Expressway to Your Skull

Director - Michael Okum (Terminal)
Starring - Paul S. Tracey (Trauma), Lindsay Atwood (Medium), and Mark Aaron (The Guardsman)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Get your dose"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Midnight Releasing and Brain Damage Films, two sister companies, has been really impressing me lately with the films they have released the last few months.  After I recently watched and reviewed Where the Devil Dwells I decided it was time to review another film that was sent my way to check out several weeks ago.  That film, Expressway to Your Skull, was sent a month or so before WtDD was released.  I really enjoyed that film and decided to give it a go.  This was one of the films where the story was nowhere near that entertaining or original but the cast made it worth the watch.  Thanks guys for sending this one my way to check out!

     The film follows a young couple that finds themselves in the middle of something that could find them on the wrong side of the law.  They skip town and decide to make it a vacation.  They go camping to get back at nature, as well as, trip their balls off on shrooms.  Sadly, he had scored some weak shit and the two start fighting about their current situation when an older man approaches them in the dead of night.  He introduces himself and tells him he has a camp not too far away.  They chat it up for a bit and he parts ways with the young couple.  A day or so passes and the couple is still fighting when the man arrives again.  He tells them that he has some good shit as his camp and invited them over.  The young couple agrees and follows him back where he pulls a gun on them and plans on using her for a pagan ritual.
     Usually when I like a film I like it because of the way it was written and executed.  A well written story with memorable characters and great gore will go a long way with me.  With that being said, I sometimes get a film in to review and the story was just not there but the gore, imagination behind the kills, and the characters will win me over.  Expressway to Your Skull is one of those strange films that catches me somewhere in between.  The acting in this one is nothing short of brilliant.  The cast really made the film what it is with Mark Aaron stealing the show.  His performance was intense and almost jaw-dropping.  If anyone was to don his beard and raise the gun in his shoes the film would have been a disaster.  This was perfect casting if you ask me.  The story for this one is one we have seen before and immediately reminds me of an American rendition of Wolf Creek.  I was a fan of Wolf Creek but the film does not really try to separate itself from the other films until the very end with the pagan/viking angle.  A little more time dedicated to the writing process would have made this one a hit.  Finally, those of you looking for bloodshed will, sadly, be disappointed.  A film with a title like this would make one think that it would be covered by blood and gore but that is far from the case.  We do get some on screen kills but they are weak and not very imaginative.  The effects are decent for the kills we get but that is about as far as it goes.  Overall, Expressway to Your Skull was a great film.  Story was lacking and the kills were bland but the cast is fucking phenomenal.  The characters really jump off the screen.  Check this one out if you have a chance.  You will not be disappointed.