Perhaps I'm a little biased because I live in Belgium myself (and this movie was entirely financed here) but I honestly don't think that "Engine Trouble" is half as awful as all my fellow commentators claim it is. Sure, the story is something you've already seen a thousand times before and, yes, the dialogues are so poorly written they make your ears ache, but then still there are really decent elements to enjoy, like a fair amount of tension and a couple of raw shock effects. Especially the first hour is surprisingly entertaining as the screenplay blends simple suspense with some cheerful horror-clichés. Two beautiful (lesbian?) girls go on a road trip and their rusty car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. One girl mysteriously disappears when she leaves to get help and the other finds herself stalked by a horribly deformed killer. The second half of the film is overlong and mainly boring, also because the plot becomes too déjà-vu and repetitive. It goes without saying that the 'monster' is only an underdeveloped being and it are, in fact, his guardians who are the real maniacs. The low-budget production aspects are fairly well camouflaged by using simple tricks, like deserted filming locations, monotonous camera-work and vaguely shot scenery. The make-up on the killer is very cool, though, and he carries around a gleaming sharp sickle! "Engine Trouble" isn't as gross as it looks, especially not since producer James Desert is mostly known for his downright sick movies like "Rabid Grannies" and "Lucker the Necrophagous". Gorehounds will mostly likely cheer for the nauseating decapitation sequence, though! The acting performances are overall very bad, but that's hardly an obstacle anymore if you're used to seeing trash-horror flicks like this. "Engine Trouble" is fun to watch and definitely worth a rental whenever you feel like seeing a simplistic slasher.
Review of Engine Trouble
