Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Try saying that five times fast...
Hi Moriarty,
Here's my short JOY RIDE review, which hopefully gets people interested in that movie, because it's really worth seeing it. It would be nice if you could also post the link to our own little movie website www.cinemaniacs.de in which we invest a lot of our private time. There will also be a full-length German review later this evening on that site. And you can call me ThomasB if you want to. Now enjoy the review.
Last night I had the opportunity to see the Horror Thriller JOY RIDE in a sneak preview. When the title appeared on the screen, I didn't know what to expect, because I had no idea what the movie would be about. I remembered, that I heard the title once, but wasn't interested enough to get more information about it. Actually that was the best that could have happened to me, because the movie makes a lot more fun, when you don't know any of the twists. Therefore you should avoid to watch the trailer. I downloaded it when I returned from the movie theater last night and I have to say that it gives too much away.
The movie starts with a telephone conversation between longtime friends Lewis (Paul Walker) and Venna (Leelee Sobieski) in which he spontaneously decides to visit her. On the way he picks up his older brother Fuller (Steve Zahn), a trouble-maker who has just been released from prison (again). During a driving break, Fuller has the brilliant idea to get a CB radio installed to have some fun with other drivers. Soon they make contact with a truck driver and decide to play a trick on him. But when the whole thing doesn't turn out as planed, they have to realize that the strange trucker is a psychopath who is not in the mood for childish games or stupid jokes. I guess that's all you need to know about the plot.
With JOY RIDE John Dahl made a real edge of your seat thriller that is going to surprise you more than once during its short runtime. It seems very difficult to write a fresh and exciting horror script these days, so it's very comforting to see that it is stll possible. Although it reminded me a bit of Steven Spielberg's DUEL this movie was full of original ideas and also very well directed. Walker, Zahn and Sobieski did an excellent job in being realistic characters that act like one would do in such an extreme situation. According to the imdb there are three different endings to this movie. Hopefully the one I've seen yesterday is the one they use for the final release because it was just perfect.
In comparison to THE HOLE and JEEPERS CREEPERS, two other excellent horror thrillers I've seen during the last weeks, I recommend JOY RIDE the most. Go see it as soon as you've got the chance.
Bye
ThomasB
