The Road Killers (1994)

At a desert truck stop, a gang of joyriders kidnaps a man's family and kills his brother. The local sheriff is of no help, so the man goes after them himself.

Director:

Deran Sarafian

Writer:

Tedi Sarafian

Stars:

Christopher Lambert, Craig Sheffer, David Arquette

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Lambert	...	Jack
Craig Sheffer	...	Cliff
David Arquette	...	Bobby
Josh Brolin	...	Tom
Michelle Forbes	...	Helen
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Rich
Michael Greene	...	Sheriff Hodes
Alexondra Lee	...	Ashley
Christopher McDonald	...	Glen
John Pyper-Ferguson	...	Hauser
Richard C. Sarafian	...	Trucker (as Richard Sarafian)
Adrienne Shelly	...	Red
Patrick Thompson	...	Local
Guy Galley	...	Chicken Farmer
Pamela Gordon	...	Clerk

Storyline

After a young boy is almost runover by a maniac on a highway, a re-encounter and confrontation by the boy's father with the driver sets off conflicts with a carful of maniacs.

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Plot Keywords:

woman in jeopardy | car | highway | maniac | prisoner | 

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Taglines:

The highway to hell

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, pervasive threat and strong language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christopher McDonald and Alexondra Lee later starred in another film together - My Teacher's Wife (1999) and Josh Brolin would later marry Christopher Lambert's ex wife, actress Diane Lane in 2004, but divorced in 2013.

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Goofs

Cliff wants a police radio, Cortez drives a car to send it to him. This car has Dodge front and Ford rear.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Helen: [lights up a cigarette]
Ashley: Dad, could you pull over...
Jack: Why?
Ashley: I need some air.
Helen: Oh, Ashley, if it bothers you, you should have told me, I would have waited.
Ashley: It doesn't bother me, I just can't handle it every three seconds.
Helen: Well, I don't think I smoke every three seconds.

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Connections

Featured in You Cannot Kill David Arquette (2020)

User Reviews

A freaky, early Miramax outing that tries unsuccessfully to be a "Hot Rods to Hell" homage

This one reminds me of the outer limits ultra-DIY stuff that Miramax was experimenting with in the '80s before they went "legit" with "respectable" art-house fare around 1989.

"The Road Killers" is from a few years after that but you can still see the yearning to be on the cool, cutting edge of the alternafence. It's also extremely interesting (at first, at least) because you get to see sneak peeks at very young versions of some of today's biggest actors (Josh Brolin, David Arquette, Chris MacDonald, a 7 or 8-year old Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

This film doesn't take itself seriously in the least, and that could very well have been intentional as it seems to deliberately ape the sadistic-teen-hoods-go-on-a-rampage genre ala "Hot Rods to Hell." The lead thug, Craig Sheffer (never a very good actor, unfortunately, and a very ham-fisted villain in many flicks) does and says all the hateful things at all the right times, but can't get beyond his ridiculous Motley Crue wig (I really hope it is a wig, for his sake). Brolin and Arquette have scant little to do, and the "good guys," with the exception of MacDonald, never get us very revved up to root for them in the first place.

The script is a complete disaster with long, intermittent stretches where there is no action whatsoever, and the characters are too shallow and boring to expound upon. This is supposed to be an action picture, but it ends up as more of an overlong parody of one.

A huge, wasted opportunity, as nobody had the guts to make deliberately different mainstream films back in the day, except Miramax. Now, they wouldn't touch this kind of stuff with a ten foot pole, unless it was to be helmed by Rodrigeuz or Tarantino.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 May 1994 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Roadflower

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,580,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, John Flock Productions, Miramax

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1