There's been many thrillers about trucks, desert roads and homicidal maniacs and you can't really make one without being compared to Duel or The Hitcher (or even the underrated Road Games, if anyone remembers that). Road Kill is a good try, but it doesn't really come close. The Rusty Nail character isn't very scary simply because he's designed to look and sound scary and that never work, despite scared face and weird voice. He's more boogeyman than he is Rutger Hauer, so to speak.

Instead this film belongs to the animated Steve Zahn (Out of Sight) who is outstanding. His pushing and highly amusing performance forces especially Paul Walker to be on his edge constantly. As the two spend most of their screen time together, often in their car, they have to really work together and they do that both brilliantly and believable. During the first half of the film one really gets the unsettling feeling of a foolish practical joke slowly turning into a nightmare beyond your control, almost as if you're in on it yourself. Then, somewhere in Nebraska after about 40-45 minutes, the film takes a pause (some making out at a motel room) and when it takes off again into the second half much of the thrill is gone. I don't know exactly what happened, but suddenly I'm not as interested anymore. Somehow what has been suspenseful, chilling and entertaining, although hardly original, turns into a predictable conventional stalk'n'slash with a typically explosive showdown. As I understand it, director Dahl apparently decided after original shooting that his last 29 minutes sucked and so he shot a brand new half hour ending, which is in the version seen at the cinema. This ending is probably more coherent plotwise but less interesting (it's all on the DVD, you can judge for yourself). Regardless, Road Kill is a reliable, brilliantly acted and well crafted thriller, but you probably won't see it more than once.

© The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.