the terror started. Said girl makes the mistake of using an ungodly dirty rest stop to do her business, and then gets chased by an insane trucker who apparently has some sort of supernatural powers. Later on, she hitches a ride with a family that has a mutant baby. And just when you think the unintentional comedy stops there, Joey Lawrence (don't give me Joseph Lawrence, your forever known as Joey, deal with it or dance away) stops by as an ill-fated park ranger. There's a heaping amount of decent gore effects, but the sheer stupidity of the characters just makes you scratch your head and wonder. Had Rest Stop not taken itself so seriously and had instead gone the horror/tongue-in-cheek route (a la Slither), maybe this wouldn't have been so bad. But alas, this is best to be avoided, or maybe seen so that you can have a good laugh."

BADDDDDD

D. Bulow | Indiana | 10/21/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"absolutely TERRIBLE!!!!! this movie is retarted even by horror movie standards... the scene with the police officer (lol) speaks to my truth (why wouldnt he have even REACHED for his gun?)..... totally illogical... stay away stay away... bad unless you want a good laugh..but still not worth the watch"

Tinkle Tantrums

Henry Erlenwein | New York | 10/18/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"They say the Direct-to-DVD movie is coming of age. Where it once was a dumping ground for low budget losers and deceiving imitations it has supposedly achieved a more resonant form of quality. That's what they say.

John Shiban cut his entree into film as writer-producer of the X Files. You may remember his newborn son cast as baby William in a few episodes.

In Rest Stop Mr. Shiban has an unflinching desire to continuously display the atrocities in a filthy and disgustingly dirty ladies room. The fact that the lady in question prefers this to a short jaunt in the woods is ridiculous. No woman would be caught dead or even think of entering this place. Enough already.

This is a sick slasher sort of film that portrays brutality and violence but retrieves nothing for the viewer. The one star is for Jaimie Alexander who is obviously a fine actress trying to work her craft in a poor production.

This is pure junk. The three alternate endings are junk.

Mr. Shiban should return to his roots and try again."