Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead
Encyclopedia
Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead is a 2008 thriller film. Released in October 2008, it is a direct-to-DVD
sequel
to the 2001 film
Joy Ride. The film is directed by Louis Morneau, and stars Mark Gibbon
, Nicki Aycox
, Nick Zano
, Kyle Schmid
, and Laura Jordan
.
The film was released on DVD on October 7, 2008 in the United States
and opened at #9 at the DVD sales chart, making $1,492,635 off 62,000 sold DVD units. As per the latest figures, 200,000 units have been sold, translating to $4,307,361 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales/DVD rentals.
, Canada
, at Cache Creek
, Kamloops and Vancouver
.
Like the original film, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, although unlike the original it did not enjoy a run in cinemas and was direct-to-DVD
.
in an unspecified rural location. It is night time and in a heavy rainstorm, and a hooker gets into a large, black Peterbilt
and offers her "services" to the trucker inside. The trucker is revealed to be Rusty Nail (portrayed by Mark Gibbon
), when he recites his phrase "I like the rain. Keeps everybody inside and washes everything clean." He asks the hooker to go out into the rain to get wet
. When she is unnerved by this strange behavior and states she is leaving, Rusty Nail locks the doors and asks her to leave through the open window. He then shuts the window up half way as she is clambering out, trapping her with half her body hanging outside the truck. Rusty Nail then drives off, decapitating the hooker as he drives alongside a trailer attached to the truck.
The film then jumps to the new protagonists, Melissa and her fiancé Bobby (Nicki Aycox
and Nick Zano
), a young engaged couple in their early twenties who are on a cross country road trip in a 1983 model Chevrolet Caprice
Wagon. They are heading across the Southwestern United States
to Las Vegas
, where they plan on getting married. Joining them for the ride is Melissa's sister Kayla (Laura Jordan
), who along the way also picks up her online boyfriend Nik (Kyle Schmid
), a punk
.
When their car breaks down in the desert, the four find a seemingly abandoned house along a side road and in the barn they find a silver 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle
. Melissa, Bobby, Kayla and Nik decide to take the Chevelle as there doesn't seem to be anybody about and the car is in working order, however Melissa leaves a note in the house leaving her contact details to whoever may own the house and/or car.
Melissa receives a phone call from the person who owned the car they stole. Who then calls Melissa Goldilocks, revealing that he can see her. It appears somebody had followed them, as soon after Bobby disappears from a diner restroom and the others find a CB radio in their car with which Rusty Nail
talks to them. He orders them to destroy their cellphones and follow his orders if Bobby is to survive, and he has some quite nasty psychological mind game
s that create a bridge for gory
, life-and-death situations. The group continues to follow Rusty Nail who promises them that they will be reunited soon, after Rusty requests for Kayla's middle finger, a reference to when Kayla flipped off the driver of a truck. (Rusty's)
The group cut a finger from a corpse and they reach a wrong trucker because Rusty already knew that they had broken the rules. Rusty cut off one finger of Bobby and put it in the glove compartment
of the vehicle which was later discovered by the group.
Rusty later instructs Melissa to "strip
down to her underwear" in front of his truck, but it turns out not to be him, but some other trucker rusty nail had instructed to be there. Rusty nail soon pulls up at a bar in Utah and Bobby tries to escape. He gains the attention of the barman who has gone outside to smoke, but rusty nail catches him and uses a Chainsaw Chain to cut off the barman's jaw. He then commands Nik to walk through a party dressed as a female and to buy crystal meth. Nik refuses to do this, and Melissa takes a knife to his throat and Nik cries, confessing he is scared and that his tattoos are fake. Nik walks up to the party in the clothes we saw on the hooker earlier, but at the party Rusty kidnaps Nik and drives off. Melissa and Kayla chase them, and Rusty gets behind them. He rams them a few times and then the car flips over, and Kayla's leg is pinned and instructs Melissa to go because he's going to ram the car again. Melissa jumps at the last second as instructed, while Kayla is killed in the exploding car.
He takes Bobby and Nik back to his home, and has them play a game with dice. In this game, whatever one person rolls makes the other person suffer. Various things happen to them, like branding them with a rusty nail in the shape of an "R", being hit in the kneecap, etc. Once Bobby rolls a double one snake eyes
, Rusty kills Nik by stabbing him with a steel bar through the top of his head. Melissa then breaks into a police station and steals a motor bike and races off to find Bobby. Rusty nail hangs Bobby by his neck in the back of his truck. Melissa comes to rescue him by distracting Rusty Nail with the police motorcycle, by parking it by the side of the truck. Melissa overpowers the killer with a few well placed hits to the back with a shovel and drives away in his truck accidentally disconnecting the cab from the rest of the truck (leaving Bobby behind) ... only for Rusty to manage to grab on to the side and end up on the roof of the vehicle. She drives until the sun comes up and ends up plowing into a gas tank, causing the truck to catch fire. Melissa jumps from the truck as Rusty takes control, but it's too late and he drives off the side of a cliff, the truck exploding on impact.
Bobby escapes from the trailer he was hung up in and meets back up with Melissa, their ordeal finally over. Later in the middle of nowhere, a girl is stuck on the side of the road as her car has broken down. A big red Peterbilt truck (with trailer) drives past her, only to back up. She explains what's happened and asks for a ride. As the truck door opens you can see that the driver has a badly burnt right arm. The girl climbs in and a familiar voice says "You'll catch your death out there" before laughing ominously as the credits roll.
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the 2001 film
2001 in film
The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
Joy Ride. The film is directed by Louis Morneau, and stars Mark Gibbon
Mark Gibbon
- Filmography :* Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead as Rusty Nail * Totally Awesome as Tv Coach * Stargate SG-1 as M'zel * The Chronicles of Riddick as Irgun * Smallville as Deputy...
, Nicki Aycox
Nicki Aycox
-Personal life:Aycox was born in Hennessey, Oklahoma. She has a younger brother, Steve. She speaks fluent German according to an interview in Jack magazine. She also comes from a Native American heritage.-Career:Aycox began performing at a young age...
, Nick Zano
Nick Zano
Nick Zano is an American actor and producer. He is best known for having played Vince in The WB's sitcom What I Like About You...
, Kyle Schmid
Kyle Schmid
Kyle Schmid is a Canadian actor who starred as Henry Fitzroy in Lifetime's series Blood Ties. He has also guest starred in a number of television series including Degrassi: The Next Generation, Odyssey 5, The Zack Files and CSI: Miami.In addition he has also appeared in a number of films like The...
, and Laura Jordan
Laura Jordan (actress)
Laura Jordan is an Canadian actress. She played Kayla in Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead.-Biography:Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jordan lived in France for three years where she studied French at the University of Paris...
.
The film was released on DVD on October 7, 2008 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and opened at #9 at the DVD sales chart, making $1,492,635 off 62,000 sold DVD units. As per the latest figures, 200,000 units have been sold, translating to $4,307,361 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales/DVD rentals.
Development
Originally titled Joy Ride 2: End of the Road in promotional artwork, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead was filmed in British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, at Cache Creek
Cache Creek (British Columbia)
Cache Creek, originally Rivière de la Cache, is a tributary of the Bonaparte River in the Thompson Country of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, joining that river at the town of Cache Creek, British Columbia, which is located at the junction of the Trans-Canada and Cariboo...
, Kamloops and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
.
Like the original film, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, although unlike the original it did not enjoy a run in cinemas and was direct-to-DVD
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
.
Plot
The film begins with a trucker at a truck stopTruck stop
A truck stop is a commercial facility predicated on providing fuel, parking, and often food and other services to motorists and truck drivers...
in an unspecified rural location. It is night time and in a heavy rainstorm, and a hooker gets into a large, black Peterbilt
Peterbilt
Peterbilt Motors Company is an American manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty Class 5 through Class 8 trucks headquartered in Denton, Texas. Founded in 1939 Peterbilt operates manufacturing facilities in Denton, Texas , and Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec...
and offers her "services" to the trucker inside. The trucker is revealed to be Rusty Nail (portrayed by Mark Gibbon
Mark Gibbon
- Filmography :* Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead as Rusty Nail * Totally Awesome as Tv Coach * Stargate SG-1 as M'zel * The Chronicles of Riddick as Irgun * Smallville as Deputy...
), when he recites his phrase "I like the rain. Keeps everybody inside and washes everything clean." He asks the hooker to go out into the rain to get wet
Wetlook
Wetlook is the enjoyment of a person or people wearing wet clothing. It can also refer to the act of getting wet while wearing clothes, and having fun either in doing so or in watching others do it...
. When she is unnerved by this strange behavior and states she is leaving, Rusty Nail locks the doors and asks her to leave through the open window. He then shuts the window up half way as she is clambering out, trapping her with half her body hanging outside the truck. Rusty Nail then drives off, decapitating the hooker as he drives alongside a trailer attached to the truck.
The film then jumps to the new protagonists, Melissa and her fiancé Bobby (Nicki Aycox
Nicki Aycox
-Personal life:Aycox was born in Hennessey, Oklahoma. She has a younger brother, Steve. She speaks fluent German according to an interview in Jack magazine. She also comes from a Native American heritage.-Career:Aycox began performing at a young age...
and Nick Zano
Nick Zano
Nick Zano is an American actor and producer. He is best known for having played Vince in The WB's sitcom What I Like About You...
), a young engaged couple in their early twenties who are on a cross country road trip in a 1983 model Chevrolet Caprice
Chevrolet Caprice
The Chevrolet Caprice is a full-sized automobile produced by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors in North America for the 1965 through 1996 model years. Full-size Chevrolet sales peaked in 1965 with over a million sold. It was the most popular American car in the sixties and early seventies....
Wagon. They are heading across the Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, where they plan on getting married. Joining them for the ride is Melissa's sister Kayla (Laura Jordan
Laura Jordan (actress)
Laura Jordan is an Canadian actress. She played Kayla in Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead.-Biography:Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jordan lived in France for three years where she studied French at the University of Paris...
), who along the way also picks up her online boyfriend Nik (Kyle Schmid
Kyle Schmid
Kyle Schmid is a Canadian actor who starred as Henry Fitzroy in Lifetime's series Blood Ties. He has also guest starred in a number of television series including Degrassi: The Next Generation, Odyssey 5, The Zack Files and CSI: Miami.In addition he has also appeared in a number of films like The...
), a punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
.
When their car breaks down in the desert, the four find a seemingly abandoned house along a side road and in the barn they find a silver 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle
Chevrolet Chevelle
The Chevrolet Chevelle is a mid-sized automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors in three generations for the 1964 through 1977 model years. Part of the GM A-Body platform, the Chevelle was one of Chevrolet's most successful nameplates. Body styles include coupes, sedans,...
. Melissa, Bobby, Kayla and Nik decide to take the Chevelle as there doesn't seem to be anybody about and the car is in working order, however Melissa leaves a note in the house leaving her contact details to whoever may own the house and/or car.
Melissa receives a phone call from the person who owned the car they stole. Who then calls Melissa Goldilocks, revealing that he can see her. It appears somebody had followed them, as soon after Bobby disappears from a diner restroom and the others find a CB radio in their car with which Rusty Nail
Rusty Nail (Joyride)
Rusty Nail is a fictional character in the films Joy Ride and Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead. He is the antagonist and an unseen truck driver who hunts and kills his victims. However, in Joy Ride, different alternate endings ends up that Rusty Nail got killed. The theatrical cut is the only one in which...
talks to them. He orders them to destroy their cellphones and follow his orders if Bobby is to survive, and he has some quite nasty psychological mind game
Mind game
The term mind games refers to three main categories:* a largely conscious struggle for psychological one-upmanship, often employing passive–aggressive behavior to specifically demoralize or empower the thinking subject, making the aggressor look superior - 'mind games or power games'.* 'the...
s that create a bridge for gory
Splatter film
A splatter film or gore film is a subgenre of horror film that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, through the use of special effects and excessive blood and guts, tend to display an overt interest in the vulnerability of the human body and the...
, life-and-death situations. The group continues to follow Rusty Nail who promises them that they will be reunited soon, after Rusty requests for Kayla's middle finger, a reference to when Kayla flipped off the driver of a truck. (Rusty's)
The group cut a finger from a corpse and they reach a wrong trucker because Rusty already knew that they had broken the rules. Rusty cut off one finger of Bobby and put it in the glove compartment
Glove compartment
A glove compartment or glovebox, also known as a little cupboard, is a compartment built into the dashboard, located over the front-seat passenger's footwell in an automobile, often used for miscellaneous storage. The name derives from the original purpose of the compartment, to store gloves...
of the vehicle which was later discovered by the group.
Rusty later instructs Melissa to "strip
Striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
down to her underwear" in front of his truck, but it turns out not to be him, but some other trucker rusty nail had instructed to be there. Rusty nail soon pulls up at a bar in Utah and Bobby tries to escape. He gains the attention of the barman who has gone outside to smoke, but rusty nail catches him and uses a Chainsaw Chain to cut off the barman's jaw. He then commands Nik to walk through a party dressed as a female and to buy crystal meth. Nik refuses to do this, and Melissa takes a knife to his throat and Nik cries, confessing he is scared and that his tattoos are fake. Nik walks up to the party in the clothes we saw on the hooker earlier, but at the party Rusty kidnaps Nik and drives off. Melissa and Kayla chase them, and Rusty gets behind them. He rams them a few times and then the car flips over, and Kayla's leg is pinned and instructs Melissa to go because he's going to ram the car again. Melissa jumps at the last second as instructed, while Kayla is killed in the exploding car.
He takes Bobby and Nik back to his home, and has them play a game with dice. In this game, whatever one person rolls makes the other person suffer. Various things happen to them, like branding them with a rusty nail in the shape of an "R", being hit in the kneecap, etc. Once Bobby rolls a double one snake eyes
Snake eyes
In gambling, snake eyes is the outcome of rolling the dice in a game and getting only one pip on each die. The pair of pips resembles a pair of eyes, which is appended to the term 'snake' because of the long-standing association of this word with treachery and betrayal...
, Rusty kills Nik by stabbing him with a steel bar through the top of his head. Melissa then breaks into a police station and steals a motor bike and races off to find Bobby. Rusty nail hangs Bobby by his neck in the back of his truck. Melissa comes to rescue him by distracting Rusty Nail with the police motorcycle, by parking it by the side of the truck. Melissa overpowers the killer with a few well placed hits to the back with a shovel and drives away in his truck accidentally disconnecting the cab from the rest of the truck (leaving Bobby behind) ... only for Rusty to manage to grab on to the side and end up on the roof of the vehicle. She drives until the sun comes up and ends up plowing into a gas tank, causing the truck to catch fire. Melissa jumps from the truck as Rusty takes control, but it's too late and he drives off the side of a cliff, the truck exploding on impact.
Bobby escapes from the trailer he was hung up in and meets back up with Melissa, their ordeal finally over. Later in the middle of nowhere, a girl is stuck on the side of the road as her car has broken down. A big red Peterbilt truck (with trailer) drives past her, only to back up. She explains what's happened and asks for a ride. As the truck door opens you can see that the driver has a badly burnt right arm. The girl climbs in and a familiar voice says "You'll catch your death out there" before laughing ominously as the credits roll.