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HIGHWAY TO HELL (1990) Visual Vengeance collector's Edition Blu-ray
Label: Visual Vengeance
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 79 Minutes 23 Seconds
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080i HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Director: Bret McCormick
Cast: Benton Jennings, Richard Harrison, Blue Thompson
Bret McCormick is a prolific low-budget/no-budget Texas filmmaker, a director who Visual Vengeance have previously enshrined with Collector's Edition Blu-rays of the shlocky sci-fi Repligator (1988) and the super 8mm gory creature-horror The Abomination (1986), and they've unearthed another one of his rarities, Highway To Hell (1990), a shot-on-video thriller that is not creature feature no sci-fi, this is a "reality" based thriller about a psychotic killer named Toby Gilmore (Benton Jennings, Reanimator Academy) who murders a guard and escapes from prison where he was serving a life-sentence. Now desperate and with nothing to lose he embarks on a murderous road trip, leaving a path of carnage in his wake, shooting a little old lady, killing a guy for his truck, running down a child Death Race 2000 style, before carjacking photographer Fran Tucker (Blue Thompson, The Abomination), a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time, who is just trying to get home to visit her family for the weekend after a breakup with her boyfriend. It's after witnessing Toby run a guy off the road that she tries to be a good Samaritan and get the license plate number to report it to the cops, and for her troubles she ends up getting carjacked. Ninja Terminator's Richard Harrison from Ninja Terminator also pops-up in this one as Det. Earl Dent, who is determined to stop the cold-blooded killer, who killed his daughter years earlier, after failing to execute him when he had the chance.
The flick is a barebones no-budget thriller, basically a 2-person road trip from hell, it has a decent body count and some low-budget action and violence, with some nods to stuff like The Hitcher, including shooting down a helicopter with a handgun from the can of a speeding pickup truck. The kills aren't anything to write home about, we get Toby running a machete through someone, that's about the most visceral, and it's not even bloody. Benton Jennings is a hoot as the maniacal mass murderer on the run, over-the-top, always cackling and shouting for people to shut up, and he has a real vendetta for road signs he always shooting at road signs!
Shot in rural Texas this regional, low-budget SOV thriller is fast-paced, has some nice sunbaked visuals, and a surprisingly solid score, full of eerie discordance and some solid moody guitar pieces by Greg Synodis (Reanimator Academy), who's later career included directing the music videos for Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" and "Play That Funky Music", it's a wild world I tell ya.
The stripped down no-budget nature and the fact that it was shot-on-video might make this road trip thriller a hard no for the general audiences, but if you're fan of low-budget regional filmmaking oddities like Nail Gun Massacre and Blood Cult there's plenty to enjoy about it. Yeah, it's rough and imperfect in so many ways, but I just love the can-do spirit of director Bret McCormick, a man who could rub two dollar bills together and somehow crank out an entertaining and watchable bit of exploitation is something to be admired, if not exactly loved.
Audio/Video: Highway To Hell (1990) gets a region-free Blu-ray from Visual Vengeance, sourced from a SD master from original tape elements, framed in 1.33:1 widescreen. Being sourced from a tape master you know you're gonna get what you get, a soft and dupey looking VHS with soft, fluctuating colors, milky blacks, poor contrast... yeah, it looks like trash, but that's par for the course with these shot-on video cheapies, I'm just ecstatic that they survive to be seen another day! Audio comes by way of English Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles. The track is narrow range wise, there's some background noise audible, the sounds of violence are harsh, especially in the upper registers,
This release features an Audio Commentary with director Bret McCormick, who also shows up in the 6-min Director Bret McCormick Interview who talks of how he had thought the original tape elements had been lost when distributor Allied Film & Video closed, and how the original writer ended up having a pristine VHS, from which this release is sourced. He gets into how this was his fourth feature film, and the first to be profitable after selling the foreign home video rights for $20k and then making it for $10K. He also discusses working with a real actor via Richard Harrison, shooting with him for three days, the fast-paced script, the non-professional cast and crew.
The funniest extra for me was the Eugenio Ercolani produced Red Hot Asphalt: Actor Richard Harrison Interview, it runs one minute and twenty-three seconds, with Harrison appearing on camera for a few scant seconds to say what a mess it was, and that it was cheap and horrible- the end, roll credits! I'm just amazed there is an on-camera interview with him where he discussed it,
The 13-min The Road Trip: Actress Blue Thompson Interview features the actress, who is still a cutie offering a synopsis of film, getting into her scenes with Ben Jennings, doing some stunt-driving, and the shooting process> She also notes the difference between experiences on this film versus Ozone and Abomination, how this one has no zombies, sentient tumors or mutants, shooting on 16mm, the larger crew, and how she did not really interact with Richard Harrison much while making it. She describes most of the cast as friends, locals, or co-workers, memories of working with Ben Johnson who she says helped her be a better actor, and the experience of having to cry on camera, and her own lingering questions about the story, and final thoughts.
If you want more of Thompson, fear not, she shows again in the 4-min Blue Thompson Answers Tough Questions - featuring her hanging out in her well-armed she-shed, she talks more about working with Benton Jennings ("What a ham!"), mentioning Richard Harrison (Ninja Terminator) whose character did very little, and her characters evolution from damsel to tough girl.
Next is the 8-min Writing A Road Map to Hell: Screenwriter Gary Kennamer Interview who talks about working at Allied Film & Video with director Brett McCormick, bonding over Texas regional filmmakers, and deciding to make a film together, and wanting to write a 2-persin script, as well as getting established actor Richard Harrison in the film.
Actor Tom Fegan Interview features the actor discussing how he ended up being cast in the film as the prison guard who is strangled in the opening scene, meeting and chatting with Richard Harrison, and offering the hot take that this film is superior to Jean Luc Goddard's Breathless - that is bold statement! He also touches on the other films he worked on for director Brett McCormick; including Macon County War, ReAnimator Academy, Christmas Craft Fair Massacre
There is also brief 38-sec Image Gallery featuring art, press materials, stills, and VHS artwork.
I love it when Visual Vengeance offer up bonus films, and we get one here with Bonus Movie: Redneck County Fever (1992), a 62-min SOV directed by Gary Kennamer, the writer of Highway To Hell. I didn't love it, but her, I can't love every piece of trash that comes my way, best summed up as a Bill & Ted-esque slice of rednecksploitation. We even get a Redneck County Fever Audio Commentary track with Bret McCormick and Gary Kennamer, plus the 7-min Redneck County Fever – Bret McCormick Interview in which McCormick gets into making it after Macon County War for Fred Olen Ray, then making ReAnimator Academy for David DeCoteau, and how Gary Kennamer started off directing the film, however a few days into it Kennamer's dad had a heart attack, and how Connie Spear and Gary Markham (Through the Fire) ended up coming in finishing and editing the film. He notes how the the comic tone of it helps the SOV films, and how he was not really involved in it himself.
Redneck County Fever – Gary Kennamer Interview runs 12-min, he revisits meeting Brett McCormick, the California valley guy way the stupid main characters talked, basing the redneck element on the country folk he'd grown up around, how the Bill & Ted comparison is coincidental as he'd never seen the films, the casting by Connie Spears, feeling some of the characters were miscast in opinion, and how Gary Markham shot the last 2 days after his father suffered a heart attack, as well as stories from the set. Disc extras are buttoned-up with 4-min of Visual Vengeance Trailers, including Highway to Hell, Redneck County Fever, The Abomination, Ozone: Attack of the Redneck Mutants, and ReAnimator Academy.
Packaging wise Visual Vengeance always do these release up right, and Highway To Hell is no different, the single-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring the original VHS artwork and a new illustration. Tucked away inside is a ‘Stick Your Own’ VHS Sticker Set with 12 cool retro-looking mini-stickers and a Folded Mini-Poster for Redneck County Fever, which looks amazing, like 150x more amazing than the actual film, but is that always the case? That's classic exploitation baby! The first-pressing also includes a Limited Edition O-Card featuring original poster art, which also looks fucking cool as Hell, and about 150x better than the actual film.
Special Features:
- Region Free Blu-ray
- SD master from original tape elements
- Audio Commentary with director Bret McCormick
- Director Bret McCormick interview (6:09)
- Red Hot Asphalt: actor Richard Harrison interview (1:26)
- Road Trip: actress Blue Thompson interview (12:48)
- Writing A Road Map to Hell: Screenwriter Gary Kennamer Interview (7:43)
- Actor Tom Fegan Interview (4:37)
- Image Gallery (0:38)
- Bonus Movie: Redneck County Fever (1992), Directed by Gary Kennamer (64:40)
- Redneck County Fever – Audio Commentary track with Bret McCormick and Gary Kennamer
- Redneck County Fever – Bret McCormick interview (6:45)
- Redneck County Fever – Gary Kennamer interview (12:15)
- Visual VengeanceTrailers: The Abomination (1:02), Ozone: Attack of the Redneck Mutant (1:17), ReAnimator Academy (1:08),
- ‘Stick Your Own’ VHS sticker set
- Reversible sleeve featuring original VHS art
- Folded Redneck County Fever mini-poster
- Optional English subtitles
- Limited Edition O-CARD featuring original poster art - FIRST
PRESSING ONLY
Sales Points
Fro fans of: The Hitcher, The Nail Gun Massacre, Blood Cult, The Night Brings Charlie, Mountaintop Motel Massacre, Fatal Exam, Skinned Alive, Witchtrap, Deadbeat at Dawn, Rolling Vengeance, Runaway Nightmare, Freeway Maniac, Blood Salvage, Lurkers
From cult Texas legend Bret McCormick (The Abomination, Repligator, Reanimator Academy)
Starring Benton Jennings (Our Flag Means Death, American Horror Story)
Starrring action movie icon Richard Harrison (Ninja Terminator, Ninja Squad, Scorpion Thunderbolt, Evil Spawn)
Screenshots from the Visual vengeance Blu-ray:
Extras:
Buy it!
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