Haunted Highway is one of those high school class projects done on a budget of 25 dollars and their Mom's home video camera...or at least that's what it looks like. This brand of Horror film has become strikingly dominant lately and your local Blockbuster is filled with them. You just don't know what you're getting into until you've rented it. Remarkable Haunted Highway turned out to be not as bad as some of the others out there. With a decent enough story and some campy moments the film actually keeps you entertained enough to not want to kill yourself like some of the other home video shot horror films (Ghost Watcher is a prime example of pure trash.) Haunted Highway actually has a strong story along the same ideas of Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell Tale Heart. The film has moments where it is eerie, strange, twisted and violent all of which keeps you wanting to know what will happen next. The cast is a little laughable at times and the special effects are mostly done with moving a camera around and at times it seems like the makers of this film are throwing things in just to try and make it more interesting or scary.
Newcomer Rand Gamble plays the lead Greg Ross. He never really seems like a nice guy considering the extent of his character development is cheating on his wife, murdering his wife, and murdering his mistress all while driving to dump his wife's body. There really is no hero here but rather we watch Greg Ross get his just rewards in the shape of brutal guilty conscience, being haunted and basically a complete mental breakdown. A veteran and terrific actor could have made this role unbelievable but for a low budget, indie film Gamble does alright and maybe this will get him some notice. He plays the role without coming across as campy which some of the acting does. Japanese actress/model Hinano Yoshikawa plays Greg's mistress and the object that ghost of his conscience is taking to haunt him. Now I will say straight up that her voice was incredibly annoying although it made for some eerie moments. She has the right look and her role was almost entirely made to be creepy while she haunted him but her voice was so whiny and annoying. Still she accomplished her role and got some of the scarier scenes. The most experienced of the cast is Laura Putney who plays Greg's wife Amanda. Obviously within the first ten minutes she is killed but then returns a couple of times as a ghost or a body. It's hard to judge her acting ability from that but she does okay.
A film like this really can't be anything but campy considering it's budget. I give kudos to director and co-writer Junichi Suzuki for really utilizing a creepy setting and atmosphere to try and make it scary and it works some of the time. I still contend that with a bigger budget and some more experienced actors this film could have been really something but Greg's entire breakdown including the end of the film which I thought was really quite brilliant is really something. If you happen to somehow be a fan of this type of amateur film then this is one you should absolutely see because I HATE these films and yet this one was very watchable and had a strong story, well worth the hour and some it takes to sit through. Far from true brilliance but also not trash by any means. Check it out for a different kind of horror. 6/10
Newcomer Rand Gamble plays the lead Greg Ross. He never really seems like a nice guy considering the extent of his character development is cheating on his wife, murdering his wife, and murdering his mistress all while driving to dump his wife's body. There really is no hero here but rather we watch Greg Ross get his just rewards in the shape of brutal guilty conscience, being haunted and basically a complete mental breakdown. A veteran and terrific actor could have made this role unbelievable but for a low budget, indie film Gamble does alright and maybe this will get him some notice. He plays the role without coming across as campy which some of the acting does. Japanese actress/model Hinano Yoshikawa plays Greg's mistress and the object that ghost of his conscience is taking to haunt him. Now I will say straight up that her voice was incredibly annoying although it made for some eerie moments. She has the right look and her role was almost entirely made to be creepy while she haunted him but her voice was so whiny and annoying. Still she accomplished her role and got some of the scarier scenes. The most experienced of the cast is Laura Putney who plays Greg's wife Amanda. Obviously within the first ten minutes she is killed but then returns a couple of times as a ghost or a body. It's hard to judge her acting ability from that but she does okay.
A film like this really can't be anything but campy considering it's budget. I give kudos to director and co-writer Junichi Suzuki for really utilizing a creepy setting and atmosphere to try and make it scary and it works some of the time. I still contend that with a bigger budget and some more experienced actors this film could have been really something but Greg's entire breakdown including the end of the film which I thought was really quite brilliant is really something. If you happen to somehow be a fan of this type of amateur film then this is one you should absolutely see because I HATE these films and yet this one was very watchable and had a strong story, well worth the hour and some it takes to sit through. Far from true brilliance but also not trash by any means. Check it out for a different kind of horror. 6/10