HELL'S HIGHWAY

A group of seven young people returning from a rave party are about to cross the dusty Nevada desert in a camper to return to their respective homes. But the news (learned at the rave party) that there is a hidden marijuana plantation in those areas pushes them to leave the main road to look for the coveted weed. An accident, caused by the presence of a child in the middle of the road (who will then disappear without a trace), will put the camper out of service and force the young people to separate to look for help. But, unknown to the unfortunate protagonists, those areas are inhabited by a population of miners turned cannibals by the effects of some mysterious radioactive waste that has contaminated the area. As can be easily guessed from the plot, this film has many points in common with the much nobler "The Hills Have Eyes", directed by Wes Craven in 1977; but, as expected, Taylor's film does not come close to the result obtained by Craven's cannibal movie. This "Hell's highway" is a "direct to video" product and it is very noticeable from the poor performance of the "actors", Taylor's flat direction and the television photography. The young protagonists are as obnoxious and stupid as can be found in a production of this kind: they have no psychological development at all (but no one would have ever dared to ask for it) and represent the classic stereotype of libertine teens present in horror films: the couple that only thinks about secluding themselves, the dark girl rather introverted, the silly girls who love to show off, the group's buffoon with hormones at a thousand and so on. The population of cannibals turns out to be rather disappointing both for their physical characterization (they look like simple tramps) and for the importance given to them in the story (they only appear in the second half and always in passing). The only positive note is a decent dose of gore that includes severed limbs, impaled bodies and various tortures. In conclusion, "Hell's highway" is a poor product for home video that partly follows the plot of "The Hills Have Eyes" without coming close to the result obtained by Craven. Incompetent actors, amateur direction and ridiculous dialogues. Only some gore scenes are appreciable. To avoid. Curiosity: also known by the title "Cannibal highway"; in Italy it was distributed with the title "Hell's highway" which would be the title adopted during the production phase and then replaced with "Detour".