Rest Stop: Don't Look Back - Uncut [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Warner Home Video
Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (25th October 2008).
The Film

'here are inbred zombie cannibals, god knows what else is out there!'

Indeed, 'Rest Stop: Don't Look Back' is cut from the same mould as, say, 'House of a 1000 Corpses', 'Hostel' and 'Wrong Turn', in that it has a bunch of cute teens are trying to fight against a morally corrupt gang that does terrible things to human beings, while you see every gory detail. Indeed, 'Rest Stop: Don't Look Back' could easily be called 'Rest Stop: Don't Look Unless You Want to Feel Queasy' and it would still be accurate. There are tons of ooey-gooey bits to get gore-hounds off.

The movie centers around three people trying to find their friends who disappeared (in the first film) a year ago. Scotty (Mikey Post), Jared (Graham Norris) and Marilyn (Jessie Ward) go cross-country in search of these friends. Going from one side of the country to the other, they somehow find the trail of their friends in this tiny rest stop in the middle of nowhere, finding crazy old lunatic hicks, somewhat like 'Cabin Fever'. The trio then proceeds to go batshit crazy, as they see the ghosts of their departed friends (among other things) while trying to stay alive from the clutches of the bad guys trying to either drill stuff in their legs or gouge out their eyes.

I was particularly apprehensive about seeing this movie before the first 'Rest Stop', but gratefully the plot is so deathly simple I was able to follow along. By the same token, the movie doesn't really bother with back story, aside from having ghosts of their friends and quick flashes from previous torture scenes. The movie doesn't really have much more than that.

This is a survival movie, pure and simple. Like in those movies, its intent is to make the viewers squirm while bad things happen to the protagonists. As far as this type of movie goes, there are better ones out there, but this one delivers the goods, if you want them. The actors scream dutifully and act pained while you watch. It's not horrible but it's a survival movie. After all I've said, the first thing in my review is the best part of the movie.

Video

2.35:1 high-definition 1080p 24/fps widescreen, using the VC-1 codec. I greatly enjoyed the way the movie looked. In a classic style, the flashbacks have heavy grain, while the rest of the movie is lighter on the grain but still pretty dingy. The colours are muted, but the look of the movie is kept very well. Contrast is a bit low, but again, it fits in well with the dusty, dirty look. Skin tones are good enough, and the black level is very strong. Shadow detail is also very good, with dark scenes being nicely transferred.

Audio

The main audio track is an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, though there are standard Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The lossless track is the one I chose and I was happy with it, though the overall volume is a bit low. The dialogue may be a bit loud in some scenes, whereas the score might be a bit louder in others. Overall, the mixing is nicely done, though side speakers may be slightly forgotten in some scenes. The movie does translate atmosphere pretty nicely.
English (HoH), Spanish, French and Portuguese subtitles are available.

Extras

There are absolutely no extras on this disc, and the movie starts up as soon as the disc is loaded.

Overall

The Film: C+ Video: B Audio: B- Extras: F Overall: C-

 


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