HIGHWAY TO HELL [1991]

 "IF THERE'S ONE THING WORSE THAN DYING AND GOING TO HELL, IT'S NOT DYING -- AND GOING TO HELL!" 

OK, I love this movie and I don't know why it took me so long to see it.  Perhaps because it was never really on my radar.  It's not a horror comedy . . . but it's a horror film with a lot of funny stuff in it.  I mean, a lot.  Which probably DOES make it a horror comedy, I guess.  All I know is that it was directed by the person who directed DROP DEAD FRED; so you draw your own conclusions. 

Charlie Sykes and his girlfriend Rachel are running away to Las Vegas in his broken-down Pinto/pizza delivery car to elope.  Paranoid the cops might be after them, they pull off the interstate to an unused backroad and stop at a Last Chance gas station where they are warned by Sam the proprietor that it's unwise to drive this road. 

Heedless of the warning, Charlie decides it's safer and Sam warns him that he will see two Joshua trees on the road; do not stop for any reason after passing the first Joshua tree until you pass the second one -- then it will be safe.  Naturally, Charlie falls asleep and nearly crashes his car in between the two Joshua trees.  A souped-up fire-spewing patrol car appears and a demonic looking cop (with Sgt. Bedlam on his shirt) pulls the car door off Charlie's Pinto and throw's Rachel into the back of his patrol car.  Sgt. Bedlam whales the crap out of Charlie and secures Rachel with a pair of handcuffs.  I mean, handcuffs.  A pair of moving zombie hands attached to a handcuff chain which grab onto Rachel's wrist and won't let go!  This is just the beginning of the bonkers crazy stuff that happens.  If you want some idea of the feeling of HIGHWAY TO HELL, think Terry Gilliam's TIME BANDITS and that'll give you some idea. Charlie returns to Sam who explains that the road has a portal that leads to Hell; the same thing happened to Sam when he and his girlfriend were driving on that same road decades ago.  Sam lends Charlie his ultra-cool vintage automobile and tells Charlie that if he drives back and forth between those Joshua trees and "believes", he will be able to go to Hell and hopefully rescue Rachel.  It's a race against time because, if Sgt. Bedlam manages to drive across Hell and deliver Rachel to the Devil for his bride, she'll be lost forever . . . and so will Charlie be stuck in Hell.

 

HIGHWAY TO HELL is filled with wacky setpieces and lots of familiar faces.  Charlie is stopped by a hitchhiking temptress played by Lita Ford. 

A stop at a zombie-cop-filled Pluto's Donut Shop finds almost the entire Stiller family:  Jerry Stiller as a Desk Cop,

Anne Meara as Medea the waitress

and Ben Stiller as the cook.  The aforementioned Sgt. Bedlam is played by C.J. Graham who played Jason in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI:  JASON LIVES.  The aforeseen Sam is played by esteemed character actor Richard Farnsworth (THE GREY FOX, MISERY). 

Kevin Peter Hall (PREDATOR, WITHOUT WARNING) plays the blind ferryman Charon. 

Patrick Bergen (BRAVEHEART) plays Mr. Beezle (I wonder who HE is?!?!). 

We even find Attila the Hun (Ben Stiller again), Cleopatra (Amy Stiller) and Adolf Hitler (Gilbert Gottfried) sharing a table. 

Our young runaways Charley and Rachel are played by Rob Lowe's brother Chad Lowe (I keep resisting the urge to call him 'Shad Roe') and Kristy Swanson (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, DEADLY FRIEND). 

HIGHWAY TO HELL is laugh-out-loud hilarious much of the time and is a witty horror/fantasty much in the ALICE IN WONDERLAND vein which makes for a wildly entertaining ride!