This delightfully drecky direct-to-video howler rates a close second behind "Hitch Hike to Hell" as far as uproariously over-the-top tacky psycho potboilers are concerned. A hilariously miscast Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill eschews the force in favor of goony, chortling, extravagantly hammy full-tilt subtlety be damned unrestrained psychosis as murderous, fresh out of the booby hatch mental patient Justin McCay, who stalks and terrorizes sweet, lovely Lara Markman (a nice portrayal by toothsome blonde hottie Savina Gersak) across lonesome, misty California backroads en route to returning to the laughter factory so he can reunite himself with well-meaning, but ineffectual shrink Dr. Hardy (a haggard Robert Mitchum shuffling his way to an easy paycheck). Lara's rugged, butt-stomping policeman husband Mark (beefy, baby-faced B-action pic top-liner Michael Dudikoff giving one of his better, more engaging performances) comes to the rescue.
Competently directed by Robert Bralver, with glossy photography by Robert D'Ettore Piazoli, a thrashing, frantic Goblin-style rock score by Carlo Maria Cordio, largely game acting from a solid cast, and several rousing scenes of vehicular carnage, this choice chunk of Italian horror junk makes for a very savory schlocky slice of "danger on the road" mayhem. Of course, it's Hamill's zealous, magnificently maniacal histrionics which gives this homicidal hitch-hiker opus an extra special sleazy kick in the pants: Mark rants and laughs hysterically, bites his fingernails, ties Dudikoff to the hood of a speeding taxi cab, snaps photos of his victims with a portable camera, snuffs a few cops at a gas station, sucks on an ugly, unfriendly fat lady's glass eye (!), steals a bus, and generally behaves in a wired wacky manner that's most unbecoming of a former Jedi knight. Watching Hamill let it all hang out something freaky consolidates this pup's status as a topflight cinecheese hoot and a half.
Competently directed by Robert Bralver, with glossy photography by Robert D'Ettore Piazoli, a thrashing, frantic Goblin-style rock score by Carlo Maria Cordio, largely game acting from a solid cast, and several rousing scenes of vehicular carnage, this choice chunk of Italian horror junk makes for a very savory schlocky slice of "danger on the road" mayhem. Of course, it's Hamill's zealous, magnificently maniacal histrionics which gives this homicidal hitch-hiker opus an extra special sleazy kick in the pants: Mark rants and laughs hysterically, bites his fingernails, ties Dudikoff to the hood of a speeding taxi cab, snaps photos of his victims with a portable camera, snuffs a few cops at a gas station, sucks on an ugly, unfriendly fat lady's glass eye (!), steals a bus, and generally behaves in a wired wacky manner that's most unbecoming of a former Jedi knight. Watching Hamill let it all hang out something freaky consolidates this pup's status as a topflight cinecheese hoot and a half.