Detour (2003 film)

This place kind of grows on you... like leprosy. - Cashie

When I had planned out typing this up, I originally was going to bill this as Happy Horror's first film from The Asylum, but then I remembered, on the original site, I reviewed their Vampires Vs. Zombies film (the less I say about that one, the better!).  I rented this one on a fluke one time a few years ago.  When the Hollywood Video in my town closed up shop, they started selling films off at pretty good prices, and this is one of the ones I bought, remembering it and thinking it would be a good one to write about on the site.  So, here we go!

The film opens on a couple of girls driving down the freeway.  While moving in to kiss (there was mention early on about a wedding, as well), some nasty-looking red stuff splatters all over their windshield and sends them offroad.  The driver, Tiffany, sees a robed figure striding towards them through the desert and gets out the Club to defend herself, when he swings a rebarred hook, disarms her and stabs her with the makeshift weapon.  The other girl, Angela, gets out and runs, stumbling due to her leg being hurt in the crash.  She runs into a stake trap that the homicidal maniac soon impales her on.

The rest of the film concerns seven friends traveling from a rave back home, when the leader, Neil, takes them on a detour to try to locate some peyote a friend of his tipped him off to.  What they find is a nightmare waiting to happen, as they're picked off, one by one, by a group of cannibals looking to make them into their next meal.  Will the group survive the night?  Will they get their motorhome unstuck before the cannibals finish them off?

On paper, this film sounds alot like The Hills Have Eyes, with a group in a motorhome being besieged by a family of cannibals in the desert.  However, it takes several twists and turns that Hills never made, resulting in a film experience that was actually very unique and fun.  This film predates when The Asylum became an exclusively mockbuster studio, and while their films were sometimes hit or miss, I really miss some of these more fun, original titles like this.  The acting was really good, with very few overly hammy scenes (with one particular character excepted).

Ashley Elizabeth played main girl Tara really well, even acting through some sickness near the end of the shooting.  The movie was filmed in mid-February, so the desert was not as hot as one might normally think, and she'd often have to act in a bikini top or worse at points in very frigid cold, so definitely major kudos to her for this role.  She's also had uncredited roles in WWE Films John Cena vehicle Legendary and Green Lantern, and a part in 2012 short film Slayground.  Aaron Buer played Lawrence, aka Loopz, a rapper wannabe who needs to dig deep to find the courage to help his friends fight off the cannibal tribe.  Throughout the film, he talked like a stereotypical hip-hop type, which gave him some pretty funny lines but could get to be annoying after a little while.  This was the only real overacting in the film, but it worked for him.  He was also in 2009's Nuclear and Killer Yacht Party, aka Dead in the Water.  Tiffany was played by scream queen Tiffany Shepis, who did a really good job with the little screen time she had.  A veteran of Troma's films, her acting career dates back to 1996's Tromeo and Juliet, but she's also been in Toxic Avenger IV: Citizen Toxie, Night of the Demons remake, and Bonnie & Clyde Vs. Dracula, to name just a few.

I really enjoyed this movie.  Though there were a few continuity errors (pointed out on the commentary by the director and producers), and a couple special effects failures, the film was really good, in my opinion.  I give it a 4 out of 5.  Up next on our Happy Horrorween tour, I'll be taking you back to one of my favorite countries in the world: Japan!  Don't miss it!  Until next time, take care of yourselves, and this is Red Hawk signing out!