Audience Member
There are elements in here to suggest the writer and director was trying to do something, but it made about as much waves as dropping a BB in the Pacific.
We get this really irritating couple, Dan and Mindy. Mindy is so nasty; I'm surprised Dan doesn't pull over on the Roadside and strangle her. That would have been a better movie. However, Mindy is pregnant, there are hints Dan is cheating on her and she is bitching about everything possible, including that they are spending Christmas at Dan's sister's cabin in the woods. Wow….yeah, that sounds so horrible. Basically, neither character is likeable, and you will be cheering for both to die at this point. We get bored with some over-the-top foreshadowing…blah….blah…..blah. Then something actually happens, some ass in a truck nearly runs Dan and Mindy off the road. However, they don't crash into a tree and die so we can have the closing credits. But instead we get a stop at gas station with some more foreshadowing and then we are back on the road.
So, they come across a blockage in the road. After clearing the roadblock, we are introduced to another character…..random sniper sitting in the freezing dark woods waiting to play with these two. Why…..don't know; it's never explained. But a shot from the sniper prevents Dan from getting back in the car and driving off.
Pretty much the rest of the movie takes place in this very sport on the road the crazy sniper has selected. Also, he is so meticulous, he has even set up a sound system in the woods for talking to Dan and Mindy in a very calm, loud, talk show host voice. It just comes off stupid, as though they were being held hostage by Garrison Keillor. So, the rest of the movie is pretty much Dan standing in freezing cold talking to the sniper and Mindy sitting in the car looking bitchy. Why Dan doesn't plead with the gunman to either shoot Mindy in the fact to shut her bitching up or shoot him in the face, so he doesn't have to listen to one more word from her is a mystery.
So, now it gets really stupid. There are time stamps for this dumb standoff, showing it goes for something like 6 hours. During that time, crazy random sniper never makes any demands of these two, other than stay where you are. So, for most of the 6 hours, there is no interaction whatsoever. There are some dumb pieces of "action" to make the movie drag out and have the crazy sniper do more things that make no sense. For example, Dan decides to just randomly walk down the road maybe 30 yards. Why? Well, the script needed him to walk away from the vehicle so random sniper could come down, scare Mindy some more, open the back of the car and kill their dog, for no apparent reason. Somehow Dan misses all this activity.
There is a scene where one of the other houseguests comes looking for Dan and Mindy because they are late. He comes into a situation where Dan and Mindy are acting bizarre, but instead of taking the clues that are hitting him in the face like a punch from Mike Tyson, he stick around until the crazy sniper blows his head off…..again, for no apparent reason.
There is a brief scene away from Dan and Mindy involving a Forest Service LEO, who comes upon the sniper's car. The sniper confronts him, and we see that we have a LEO that never went to a law enforcement academy because in this clear weird situation, he does not have his weapon handy and he just lets himself get stabbed by this guy. It's just a stupid meaningless scene. Of course, during this time, Dan and Mindy are still sitting around doing nothing even though the sniper is nowhere around.
Dan and Mindy do devise a plan to distract the sniper and drive away, but they don't get far because there was a hole in their gas tank. Helpful guy from early in the movie shows up to take them to safety, then talks in sniper voice and the movie ends.
What the frack was this?
The characters are flat and unlikeable. The dialogue is dumb. What the heck motivated this sniper to terrorize these two in particular? He knew aspects of their life to taunt them with, so he wasn't just looking for anyone. He had some problem with these two. What was it? Don't know. What did he do with them at the end of the movie? Don't know.
Some reviews of this movie actually suggested this movie had similarities to something from Alfred Hitchcock. I don't know what drugs they are on, but this was a terrible movie.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
Full Review
farah r
Not entirely bad but not good either. Roadside is a fairly decent horror flick with a proper build up of suspense, the only problem is the ending which is neither understood nor satisfactory.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
andy f
It's quite forgettable and predictable, but who can argue with a road movie horror! Just about worth a watch.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
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