Rest Stop

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Moviecut—Rest Stop

I just rented the DVD and I think this film is better than Saw, better than Hostel: I think that the people who trashed this film, didn't watch the start about PERSONAL DEMONS, or watch the three endings. It's up to the viewer to decide what part never happened. I am trying to avoid spoilers, but if I must have ten lines of comment, then I like Horror movies with Women lead players it makes the action part more real, not like Spider Guy, Bat Guy Super Guy or Top Gun Guy. I hope you watch the whole movie if you want to know what the film makers were trying to do.

While this wasn't a good movie, the ignorance of some of these comments is even worse. It's not that hard to figure out, kids, here's what happened... 1) The religious family killed "The Driver" 2) "The Driver" came back as a ghost and killed the religious family. 3) "The Driver" then killed people who came to the rest stop. 4) Some of those people (including the girl in the closet) came back as ghosts. 5) The religious family still exists as ghosts to preach their judgement of sinners. 6) When Nicole is killed, she came back as a ghost at the end.

OK let me start by saying I don't understand the low ratings on this site. This is for real one of the best movies I have seen in a while ( at least in the horror genre ). Yes couple teens go off road to a run down rest stop and and the fun begins ( predictable ). However much like final destination 1. This film was really good at creating that dread atmosphere. The film dances in between supernatural and every day psycho slasher movie ( like frailty ). The acting is top notch and production value for a horror movie is great also. I am writing this to let everyone know that if you enjoyed final Destination & Jeepers creepers 1 or frailty it is likely you will enjoy this movie. The over all score is just not reflective of this movie at all. Come on this has happened before look at the fan ( staring Deniro and Snipes ). I don't know who or why but sometimes I see this done to a movie that really does not deserve it and that is why I am speaking up. check this film out if you enjoyed any of the other films mentioned above and you will enjoy it I promise.

This is really a great genre film that has the best of both worlds in Horror: Slasher and Supernatural. I think it is because it was televised on sci-fi that people are giving it such a bad wrap, but the raw uncut version of this film is truly nothing short of a great horror film. Not a cookie cutter movie at all, I highly recommend this to genre lovers who like a good story and a decent mystery. It took me a few viewings to fully grasp all the angles and clues given and I think those are the best kinds of horror movies. The characters are solid and acting top notch. Jaime Alexander is sexy as always as the victim of a macabre supernatural horror fest. I, like another reviewer gave it 8 stars not because I think this movie is fully worthy of 8 stars, but much more worthy then the 1 star votes so many, I can only say sorry individuals left. This movie is far from a 1 and there is nothing left unanswered. There is not one plot whole if you take the time and pay attention. This isn't your loud explosion, kill a minute horror fare, but it has its share and some decent gore for the gorehounds. Most of all it has suspense which is lacking in a lot of today's Horror fares. There is some decent character development which is always welcome to me. I'm a little older so the explosion a minute thing is just not enough for me anymore. I am a die-hard Horror fan who loves a decent back story.This movie doesn't disappoint in that way either.

This film made me quite sad after I finally comprehended it. This story of a supernatural venus fly-trap could have been a excellent with a little tweaking to the script. My take on the story: A serial killer snagging people from the area around a rest stop is killed by a family of even-more-than-usually freakish Jesus freaks. The family, the killer, and all of the killer's victims are caused to haunt the area, drawing in anyone who passes by the area, especially if they stop at the rest stop. My overall view of the plot is taken only from elements presented in the actual film, but is supported by the "family album" by Scotty presented on the DVD. The killer DID kill the family, except for the father and Scotty, we simply aren't shown how the father manages to kill him. Here are my suggestions for plugging the holes in the story and making it a tad more cohesive: 1) Make the heroine appear to be less appallingly stupid by showing that she's caught in a loop and can't leave the area. The fact that she didn't simply start walking parallel to the road but far enough away not to be seen from it was a constant thorn in my side while watching. Having her try this, but always winding up back at the rest stop would have alleviated this. 2) Work the bit of film Scotty shot of his father burying the killer into the fabric of the film once it's been established that we're not dealing with just a whackjob and that we're in the middle of a supernatural event. More of the family in any case would have been great, should have given more screen time to them and less to rather silly things like the scene in which sweetcheeks the heroine whiles away her time in the ranger's shack... 3) Rethink the role fire plays in the story. A puddle of gasoline on a cement floor do not cause a building constructed of cement to explode. Covering the hood of a truck with burning gasoline does not cause the truck to explode. Sure, these are minor points I suppose, especially in an industry where vehicles explode at the slightest provocation... Handled differently, this movie might have been a great little ghost story. Sadly, it was not. All the elements were there, they just never came together.

*minor spoilage* It's sad to see the current state of horror movies...so many of them are unimaginitive, formulaic scribbles built around graphic images of people being cruelly tortured to death. Once upon a time, films like BLOOD FEAST and BLOODSUCKING FREAKS were at least groundbreaking and shocking, but today this stuff is all just business as usual(a troubling thought, really, but save that rant for another time). Enter REST STOP...an ambitious indie movie in the above-mentioned category, though not an especially GOOD one, wherein a young runaway and her lover meet their grisly fate at a filthy roadside toilet. Along the way, we are introduced to characters who appear and disappear mysteriously, lending this film a presumably supernatural slant(the only element which distinguishes it slightly from most other titles of its particular feather) Amidst the ho-hummery of "fight for your life" action, be ready for an atrocity exhibition of tongue-cutting, flesh-drilling, bone-crunching torture...graphic scenes served up as "highlights" in films of this type. Admittedly, they are fairly potent. Sadly, REST STOP succeeds only in the gross-out department(though the performance of the leading lady, while strained at points, is distressingly believable despite her character being poorly written) The worst part of it all is the vague, frustratingly non-resolute finale, and any bit of intrigue this film manages to generate becomes nullified by it. I generally have no problem with oblique endings in movies, but when so many key queries are met head-on with a shrug, the overall feeling one gets is that there was never a solidly devised basis to build upon in the first place. A mean-spirited amateur undertaking at best, recommended only to preponderant gorehounds who toss off with back-issues of FANGORIA. 3.5/10

Rest Stop hits home for me. I've made many trips through the country and used rest stops frequently, even sleeping in them. Always felt a little creepy when everyone else left and you're the only one there. This film was about a young couple traveling from Texas to California who take a wrong turn (of course) and are attacked by a weirdo driving a pickup. They go to a small remote rest stop so the girl can pee and the boyfriend along with the car disappear leaving the girl to fend for herself. As the story progresses you learn that the pickup driver is a killer that taunts and tortures people for fun. It moves along at a pretty good pace and there's lots of suspense as the lone girl tries to outwit the killer. Some of the clues are just too convenient and it leaves you wondering of it is all some kind of surreal dream or flashback. There are some ghosts and other strange characters that show up, but the film is relatively well made.

If you just want gore, and nothing but gore and torture, you've come to the right movie. If you want a at least a sliver of good acting, logic, story, consistencies, or even a good guy ending, go elsewhere. I couldn't help but to think to myself, "Jeeeez, are those people mentally challenged?" Example, after being chased around and seeing other people mutilated, the main actress meets a police officer and spills out her story to the cop with tears and everything and told him about the psychopath that drives in a yellow truck. THe yellow truck pulls up and the officer just walks to it, talks to the guy and the truck drives off without any trouble. The actress comes out and says why didn't you arrest him? And then the truck runs over the police officer... after being rammed the truck stops on the road about 20 feet way just standing there while the actress tries to drag the cop away but he's too heavy. (At the time) At that time the truck backs up and runs over the cops leg twice. The truck then drives off. Why didn't the actress get the gun is beyond me. (WHich later she shoots the cop in the head twice because the psychopath was about to burn him alive) Once through the mouth, which didn't kill him (Duuuumb) and twice to finish the job. *Roll eyes* Right after that, she turns away to escape the bathroom which was going to explode and when she climbs near the roof, she turns around and the cop isn't there anymore... OK... Another example, The main actress meets a trapped woman in the bathroom, she spits out like a gallon of blood on the floor, covering about 1/3s of the room. (Probably more) After the main actress goes outside to grab a towel, she comes back in and everything is gone. :/ They don't explain why everyone keeps disappearing either. Dumb dumb dumb. I like horror/thriller/gore movies, but this one was just way too dumb. I lost brain cells watching this dribble and you shouldn't too.