Highway to Hell (1991) Hemdale/Horror-Comedy RT: 94 minutes Rated R (language, violence, frightening images, sexual innuendo) Director: Ate de Jong Screenplay: Brian Helgeland Music: Hidden Faces Cinematography: Robin Vidgeon Release date: March 13, 1992 (US) Cast: Chad Lowe, Kristy Swanson, Patrick Bergin, Adam Storke, Pamela Gidley, Jarrett Lennon, C.J. Graham, Richard Farnsworth Cameos by: Lita Ford, Gilbert Gottfried, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Ben Stiller, Amy Stiller. Box Office: $26,055 (US)
Rating: *** ½
Highway to Hell is a B-movie lover’s dream come true! It has all the elements of a true camp classic. Demons, cars, a motorcycle gang, an earnest young hero, his beautiful girlfriend, a crazy old man at a desert gas station, a dog, a drag race through Hell, a magic portal that connects two dimensions and Satan himself. They’re all here in living color, my friends!
From Ate de Jong, the director of the 1991 cult comedy Drop Dead Fred, comes this terrifyingly funny tale of two young lovers who find themselves in deep trouble while attempting to elope to Las Vegas. Charlie Sykes (Lowe, True Blood) and his girlfriend Rachel Clark (Swanson, Deadly Friend) have run away from home and intend to get married in Sin City. They believe her mother has sent the police to bring them back, so Charlie exits the highway and ends up on a dark, deserted road in the middle of nowhere. They stop at a gas station where the elderly attendant (Farnsworth, Rhinestone) warns them not to travel this road because bad things have happened on it. Naturally, Charlie chooses not to heed this warning and continues driving along that road.
They end up getting pulled over by Sgt. Bedlam aka Hellcop (Graham, Friday the 13th Part 6) who abducts Rachel and disappears into a portal. Charlie returns to the gas station where the attendant tells him the road leads straight to Hell. His girlfriend has been taken by Hellcop to become one of Satan’s brides. Charlie is determined to rescue Rachel, so Sam sets him up with a powerful ride and a shotgun with special ammunition. He gives the boy directions and tells him he has only a short time to rescue his girl before he’s trapped in Hell forever.
Charlie finds the portal and starts looking for Rachel. Eventually, he encounters a friendly mechanic named Beezle (Bergin, Sleeping with the Enemy) and his young apprentice Adam (Lennon, Freaks & Geeks). He prevents Charlie from getting his ass kicked by Royce (Storke, Mystic Pizza), the leader of a motorcycle gang who rides around with a hot chick named Clara (Gidley, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me). Meanwhile, Hellcop takes Rachel to a strip club where she is kept in a cage to await Satan’s approval. Without going into too much detail, I will say the movie’s climax features a drag race between Charlie and Hellcop to reach the portal back to reality before it closes while Satan looks on.
Highway to Hell is a wonderfully campy horror-comedy that should never be taken seriously at any time. Written by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Payback), it’s a not-too-scary story infused with humor like a truck that reads Good Intentions Paving Company and the presence of infamous historical figures in the aforementioned strip club. At one table, you can spot Adolph Hitler (Gottfried), Cleopatra (Amy Stiller) and Attila the Hun (Ben Stiller) having a conversation. The handcuffs that Hellcop uses are literal; they’re made of human hands that grasp the wrists of the prisoner. At a grungy diner, the cook (Ben Stiller again) is frying eggs and bacon on the hot pavement. Incidentally, the director makes Highway to Hell a family affair by casting Ben and Amy’s parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, as a desk cop and a waitress respectively.
One of the coolest things about Highway to Hell is the unique set design. Hell is not a lake of fire like you learned in Sunday school, but a huge desert town that resembles the real world (billboards, diners, TV commercials, etc.) with a few tweaks here and there to remind everybody this is indeed Hell. At times, it’s just bizarre. All of the members of a road crew look like Andy Warhol (for what reason, I don’t know). In another scene, Charlie finds himself right in the middle of a convoy of VW Bugs (again, not sure what it means).
I’ve never seen anything quite like Highway to Hell before or since. The production values are definitely cheesy and low budget, but that’s one of its charms. You don’t have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make a gloriously entertaining movie. It all depends on what the viewer brings with him/her upon entering the theater or renting the video/DVD or…. you get the idea. Instead of a lot of fancy-ass CGI, you get the kinds of effects Roger Corman used in his movies. I must say the makeup department did a great job with Hellcop; he looks positively demonic with his scarred and peeling face. Who knows what might be hiding behind the mirrored sunglasses he always wears? Do we even want to know?
Acting is not one of the most important components of a campy movie like Highway to Hell, but the director has assembled a better-than-average cast for it. Swanson (besides being totally HOT!) makes a perfect lady-in-distress; it’s easy to understand why any guy would risk his mortal soul to rescue her. She’s got a winning personality and a great smile. Who wouldn’t travel to the center of Hell to save her from Satan himself. Lowe is decent as the young hero who risks his soul for love. Farnsworth looks like he’s having fun with his role. He was always good as a wise old man with mountains of good advice. Bergin does a good job as you-know-who (his name is Beezle, think about it); he’s evil, but he’s so damn gracious about it. He doesn’t want good to triumph over evil, yet he brings Charlie back to life after a fatal gunshot wound so the boy has another chance to save his girlfriend and escape from the depths of Hell. The cameos throughout the movie are cool. Gottfried is hysterical as Hitler. Heavy metal queen Lita Ford shows up as a hitchhiker.
Highway to Hell is a throwback to the kinds of movies that Corman and New World used to churn out in the 70s. It would have been right at home in a drive-in movie theater or one of New York’s grindhouses. As a matter of fact, I saw this movie at a grindhouse theater in Philadelphia. Oddly enough, it shut its doors for good just a few months later. Too bad, it was the last such movie haven in the area. I’m glad that Highway to Hell is one of the last movies I saw there. It’s a fitting way to say goodbye to a theater where buying a ticket means gambling with your life. But I digress. Highway to Hell is a hellacious good time. Take the trip, you won’t regret it.
