Highway To Hell — Highway To Hell ( Blu Ray)
Highway To Hell is a quirky, at times downright darkly wacky take on the road movie form. This early 90’s film blends fantasy, horror, action and dark satire- it regards a late teenage pizza delivery driver, eloping with his girlfriend to LA. But on the way, they literally ride into hell.Here from Transmission, Radiance Films' sublabel, is a new Blu-ray of this seen/ known film. With a new HD scan, two new commentary tracks- with a selection of old & new archive extras.
From the year 1991, Highway To Hell was a US production. It was directed by Aardenburg, Zeeland, Netherlands, born Ate De Jong. Between the mid 70’s and 2024, he has nineteen features to his name. These take in romantic drama Blind Spot( 1977), anarchic dark comedy feat Rick Mayal Drop Dead Fred (1991), drama thriller Fogbound (2002), and musical romantic drama Heart Strings (2024).
The film kicks off in a nighttime roadside diner, at one of the places table is red baseball cap-wearing Charlie Sykes (Chad Lowe) and his curly blond bobbed-haired girlfriend Rachel Clark (Kristy Swanson). Charlie is very twitchy/ on edge- as the pair are eloping to Vegas.
They rush to their car, as Charlie's panic rises when he sees a cop- they think they may have been followed- so they take a shortcut, stopping in time at another grange- which seems like it’s from another time. Manning the station is the moustached Sam- played by Richard Farnsworth ( The Straight Story and Anne Of Green Gables). He tries to put them off from carrying on the road, and going back to the highway- but as Charlie insists, he says ok- but whatever he does, don’t fall asleep before the second Joshua tree. They hit the road, and you guessed it, they both fall asleep….all of a sudden, a fire burning & pentagram stamped cop car appears, from within a burnt-faced & stuck into flesh mirror shaded cop appears. He rips off the door of the Charlie’s Pizza delivery car- drags Rachel off into his car, and suddenly disappears.
One thing leads to another, and Charlie ends up in an alternative, burning hot sun reality- which is seemingly hell itself. We go from a dinner full of living dead cops, where a chief is cooking food on the pavement. There’s a wayward biker gang, a moustached Mr Fix-It & the small boy he looks after. The road to hell's city is literally paved with the limbs of those who had good intentions. There’s a desert set casino with a giant slot machine on its outside- inside are caged women who electrocute those who touch them. Three-headed devil dog, a man with sewn-up eyes, a mullet wearing/ horned Satan, and more.
Lowe is a likeable lead/ wonderful awkward geek- who very much brought to mind Joe Thomas aka Simon from The Inbetweeners. The supporting cast is good to fine, as is the genre blending of fantasy, horror,action and dark satire.
All told, Highway To Hell is a quirky romp of a film, which really encourages re-watches, due to all the little details & subtle satirical stabs, at relgion, 1990s American, and more.
This new Blu Ray is region B. It takes in a HD scan of the picture- this looks good, with great clarity and depth of picture throughout, even in the night time shots.
On the new extras side, we get two things. First is a commentary track from authors/critics Kim Newman and Sean Hogan. And as we’ve come to expect with these track pros- it’s a most entertaining/ informative track. They start off discussing their personal history with the film, and we find out Kim was lucky enough to see it on the big screen, as it got a critics screening- then didn’t get either a cinema or VHS release in the UK. It did get a very limited theatrical release stateside, as well as a VHS release. They talk about how this film and Ate De Jong other film Drop Dead Fred, very much nodded towards Beetlejuice. They touch on De Jong’s career in general- saying he was a director who always cared on working, but never really made a impact. They give brief bios of Farnsworth, and our two young leads. They discuss the Hell Cop character, and find out he was played by C.J. Graham- who played Jason in one of my favourite Friday 13th film part 6 Jason Lives. They point out cameos by the likes of Ben Stiller. Later on they debate why they are some many VW Beatles in one of the films scenes. They talk about how the film has a ramshackle charm, and of course much more. Otherwise on the new side we have an interview with director Ate De Jong( 24.35).
On the archive we have the following: director’s commentary with Ate de Jong. interview with actor C.J. Graham (15 mins). interview with Steven Johnson (15 mins). Production stills and behind-the-scenes gallery, and theatrical trailer.
The finished release comes with a booklet featuring archival correspondence and new writing from Sean McGeady. It’s limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in and full-height Scanavo packaging with O-card and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.
If you enjoy wacky/ playful genre films, which reward repeated plays then Highway To Hell will be for you. And it’s great to see the folks from Radiance/Transmission reissuing it, with a good selection of extras- old and new alike.