Considering thatRest Stopcomes courtesy director John Shiban, anX-FilesandStar Trekstaff writer, one would expect this horror film to contain a kernel of originality, but unfortunately it is a poor conflation ofWolf Creek,Joyride, andTexas Chainsaw Massacre, among others. Nicole Carrow (Jaimie Alexander) and Jess Hilts (Joey Mendocino) are young, hopeful actors taking a road trip to Hollywood, though neither reaches their final destination. A psychotic pick-up truck driver dominates the rest stop they pull off at, often maiming his victims by hitting them with his truck, then dragging them off onto a school bus where he tortures them with drills, pincers, saws, branding irons, knives, and other tools. Jess disappears early in the film, leaving Nicole to fend for herself, often by locking herself in the dingy rest stop restroom, or by running to avoid being hit by the truck. After her attempt to call a sheriff ends in the sheriff's death, Nicole's prospects for survival dim. Graphic scenes are indeed horribly disgusting, but the torture methods are so clichéd that one wishes for more psychology behind the killer's methods to actually scare. A random scene in which Nicole hitches a ride in a motorhome with some Bible-thumping freaks further pushes the film into clichéd territory. SinceRest Stopfails to fully develop the killer or the victims' characters, it is difficult to empathize with them. Even Nicole, rendered powerless from the outset, lacks ...
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