Although he is warned by a gas station attendant named "Sam" (Richard Farnsworth) not to take a certain back road to Las Vegas, "Charlie Sykes" (Chad Lowe) doesn't listen and together with his fiancé "Rachel Clark" (Kristy Swanson) sets off down that particular highway without a care in the world. To that effect, he also fails to heed Sam's instructions not to fall asleep on a certain stretch of the highway as well. So, after he almost runs off the road, he is met by a monstrous figure known as "Hellcop" (C. J. Graham) who then proceeds to knock him out and abducts Rachel while he is unconscious on the side of the road. Not knowing what else to do, Charlie drives back to the gas station and is told by Sam of several other women who have been similarly abducted through the ages and that if he wants to get Rachel back, he has to go into hell itself--and he has only 24 hours before she is lost forever. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this had an interesting plot but seemed like the director (Ate de Jong) couldn't quite decide what kind of film to make. So, the end result was a conglomeration of scenes featuring action, various attempts at comedy and possibly some horror--with no overall focus. It also featured several scenes which were somewhat limited in duration and as a result the actors never really a chance to make much of an impact. For example, there was one scene that featured Lita Ford (as "The Hitchhiker") who barely got a minute into a scene before being quickly displaced. In short, although it wasn't a bad movie by any means, it was so uneven in nature that it never quite achieved its potential and I have rated it accordingly. Average.
Review of Highway to Hell
