Exit Speed

Plot synopsis:
In Texas, Sergeant Archie Sparks (Fred Ward), an MP, has finally caught up with AWOL Corporal Meredith Cole (Julie Mond), who was accused of assaulting a commanding officer. Archie turns his back on Meredith for just a second, and there she goes off and running again.
Cole finds herself on an American Auto Coach bus on her way to El Paso, along with an eclectic group of passengers all geared up for an uneventful ride, that is until the bus passes a group of meth-addicted, nomadic bikers who taunt the passengers by doing all kinds of motorcycle stunts all around the bus.
Before long, one of the bikers makes a mistake and ends up under the wheels of the bus, and the rest of the bikers want revenge. The driver, Danny Gunn (David Rees Snell) stops the bus to help, and when Danny gets out, one of the bikers kills Danny. Stray shots from the biker also wound Meredith and passenger Joey Ryan (Danielle Beacham).
Another passenger, Jerry Yarbro (Gregory Jbara), a high school football coach who was accused of assaulting a student, retrieves the biker's weapon, while Walter Lindley (Wally White), another passenger, retrieves Danny's keys. The surviving passengers drive away in the bus in an effort to get away from the bikers. As they flee down the highway, Joey dies from her injuries.
The rest of the passengers include single mother Maudie McMinn (Lea Thompson), moody, wayward father Sam Cutter (Desmond Harrington), tough woman Desiree (Kelli Dawn Hancock), her extremely skittish boyfriend Duke (Nick Sowell), Annabel Drake (Alice Greczyn) a vegan who happens to be a competitive archer, and Ramon Vargas (Everett Sifuentes) a Spanish-speaking electrician.
At Jerry's insistence, they take the bus down a side road. The bikers force the bus off the road at an abandoned junkyard, where the bus crashes, killing Walter. The passengers build a makeshift bunker that the bikers surround. And Jerry, who seems to have anger management issues, still has the gun. The group is now on the defensive against the vengeful bikers. But they realize that in order to survive, they must go on the offensive and fight back against the bikers.
That evening, they make a plan to hold out in the junkyard while Maudie, (a marathoner), crosses 20 miles of desert to reach the nearest town for help. As the remaining survivors fight back with captured guns, Annabel's target bow, and Ramon's jury-rigged cannon, Maudie gets away from the compound. Maudie meets up with Archie, and they kill some of the bikers.
The two make it back to the compound during the middle of the confrontation, in which the remaining bikers injure Ramon and kill Duke, Desiree, and Jerry. After the remaining bikers are killed, the survivors—Sam, Meredith, Annabel, and Ramon—are driven to the nearest town by Maudie and Archie.
Later, at a hospital, Maudie reunites with her daughters, and Meredith again evades the army, this time with Archie's help. Meredith joins Sam and Annabel as they head back out on the road in a minivan.

Tags: murder

Review:
Exit Speed was an interesting movie.
It keep you watching and rooting for the good guys.To put a small synopsis there for you I will say that it was about passengers on a bus that was kidnapped and thru their strengths, weakness, talents, and idiosyncrasies, they band together to survive this crack smoking, nose piercing, biker group from Hell.I liked it and I think you will too..
The trailer looked good so I picked it up expecting yet another low budget, straight-to-DVD action flick with small appearances by a couple of semi-recognizable stars (Fred Ward, Tremors; Lea Thompson, Back to the Future).
The characters start out as one dimensional cardboard cut-outs that all find themselves on the same bus to El Paso (ex-GI chick with mysterious past, angry coach, horny teen, artsy chick, foreign guy, worried mom...
I'll even go as far as to say that there is a character in this movie who ranks among Ripley and Sarah Connor in the most bad*ss woman in cinema category.If I have to nag about something, though, it's the pacing.
There are a couple of long stretches in this movie where little to no action happens, but I guess that's where character development fills in nicely.I'll end by saying I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good action and that this movie deserves a much higher rating than its current 5.0/10..
In a nutshell, 'Exit Speed' is a thriller about a group of passengers travelling to Texas when, on the way, they are attacked by a murderous biker gang.
It looks like a past midnight TV movie or a straight-to-video flick.
I think they had two copies, total for this very fine and very exciting 'road warrior' kind of movie.OK, I must confess to having a Jones for Lea Thompson, who gets a top tier billing in this ultra-violent survival adventure.
She goes from scared stiff to resolute in a big hurry.If I had anything to complain about, it might be that the author(s) put two of the better characters out of action, as in dead, very early in the story.
Some of the best action happens at night but in the way it was all photographed, there's really nothing missing.There is definitely a fine sub-routine in this film, too, revolving around the moral conundrums facing Good Mom ( Lea Thompson's role as an ultra-yuppie returning from a funeral ), and The Not At All Bad Girl, which is Alice Greczyn as a Vegan illustrator and role-playing archer.Julie Mond sparkles in this film, for sure, as the Really Really Bad Girl -- who is an Army deserter and Iraq veteran -- and Fred Ward does a great job as a typical Fred Ward character, i.e., long-suffering.As noted this film is short at 88 minutes but it's worth the rental and it is worth the time and yes, I've watched it twice already.
Exit Speed opens with a female AWOL Army soldier being caught up with by Sergeant Archie Sparks (an underused Fred Ward, star of Tremors, one of my favorite b- movies ever), whose job it is to go after errant soldiers.
Sometimes in advance, for effect.But wouldn't you know it, as soon as Sparks turns his head, that darn Private Cole is off and running again, hopping onto a Greyhound bus on its way across Texas.
Unaware of the dangers of such a trip because of lessons not learned from everything from the Texas Chainsaws to the moronic Jeepers Creepers (or The Fast and the Furious, as it turns out), the bus is soon surrounded by a group of lunatic street bikers, who do wheelies all around the bus at freeway speeds and offer the passengers a series of alarming scowls.
Before long, one of the idiot bikers makes a mistake and ends up under the wheels of the bus, and the rest of them take it personally.I'm reminded of the fascinating contents of that passenger airliner that crashed at the beginning of Lost.
There's the AWOL soldier, a girl who once dated a biker and so is an encyclopedia of knowledge about everything they all need to know about their new enemies, a girl who is rated a "Dark Elf" in archery, for crying out loud, a football coach with anger issues, even a bus driver who once drove the six miles into Baghdad airport, reportedly the most dangerous stretch of road in the world.
It is awesomely stupid, but those of you looking for an action movie that makes up for the total absence of cleverness with an few extra levels of violence, this is your movie.
But those of you who might be driven to smack your forehead when you hear a girl say she can't shoot an arrow at one of the men trying to kill her and all the other passengers because she's VEGAN, then you might be better advised to run for the hills, bikers or not.
I don't know why this girl thought she might have to eat the man that she killed, but even better was the guy who mentioned that he once tried to get a job singing in a wedding chapel but was afraid he might screw it up.
My thoughts are that if you can screw up a job like that then you had plenty of problems even before the bikers attacked your tour bus.
There is something to be enjoyed here for people who really aren't looking for much, but the truth is that the biker that got run over is all we're ever given as far as a reason for why the whole movie is happening in the first place, which makes it feel like a pointless exercise in showing random people killing random bikers.
As it is, it comes across like a tour bus barreling across the Texas countryside with no driver, and us stuck in the front seat looking through the windshield..
The pleasure taken translates into my note, a solid 7/10.Then I watched that extra on the DVD, the making of, and I couldn't believe how tiny the budget actually was.
When this movie starts it looks like a normal TV movie where something dramatic will happen.
And because you don't expect these normal characters to commit these actions it can be shocking (Compared to Mad Max 2 Exit Speed is much more cruel and that is saying something).
I believe this is the first "review" I ever give something on IMDb. But I felt I had something to contribute.I just watched this from the DVD and I must say it is a very simple movie.
(Perhaps that is the trick?) There are several interesting characters in Exit Speed, with my personal favorites being "the princess" and the mother-of-three.
What a magical beauty!) Also, again, the way the movie manages to develop these characters in the short runtime is quite impressive.As for the plot, I don't think there's much that needs explaining or commenting.
Hop on this movie's bus, get behind the wheel, and enjoy some wild driving!.
I saw "Exit Speed" (2008), in Dallas, at Studio Movie Grill.
David Rees Small would add more action to the film, and would make the movie even more interesting.
At some point, the survivors could have grabbed a gun, taken one of the motorcycles, and sought help (in this way, there would have been more survivors).All of the cast and crew do a wonderful job, and the movie keeps us well entertained.
And, Everett Sifuentes, who plays the Spanish-speaking Mr. Vargas, provides comedy relief and steals the show!I hope this movie opens doors for these obviously artistic and creative people, who are very talented.
Lots of cast and crew were there; it was different since we don't usually have this kind of excitement in Big D.Lea Thompson and crew did a wonderful job of keeping us entertained, but the Spanish speaking Mr. Vargas (played by Everett Sifuentes) stole the show.
Subtitles were not provided, but that was much of the charm.There will be no Oscar nominations, but for a new production company getting off the ground, a cast and crew that consisted of a lot of 'no-name' actors, and limited special effects (by today's standards), the movie was very entertaining and had a lot of great lines..
Action films that really were just there for fun.This one takes place in Texas.
This time they run afoul of some scumbag bikers.Lea Thompson (Back to the Future I and II) gave a stirring performance.
They used whatever they could find to stay alive., and some (Alice Greczyn) found strength they didn't know existed.A fun movie..
An enjoyable return to the 'what if everybody was in the desert and wanted to kill everyone on the other side with just the resources they can salvage...' The kind of thing we used to enjoy on video in the 80's with a couple of well recognisable talents from great 80's movies.
Leah Thompson - still got it and looking just as lovely, Fred Ward just as gritty, and Desmond Harrington every bit as good as he is in TV's Dexter.
Never dull, never predictable and quite some violent action give Exit Speed the right ingredients for a gratuitous normal folks fighting back scenario.
More than adequate talent makes this picture a great DVD watch for fans of straight out action..
and I'm not even usually a fan of action movies, i just happened to know someone working on it.Im not sure if this is going to have a national release, but if it comes out near you, it would be well worth your time!I suppose there were a few things that could have been done differently, but I don't even remember at this point.Overall, I thought it was great, considering it had a (considerably) low budget.
This movie is about a group of holiday bus travelers that, when attacked, accidentally run over two bikers.
The rest of the bikers rally to try to kill the passengers on the bus.
The biker gang is apparently all mute because none of them utter a word throughout the movie.
The movie did a poor job of re-using bike actors after the first version of them is killed off.
I would suggest waiting until this movie comes to cable to satisfy any curiosity you may have about whether it's worth watching.
Read in the Dallas Morning News that Exit Speed was filmed here in the Dallas area, which got my attention (any locals remember Semi-Tough?).
Was informed at the time that it would not be playing locally for long, so I might suggest that anyone looking for a good movie to see this weekend do so.
A great little survival Thriller with a cast of great characters!!!
A bunch of people on a coach on xmas eve are traveling through texas when an accident causes a gang of psycho bikers to attack the coach & it runs off the lonesome road & into an old junkyard & there is where it gets really exciting.
Desmond Harrington from Wrong Turn & Ghost Ship is one of the passengers & he's really cool in this & brings yet another good & serious performance to his ordinary guy role.
Fred Ward is also really great as an old timer from the Army tracking one of the passengers down, we also have some incredible performances from some very strong women characters like from lea Thompson!!!
A great small cast trying to find weapons & survive the night against faceless evil bikers & IT'S great fun, the type of easy watching late night Thriller that's made on a tiny budget but with real heart.
Exit Speed is a rare excellent low budget exciting Thriller!!!
He has made a name for himself in the horror Thriller Genre & he has a good serious screen presence like the old school B-movie character actors like Tom Atkins, Robert forster & Christopher George, Harrington to me is todays version of that type of genre actor.
The cast is excellent & the performances are all great really great,lea Thompson gives a fantastic powerful & emotional perfect that elevates this low budget B-movie way above the usual flicks,she is a strong woman with a tough back story!!!
EXIT SPEED really is a special little film as the there is so much care taken to give each character some back story, each character on the coach is going through something just like real people it's really well made.
Just by looking at the cover/poster for "Exit Speed", then you know that this is going to be one of those movies.
But still, there is something oddly alluring about these movies that makes us come back and watch them.
Perhaps it is because they tend to be some overly campy, or because there might be a snowball's chance in Hell that the movie will surprise everyone and turn out to be good."Exit Speed", however, did not turn out to be one of those movies that just blindsides you and turn out to be interesting or particularly entertaining.One of the things that actually made me sit down to watch "Exit Speed", despite knowing well enough that the chances that this would be another low budget failure of a thriller, was because the movie had Lea Thompson and Fred Ward in it.The storyline is probably what makes this yet another of those run-of-the-mill movies that flood the market and fail to make an outstanding notification of itself.
"Exit Speed" is about a group of people on a bus that fall prey to a gang of bikers.Aside from the questionable storyline, then the characters in "Exit Speed" also turned out to be mechanical and one-dimensional.
That means that you, as a spectator, doesn't really care about any of the characters in the movie.The effects in "Exit Speed" were simple, but they served their purpose well enough.
And while I did see the movie to the end, I can't really claim to have been properly entertained by what I witnessed in "Exit Speed"..
Exit Speed has no big stars and not much production value, but it offers an agreeable enough entertainment adventure.
I actually think that this could have been a solid big screen movie with an upgraded cast and a bigger budget.The plot basically pits some everyday bus passengers against a biker gang out in the middle of nowhere.
Watch it, if these kinds of movies are your thing..
The biker starts shooting killing the bus driver and others.
They manage to kill the biker but the rest of his friends come looking for revenge.
The biker gang seems more like central casting rejects.
Potentially good movie ruined by score..
I was excited about seeing this movie after noticing that a few actors I really enjoy watching were part of the cast.
A good score works in sync with the plot of a movie and helps invoke the emotions that the director is trying to make the audience feel.
This movie reminds me of action films of the 90's ...in a good way!!!!!!!.
The beginning starts off a little slow but towards the middle you get some decent action, my only complaint would be character build up.
We don't really know who has the primary role in the film, also it seems the characters who kissed at the end caught me off guard, I suppose because I was expecting the love interest to be the Army Girl.
really loved Fred Ward cant' get enough of watching him in movies..
I thought that the idea of total ordinary people getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere against a bunch of lawless attackers in the middle of the desert was a pretty good story line...
I found the side bits with Fred Ward as a military cop chasing AWOL soldiers better than the main thrust of people being attacked by the gang.
I think they work better because they don't feel like a bumped up TV movie, having an edge that the rest of the film really doesn't have.
Sound like a lurid, suspenseful movie?
Exit Speed is one of those cheap, unoriginal looking action thrillers, that often play on cable, and this one is no exception.
This plays off like a cheap version of Mad Max, only with whiny characters who have trouble getting along, and nowhere near enough action to satisfy.
People like Lea Thompson, Fred Ward show up for paychecks and are wasted.
This movie is like a longer, very well written and slightly more violent than normal episode of Walker, Texas Rangerand I mean that in a complimentary and completely unsnarky way.
A bus full of people heading down a Texas highway runs into a gang of violent and crazy bikers.
The bus folk end up running over and killing two of the bikers, leading the rest of the gang to chase them down a back road and into a deserted junkyard where the bus passengers barricade themselves in and try and hold off their menacing enemies until they can figure out how to get help.
I know that doesn't sound like much of a story, but it works because these filmmakers give all the bus passengers fairly distinct personalities and purposes to serve while keeping the audience genuinely in suspense as to how many of them, if any, are going to survive.
It's just simple, direct and engaging.Now, Exit Speed does have a decent-sized flaw in that the biker gang is never anything but a generic threat.
And for some reason, the bikers are repeatedly shown doing these little riding tricks, like wheelies or there's this one guy who stands on top of his motorcycle and surfs it as it goes down the road.
It makes them look more like hardware store owners and accountants who pretend to be a biker gang on the weekends.
Now, I have seen a lot of cinematic excrement, movies so poorly written, asininely directed and atrociously acted that I may be over praising Exit Speed a bit.