Highway to Hell

Stars: Patrick Bergin (Sleeping With The Enemy, Love Crimes), Chad Lowe (Nobody's Perfect, True Blood), Kristy Swanson (Hot Shots), and Richard Farnsworth (Misery). Ate de Jong (director of Drop Dead Fred and A Flight Of Rainbirds) once again demonstrates that his grip on comedy is tenuous at best in this for-teens-only horror comedy starring Rob Lowe's little brother Chad. Charlie (Lowe) and Rachel (Kristy Swanson) have decided to elope and are burning rubber on their way to Las Vegas when they are surprised by the Hell Cop, who bonks Charlie a good one and steals Rachel. Following his bride-to-be to hell (which, by the by, looks exactly like Arizona), Charlie meets weird bikers, visits Hoffa's nightclub, and has a few run-ins with Beezle (Patrick Bergin), the head cheese, before finding Rachel. Very loosely plotted, Highway to Hell lurches from one punchless gag to the next, rarely hitting the mark (the best gag, by far, is the Hell Cop's handcuffs--a pair of hands on a chain that literally hand cuff a person). While a few scenes sport reasonably entertaining special effects, there's not enough horror here to whet a horror junkie's appetite, and certainly not enough laughs to warrant the label of "comedy." Audience: Teens looking for a party tape. (R. Pitman)[DVD/Blu-ray Review—Feb. 9, 2016—Kino, 94 min., R, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1991's Highway to Hell sports a decent transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack. Extras include audio commentary by director Ate de Jong, an interview with SFX makeup artist Steve Johnson (11 min.), an animated montage (3 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a forgettable comedy makes an unremarkable debut on Blu-ray.]