Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre horror Starring Nicki Aycox, Nick Zano, Laura Jordan, Kyle Schmid, Mark Gibbon Directed by Louis Morneau Publisher 20th Century Fox

My friends speak highly of the 2001 film Joy Ride.  I have never seen it, but I know firsthand that there are few things scarier than being chased by a semi-truck driver. Late one night, my friends and I were driving home from a concert when, for no apparent reason, an enormous semi started tailgating us. We sped up. He sped up. The car’s speed governor kicked in at 120 mph, and the trucker was still chasing us. We turned. He turned. Finally we got to an exit ramp. It was horrifying. My friends mentioned Joy Ride.  I imagine it must be a decent film. Horror movies based on terrifying events in real life – nothing supernatural – always seem scarier to me.

That being said, there’s nothing scary about a bad horror sequel, especially in the case of Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead. The film is about a group of young adults on their way to Vegas: engaged Bobby and Melissa (Nicki Aycox and Nick Zano), Melissa’s sister Kayla (Laura Jordan), and Nik (Kyle Schmid), an over-the-top goth-biker guy Melissa met on Myspace. The car they drive breaks down, and when they come across a seemingly abandoned home with a working car in the barn, they go ahead and take it. Doesn’t look like anybody’s been home forever. Unfortunately for them, the home belongs to “Rusty,” a semi-truck driver we already know takes pleasure in murdering (he decapitates a topless prostitute in the first scene of the movie). He comes home to find his house broken into, his car gone, and a cell phone number left by Melissa should someone actually live in the dump and want their car back. Needless to say, Rusty isn’t a happy camper, and takes it upon himself to teach the young whippersnappers a lesson.

The film plods along slowly, even after Bobby is abducted by Rusty – basically assuring Rusty that he can get the others to do whatever he wants out of fear for Bobby’s life. We don’t care about the characters five minutes into the movie, and we sure don’t care about the characters by the time the movie ends. It’s hard to when a movie is so poorly written. If there’s anything good to be said about the film, it’s that the creators did a masterful job at keeping the viewer glued to the seat: you just HAVE to hope and pray that Nik eventually dies. I can honestly say, in my opinion, that the character of Nik is one of if not THE stupidest character ever created for the cinematic format. He is so incredibly over the top as a jerk that I just felt that I couldn’t stop watching – I had to see this character die. So props to the creators of “Joy Ride 2” for finding a way to keep me watching the film. The villain, Rusty, isn’t a terrible villain. I actually think in a better film he would be quite effective. He’s smart enough to manipulate and trick the victims into doing basically anything he wants – or maybe the victims are just stupid enough to do anything Rusty tells them to, which seems to be a theme in modern horror movies.

Normally, I wouldn’t suggest watching a cheap horror movie like this. It’s far from horrifying, and what has to be the most expensive shot in the film is far from unrealistic (cars don’t vaporize when they get hit by semis). But I would suggest anyone who reads this see the film, just so they too can say (spoiler warning), “Yes! I too have seen the most annoying character in movie history! I too have seen him extinguished from the world forever! I too will never watch this film…ever again.”