Roadkill Review

In this new teen thriller "The Fast and the Furious" star Paul Walker plays a young college student looking forward to the summer break, who trades in his plane ticket home so he can buy a beaten up 70s sedan, in order to be able to offer a cross country ride home to his would-be paramour Leelee Sobieski. On his way to her he takes a two hundred miles diversion to bail his trouble maker brother (the neurotically brilliant Steve Zahn) out of jail, and within twenty four hours the duo are being relentlessly pursued by a sinister trucker who goes by the CB handle of Rusty Nail, determined to pay them back for a cruel prank they played on him.

When a film has a title like "Roadkill" (or "Joy Ride" as it was known in the US) you pretty much know what to expect long before you sit down at your local multiplex with your overpriced popcorn and coke, particularly if you've ever seen Spielberg's classic TV movie "Dual." Although the film has at least one plot hole large enough for that maniacal trucker to drive through, "The Last Seduction" director John Dahl succeeds in breathing fresh life into this tale of terror on the road thanks to a fine screenplay that, although slightly tongue-in-cheek comes with great dialogue – "This is like an old fashioned western: I want you out of Wyoming before the sun goes down" – and allows him to crank up the suspense throughout, without resorting to cheap shocks.