About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Cliché-ridden torture porn drivel.



Pros

• Quirky musical score

Cons

• Cliché-ridden
• Repetitive action
• Poor acting
• Flat characters

Description

• Starring Kane Hodder, Antoinette Nikprelaj, Jerry Reid, Maria Hildreth, Paul Elia, Virginia Bryant, April Canning
• Directed by Tommy Brunswick
• Rated NR
• DVD Release Date: August 2, 2011

Guide Review - 'Exit 33' DVD Review

Although Matt thinks five-year high school reunions are a dumb idea (he's right), he decides to follow his girlfriend Angie to their old school and surprise her with a marriage proposal.

Their school apparently is in the middle of nowhere (off of...Exit 33!) with only one gas station within a 30-mile radius: Ike's Last Chance Gas. It also apparently has some sort of "people magnet" inside, because everyone has to stop there: Matt, Angie, their friends Eva and Dax, two other random women, a couple of locals and a lawman who happens by. Unfortunately for them, they all find out that Ike's gas station is a "last chance" in more ways than one; that is, he kidnaps, tortures and kills women in some sort of sick tribute to his dead wife. Unfortunately for us, we get to watch. Dead-ed or undead-ed?

Most cheap direct-to-video horror movies nowadays mask their inept filmmaking with slick cover art; Exit 33 can't even manage to do that. The cheap DVD cover showcases the film's only selling point: Kane Hodder, famous for playing Jason Vorhees in several Friday the 13ths and Victor Crowley in the Hatchet movies. Hodder is no great thespian, but he's more compelling than rest of this stiff cast.

Perhaps the filmmakers know this, because he occupies the bulk of the camera time. Angie's on screen so little, in fact, that it's hard to even tell if she's supposed to be the so-called "final girl" -- particularly since she's so bad at it. She, like the other characters, are helpless victims in a threadbare story that's just basically a series of one person after another wandering into the gas station. It's repetitive, derivative, dull, cheap and feels much longer than its 80-minute run time. But other than that, it's a "gas."

The DVD

Special features include commentary, deleted scenes and an interview.

Movie: D
DVD: C



Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the distributor. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.