Route 666 (2001)

Director:

William Wesley

Writers:

Scott Fivelson (writer)
Thomas Weber (writer)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Smith, a mob informer hiding out with the Witness Protection Program, decides to make a break for it and hide out in the Arizona desert...

Plot Keywords:

Chain Gang | Desert | Witness Protection | Native American | Black Comic Relief

Cast

Lou Diamond Phillips	...	Jack La Roca
Lori Petty	...	Steph
Steven Williams	...	Rabbit aka Fred
L.Q. Jones	...	Sheriff Bob Conaway
Dale Midkiff	...	P.T.
Alex McArthur	...	Nick
Mercedes Colon	...	Mary
Rob Roy Fitzgerald	...	Joe
Adam Vernier	...	Deputy Gil Conaway
Chester E. Tripp III	...	Deputy Tim Conaway
Rhino Michaels	...	John La Roca
Gary Roberts	...	Pickaxe aka Miles Hackman
Pee Wee Piemonte	...	Jackhammer aka Steve Pikowski (as Peewee Piemonte)
Michael Chance	...	Sledgehammer aka Frank Slater
Dick Miller	...	Bartender

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and language.

Runtime:

Germany:86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Denmark:15 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Germany:18 (cut) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Joshua Tree, California, USA

Company:

Lions Gate Films

Trivia:

After repeatedly asking the Feds to call him "Rabbit", Steven Williams's character asks the two federal agents he is with how they would like it if he called them "Mulder and Scully from the X-Files". Steven Williams appeared as Mr. X in "The X Files" (1993).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the guys are waiting at the desert rest stop, the car door is closed on the agent's right hand, severing two fingers that fall to the ground. In a subsequent shot, his hand is visible with all fingers intact.

Quotes:

Rabbit aka Fred: Don't leave me here with Helen Keller and the Three Blind Mice! I am not safe with these guys!

Movie Connections:

References Le lac des morts vivants (1981)

Soundtrack:

Pain In My Desire

THIS is entertainment???

I eagerly sat down to watch ROUTE 666, as I thought the director's previous work, SCARECROWS, was amazing. What happened??? ROUTE 666 is without a doubt one of the dumbest pieces of work I've ever seen. Rude and offensive, I'm so sick of movies where the "good guys" act worse than the supposed bad guys. Lou Diamond Phillips seems to be making a career out of playing uber-tough cops (BORING!) who don't seem to care about breaking the laws they're supposed to enforce (see "24" and the god-awful FIRST POWER, in which Phillips breaks into a person's house with no search warrant--his partner says, "You can't do that!" and Phillips replies, "I can do anything I want!" Nice hero, huh?). I actually wanted the asphalt zombies to kill the federal marshalls. Too bad they didn't finish the job. And L.D. Phillip's character is outraged at the murder of four psychotic killers, but treats his prisoner (a Mafia witness whose only crime is that he's trying to save his life by not testifying) like crap?

And the strobing effect every time the zombies were on screen has got to be the most irritating visual horror effect since the rapid back-and-forth zooming in MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND. Oh, and shouldn't the jackhammer have made some noise? Those things are capable of blowing out eardrums, but this one sounded like a clicking pen.

Someone out there should apologize for this waste of celluloid.