The Road Killers

Plot synopsis:
Jack Lerolland (Christopher Lambert), his brother Glen (Christopher McDonald) and family and friends go for a short country trip. When young Rich Lerolland (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is nearly run down, his father takes off after the car that was involved. The driver, a psychopath named Cliff (Craig Sheffer) leads a gang of thugs. When Cliff kills Jack's brother in a car crash, this is the start of the chain of events which will terrorize the Lerolland family. With the female members of the group being molested and Jack thought to be killed, the other members of Cliff's gang go to their hideout.
Meanwhile, Jack is revived and is able to travel to a police station but is thrown into a cell and told to wait there, while the on-duty officer goes to check out the gang's hideout. The police officer arrives later at the hideout but is shot dead by a surprised Cliff. After this incident, Cliff becomes suspicious of some of his gang members and kills one of them. At the station, Jack and Hauser (John Pyper-Ferguson), Cliff's brother break out and are free. Jack is tricked by Hauser into waiting at the station, while Cliff's brother takes the police car. Jack subsequently takes another car and reaches the hideout to free his friends and family.
Cliff has already escaped the hideout with his brother (whom Cliff later murders) and Jack's daughter. They continue to evade police capture, until they reach a major railway crossing. Jack who has been following Cliff, chases him onto the other side of the crossing and a fight ensues, with Jack gaining the upper hand and handcuffing Cliff to his car. Jack then moves the car onto one of the tracks and leaves it to be smashed by an approaching train.

Tags: revenge, cult, murder, sadist

Review:
But I think what a lot of the reviews fail to acknowledge is the humor, dark comedy, and other virtues this film has to offer.
I think it's a movie that improves with time because stylistically it now feels classically dated and rugged in an early 1990's sort of way that is mostly lost in modern films, although 'No Country for Old Men' touches on a similar style, as do Robert Rodriguez films.
It's a satisfying movie because the pacing is good, the acting is good with at times excellent characterization, and there is a fair amount of drama that is actually quite compelling.
It leads to a certain amount of excitement that isn't ever boring, and it makes for a good "guy" movie; the sort of film that if you don't take it too seriously, offers a certain likability of the joking villains and a general lightness, recklessness, and irreverence.
From the ridiculous IMDb rating of less than 5.0, I had zero expectations for "The Road Killers".
This movie is definitely one of the most underrated films I have reviewed.
Craig Sheffer's psycho, Charles Manson-like performance, rivals some of the best bad guy actors out there, and instantly brings to mind several of Don Stroud's villainous characters.
Christopher Lambert fans will no doubt be disappointed, as Sheffer completely dominates film.
This one reminds me of the outer limits ultra-DIY stuff that Miramax was experimenting with in the '80s before they went "legit" with "respectable" art-house fare around 1989."The Road Killers" is from a few years after that but you can still see the yearning to be on the cool, cutting edge of the alternafence.
It's also extremely interesting (at first, at least) because you get to see sneak peeks at very young versions of some of today's biggest actors (Josh Brolin, David Arquette, Chris MacDonald, a 7 or 8-year old Joseph Gordon-Levitt).This film doesn't take itself seriously in the least, and that could very well have been intentional as it seems to deliberately ape the sadistic-teen-hoods-go-on-a-rampage genre ala "Hot Rods to Hell." The lead thug, Craig Sheffer (never a very good actor, unfortunately, and a very ham-fisted villain in many flicks) does and says all the hateful things at all the right times, but can't get beyond his ridiculous Motley Crue wig (I really hope it is a wig, for his sake).
Brolin and Arquette have scant little to do, and the "good guys," with the exception of MacDonald, never get us very revved up to root for them in the first place.The script is a complete disaster with long, intermittent stretches where there is no action whatsoever, and the characters are too shallow and boring to expound upon.
This is supposed to be an action picture, but it ends up as more of an overlong parody of one.A huge, wasted opportunity, as nobody had the guts to make deliberately different mainstream films back in the day, except Miramax.
Pretty decent little road movie thriller.
Centred on a family travelling through the desert who p!ss off some travelling scumbags and end up in all sorts of trouble, it's a fun b grade joint with a few rewards for those with the patience for this kind of thing.
And worth noting that this is one of those little seen b pictures that appear to have an eclectic cast through the passage of time, with Michelle Forbes, Josh Brolin, David Arquette and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, all of which have gone on to some kind of wider fame.
Gordon-Levitt doesn't make much of an impression here, probably since he was pretty young at the time, but Brolin and Arquette both do well, with the latter being an infinity less irritating than he was in the Scream franchise despite here playing what on paper should be a very irritating character indeed, a sort of dopey idiot savant type in thrall to the main baddie, a wonderfully snarling and maniacal Craig Sheffer.
Brolin is a conscience of sorts to the general villains, and pretty sympathetic too, off centre enough to be a little creepy, but with a scared likability to him.
The nominal lead here is Christopher Lambert, who is pretty wooden, not especially good but has a certain presence, watchable enough.
The film is at its best when dealing with its antagonists though, and the writing is often pretty entertaining, some dialogue made me chuckle out loud and I was generally smiling, there are even one or two surprises in amongst the formulaic set up too.
The film moves at a smart pace, looks pretty nice and is even intermittently stylish, too many punches are pulled in terms of the violence but it still muster effective tension, it's a pretty fun ride while it lasts.
Director Deran Sarafian clearly knows his way around this sort of film but the action is sometimes irritatingly edited and the film is too skewed in favour of its villains for the audience to feel much for the imperilled family.
The directors dad Richard (Vanishing Point) pops up briefly and brother Tedi wrote the script, so its kind of a Sarafian family picnic.
This film sure ain't a patch on Vanishing Point though.
Anyhoo, this is worth a look if it turns up on late night TV or any other time where you have nothing better to do.
Not a Lambert movie.
I'm a huge fan of Christopher Lambert and I've wanted to see this movie for some time, I finally got the chance to see it this week.When I first sat down to watch "The Road Killers" or "Road Flower" as it's known here in England, I wasn't to happy with it, Lambert looks out of place in this movie, it's not the kind of movie someone like Lambert should be in.
As the movie "drove on" I started to enjoy it.
I didn't expect this small low budget movie to be any good but it's a "time killer" all the same.Craig Sheffer plays the eerie mentally-retarded psychopath whose after Lambert and his family when Sheffer kills Lambert's best friend, in a road rage incident.
Sheffer is also accompanied with a gang of punks who drive around with him terrorizing everything and everyone.
Sheffer plays Cliff, one f***** up son of a bitch, psychopath.Not a bad movie but if your a Lambert fan there's better Lambert movies out there.6/10.
This movie is so bad it has dented all of my expectations for the new Terminator movie as the story lacks a complete sense of direction.Basically, we are introduced to two families driving through the desert.
Sure they are crazy but it still doesn't make any sense at all!The entire film has the atmosphere of those god awful tv movies (take Motorcycle Gang for example) and despite a relatively well-known cast, fails to deliver on every level.
In the end you find yourself rooting for the bad guys as Christopher Lambert's acting is just terrible, not to mention the look on his face.However, credit is due where credit is due.
The lead 'Road Killer' Cliff is played with genuine menace by Craig Sheffer as is David Arquettes character of Bobby.Good characters still ain't enough though to salvage this mess of a film and to be perfectly honest, you are better spending 100 minutes of your life cutting grass with a pair of scissors.All in all, The Road Killers (or Roadflower as it is known in the UK) wins itself a meagre 3 out of 10..
After a young boy is almost run over by a maniac on a highway, a re-encounter and confrontation by the boy's father with the driver sets off conflicts with a car full of maniacs.Okay, so the opening credits are just a tad too long.
And the Netflix version is full screen, despite the fact it is known the film was shot in widescreen (like most films).
But let us look past these nitpicks.What we get is a fun film with a solid cast: Christopher Lambert, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Arquette, Josh Brolin, Christopher McDonald.
Some (like Arquette) part of the 90s zeitgeist, and some (like Brolin and Gordon-Levitt) who had yet to fully bloom.
In retrospect, from 2015, this not only exemplifies the sort of videos that were fun to rent in the 90s, but provides a nice glimpse of some talented folks early in their careers..
The old standby of a family driving through the desert and being terrorized by young punks in souped up cars is trotted out again.
Craig Sheffer plays the leader of the gang and Christopher Lambert is the family man who has to protect his loved ones.
If you have 90 minutes to kill, there are worse movies you can see.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsIt's a shame,'cos another collaboration between Christopher Lambert and director Deran Sarafian by the name of Gunmen was one I found to be very enjoyable.I've heard one or two people criticize Chris's acting ability.This is unjustified.He's okay,it's just,like all actors,he picks bad scripts sometimes.This being one of them.In fact,the majority (if not all) of the film's faults can be found in the script,because it's so badly written,not least because we find it so hard to offer any empathy to Christopher McDonald's duh-duh father character,who's such a caring dad he lets his son wonder out into the road unsupervised in the first place,never mind the 'bad guys' who,though kind of going a little too fast,were on an open road with not much traffic visibly in front of them.Just to stare at a bloody flower as well!You're gonna be seeing a lot more of them in your life kid,believe me.And what was with that girl bad guy,wondering around with an umbrella like she was in a Legal & General advert or something?One to disappear without a trace into the confines of DTV hell,me thinks.*.
I'm glad this rubbish is quite hard to find even with its good cast and plenty of reasons to be more accessible.
Thankfully it's not, and if someone is hiding this mess from viewers is because this movie is THAT awful.
"The Road Killers" is a stupid idea designed from stupid minds who think only stupid people would watch it.
The problem was that they cast interesting actors to make us hooked in it, so they end up grabbing well intentioned viewers who endure this tasteless junk.
Stupid people will enjoy this big time, of course, they don't watch a movie with their brains turned on.
To present good yet hot tempered folks who out of their stupidity decide to risk their lives for "honorable acts" like revenging the son who almost got hit by a car conducted by bunch of jerks.
That's what Christopher McDonald father does when poor kid Joseph Gordon-Levitt miraculously escapes from being run over by Craig Sheffer and his crazy family formed by Adrienne Shelly, Josh Brolin and David Arquette, a sort of like Manson family of the roads.
So, father goes on a pointless and dull chase against the idiots, dies in a horrible way (the turning point of the movie when you realize it's all downhill from here) and indirectly causes the kidnap of Christopher Lambert's family along with them.
I won't bother going in telling you that Highlander will play the hero and try to save everybody while meeting other problems in the way such as stupid sheriff (Michael Greene) and another psycho.
All the characters seem to have a severe case of bad memory where they repeat themselves time and time again.
I won't blame much on the actors because they somehow manage to be enjoyable at times, they convince a little, but not enough to make you deeply connected.
I didn't find myself thrilled by the action presented, I just felt completely terrorized into see how ridiculous this was.
Best case scenario: well, it's useful to show how good folks can turn into the most idiotic when they act by impulse, trying to mess with people they don't know.
That's the only worthy lesson from here, but I think you can find similar in better pictures out there.I hope that in the years to come someone from the cast apologize for being part of this.
I hope they'll say: "It was a terrible movie, an even worst shooting, very problematic but I needed the money.
A bit like a 90s version of 'The Hitcher'.
When I first saw this film a few years ago, I wasn't exactly impressed with it, but after a while I changed my mind and wanted to see it again.
I recently obtained a videotape of the film and I'm so glad that I decided to give this film a second chance as it is a very enjoyable nail-biting thriller.As I've said in other reviews, I think it's unfair how much flak Christopher Lambert gets as he is a capable actor and can carry a film.
Ironically though, even though he has top-billing here, his character Jack is sidelined for most of the film.
The focus instead is on the 'road killers' of the title: a bunch of worryingly crazy guys who drive around in a blue Cadillac.
Craig Sheffer is excellent as Cliff, their leader, a psychopath of the highest order.
One review I read said that Sheffer's performance was over the top.
I certainly disagree as I think he is excellent in the role, making Cliff a fully rounded character.
The other three members of his gang are all well-performed by their actors as well, particularly David Arquette as an idiot savant and Josh Brolin as the one of the gang whose conscience troubles him.Lambert meanwhile just plays the character of Jack very well.
I thought the film was a bit like THE HITCHER in a couple of respects.
Maybe it isn't that much similar, but there are moments that reminded me of that Rutger Hauer film.Anyway, Deran Sarafian and his brother Tedi (who wrote) have produced an excellent film here, and I strongly recommend it.
Here's hoping a DVD release with director's commentary will come out somewhere down the road..
Not a bad movie.
Okay, so family on vacation that is terrorized by some local thugs while on the highway.
Was it the hotheaded father (MacDonald) who acted like an ass in the diner while confronting the thug who almost ran his kid who was standing in the middle of the road down?
Or was it the nubile 16 year old daughter of the other main character(lambert) who tries to seduce the same thug in the diner's bathroom after seeing him take a leak in the toilet.
Granted she didn't know who was at at the time but seriously, what the you know what was she thinking?!
And all because she is bored.So with those scenarios on the table the movie quickly escalates to Daddy #!
After some time in a locked room thug comes to collect from nubile 16 year old, keeps her as hostage while going on wild car ride with his long lost brother, and, well you'll have to watch the rest of the movie to see what happens; good luck because it's hard to find.
She, Scheffer, Brolin, Arquette and Adrienne have more screen time that the rest of the cast so we get to know them.
The ending was good.
If you're looking for a good movie to waste an afternoon with try this.
Glen's (Christopher McDonald) young son (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is almost killed by a maniac on the road.
Glen insists on confronting the culprit (Craig Sheffer).
Glen is tragically burned to death in a car accident during a showdown with cars, and it's up to Jack (Christopher Lambert) to get revenge, especially when his family gets in dangerThis started off very auspiciously.
I was really beginning to wonder why this movie is rated so low.
It tosses away all the progress it made for unimaginative storytelling, and extremely poor character development.
Too many characters disappear during key times, all for the sake of focusing on the villains.
Christopher Lambert's screen time isn't as big as you might think.
Lambert tries, but he's defeated by the script.
Craig Sheffer is the biggest problem for me in this movie.
He has WAY too much screen time, especially when his role is as mundane as it was.
Josh Brolin has an unmemorable early role as a sensitive person.
David Arquette does what he does best, be eccentric.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt shows why he's such a sought after actor these days.
Final Thoughts: I was going to give this movie a rating in the upper 4's, but I really liked a bit of the first half.
There are some memorable scenes, but Craig Sheffer & routine plotting ruin it.
It's worth a watch I suppose, but I wouldn't go out of my way.
Quite possibly the worst film I've seen this year [spoilers].
"Chris Lambert & Michele Forbes, and the title sounds like Road Rage at the nth power.
How bad could it be?"Bad. No redeeming qualities whatsoever: A young boy watches his father die slowly and painfully.
A dad kills his nemesis in clear view of his family and about 200 police officers -- and that's the happy ending.Clearly Lambert hasn't quite mastered English yet; if he had understood the script he would have RAN from this film....
Wow, I've really found myself not being able to bring myself to care about, much less root for anyone in this ridiculous film.
Not the moronic 'bad guys', nor the equally intelligence- deficient 'good guys', the latter of which was the chief person responsible for the idiotic proceedings when he refused to stay out of the middle of the road admiring a flower of all things while a car was coming.Riidiculous plot aside, granted a very hard thing to overcome, the acting is sub-par.
Furthermore any tension or excitement that this film might have been able to muster is rendered moot by the viewer not being able to relate to idiots.