Customer Reviews

Haunted Highway

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This movie is in English with its major star being an American. However it is a collaborative Japanese effort. As essentially a Japanese horror film, it has some things in common with "The Grudge." Here again, we have a haunting who delivers the chills by having her face curtained with hanging hair. I'm not sure why hiding an apparition behind strands of hair is so eerie an effect - but it is.

Also, the premise of driving along a lonely road at night is eerie in and of itself. And when you have a dead body in the trunk of your car - the ride becomes doubly fraught with danger.

The acting is generally wooden. The actress who plays one of the lead love interests is Japanese with a very limited, stilted command of the English language. With so many actors eagerly available to appear in films, I don't know why they can't find some better talent.

So, this film isn't very memorable. But it isn't a complete waste of time. It will make you think twice the next time you load a dead body into your car and head off towards the nearest lake to dispose of it. You'll realize you might just be in for some night terrors along the way.

"Haunted Highway" is a low-budget horror suspense directed by Japanese director. You may expect something scary and creepy like the original version of "Ring," but "Haunted Highway" is actually more like a ride to boredom, where nothing but familiar tricks of horror genre happens.

The film is about an American photographer Greg (Rand Gamble) who has an affair with a Japanese model Yumi (Hinano Yoshikawa). Bitter accusation from his wife Amanda (Laura Putney) leads to one accident, which forces Greg to drive on the deserted midnight road to the lake. On the way Greg encounters several weird things that might drive his mind which is already confused to insanity.

To create a gripping suspense or horror using a confined space like a car is a really challenging thing, but judging from the film the filmmaker is not up to the task. From the opening credit (that looks like David Lynch's "Lost Highway") to its ending, there is nothing that would interest us. The film uses up all the tricks in its first half, and the inserted flashback scenes (of which content is already suggested in the pre-credit section) are just unnecessary. The film's passable acting and creaky dialogues (especially in the first scene) do not help. Hinano Yoshikawa is not known for her acting talent in Japan, but I never expected she could be that bad.

But probably she should not be blamed because, according to the film's official homepage, her English is dubbed by someone else. That fact makes me wonder why Japanese director Junichi Suzuki decided to make an English-speaking film entirely shot in America while the film's locations and characters do not need to be American (almost all the events on the "highway" scenes happen during one night). I know Mr. Suzuki has been living in USA since 2001, but wouldn't it be a better choice for him to shoot a film in Japan where he had been working for a long time?

Anyway I agree with most of the previous reviewers who say "Haunted Highway" is a terrible film. It is, and I should have listened to.

I went into this movie trying to have an open mind, considering i had heard, at best, mixed things about it. But within the first 15 minutes, i knew it was a mistake to even give it a shot. It looks like a straight to video clunker, and that's basically what it is. the plot is simple. A man driving down a lonely highway at night. There's a love triangle gone awry and much speculation regarding what's in the trunk, and why it's there. But, frankly i didn't care about any of it. The acting is horrible, and the writing is laughable. So, trust me...don't even bother with this one.

I am 61 years old and have seen a lot of horrible movies. This movie has to be about the 2nd worse I have ever suffered through! It's a hundred times WORSE than "Peewee's Big Adventure," and I tried several times to watch it. It just just SO HORRIBLE it could not get my attention, and I imagine it has seen the light of day for the very last time!

The acting was below average and the main character was none to bright, but there was some decent parts in the middle. This "movie" would have been much better cut down to about 44 minutes and shown on TV. Not as bad it is being made out to be, but liberal use of fast forward through the filler scences will increase your watching pleasure.

The cover of this movie is so misleading! This movie was just bad. There are no other words to express how bad it was.

I don't know why other writers were so negative.Yes the acting was dreadful but the movie kept my interest.It was great to see someone driven to shear madness.I liked DEAD END better but this was fun to watch in its own sick way.Its only 84 minutes long but there's far worse out there,believe me.A quick story about a photographer Rand Gamble kills wife Laura Putney over a japanese girl Hinano Yoshikawa.He puts wifes body in trunk to dump in Black Lake and makes his journey a living hell.Its a great little movie despite some critical coments made by other writers. YOUR CALL FOLKS

I hated this movie, I would throw it in the garbage. I cannot believe I wasted $2.50 to rent it-----DO NOT WATCH THIS TRASH. btw---I fast forwarded just to see the ending and to see if it ever had a point---it didn't. The acting, if you can call it that was horrible---where did they get these people? Probably no one else wanted to be in it. The movie was very low budget too.

Got this for my girlfriend off her wishlist for 5 bucks awhile back. Yep. What can you expect for 5 bucks? The movie was cheesy and it's not about ghosts, so the cover is very misleading, as others have reviewed. It's about the dude going crazy because he killed his wife. If I remember correctly. The acting was terrible. Cheesy. Not scary at all. But for 5 dollars, who cares? I'll give it 2 stars because it at least entertained us for an hour.... and the cover is cool looking (though it has nothing at all to do with the movie itself).

Greg (Rand Gamble) is waiting for Yumi (Hinano Yoshikawa) in her house where they agreed to meet. He was going to break it off with her. Amanda (Laura Putney), his wife, also comes to the house knowing her husband is having an affair. She has had a private detective following him. She starts to become hysterical and fights Greg. She falls and hits her head hard on the floor, killing her instantly. He decides to cover-up the accident. He cleans up the blood and wraps up her body. He puts her in the car trunk and high-tails it on Haunted Highway.

Also known as: Death Ride (2006). Running time: 83 minutes.